I have developed the nasty habit of starting to write blogs
and never going back and finishing them.
One idea for a blog that I had was all of the stories of my language
mix-ups (of which there have been many).
I have forgotten some along the way but here are my top 4 language mistakes in Paraguay.
*Please be aware my Guarani is not perfect and a lot of
these words aren’t in our books so I am doing my best with spelling, although I
doubt any of you guys would realize I misspelled anything…
**Also some of this blog has more mature content, I don’t
think I have a big children following but it might not be the most appropriate
thing for them to read.
1. tembi’u vs. tembui: During training we all learned the Guarani word
for food, tembi’u. During a class that
I wasn’t even a part of, my friend Cari mispronounced the word, accidentally
saying tembui. The professor
laughed and told her not to say this.
It turns that tembui actually means ‘little penis’. The problem with this is that although
everyone in my group has graduated college and is over the age of 22 we are all
still pretty immature. Everyone
was running around saying both tembi’u and tembui and pretty soon it got mixed
up in my head. During training we
were told that we needed to practice Guarani with our host families as much as
possible since as Agriculture volunteers we were going to more rural areas and
Guarani would be crucial to our success as volunteers. During dinner one night my family asked
if I was hungry and of course I said (in broken Guarani): Ha’use tembui. Direct translation: I want to eat
little penis.
2. porâ vs. iporâ:
Another
mistake that I made for about a week during training was telling people that I
am pretty. In Paraguay they love
anyone with eyes that aren’t brown.
They don’t understand what color my eyes are and they think that I am a
‘rubia’ (which they use to indicate fair skin). Add this to the fact that this is a very machismo culture
and men constantly hit on everyone and it is not the best combination. Lots of volunteers get annoyed with the
constant attention and Paraguayans don’t understand why we don’t fall all over
them as soon as they confess their undying love for us. The common Guarani greeting is
“m’baechipa” which is essentially how are you? The standard response is “ipora” which basically means I’m
good. Che in Guarani is I. I wanted to say “che ipora” which I
later learned is repetitive and unnecessary, but what I was saying is “che
pora” which means I am pretty.
This means that while men in town would ask me “How are you?” I would
respond, “I am pretty”. They would
then laugh and tell me how beautiful I was and go on and on and on. It wasn’t until my professor corrected
me that I realized how I was accidentally encouraging their ‘machismo’ nature
and asking to be hit on.
3. preservativas:
This
is a mistake that I made in Spanish, which is bad since I was a Spanish
major. The cooking in Paraguay is
extremely repetitive and generally has a ton of oil and salt. However, the food itself is generally
extremely fresh and delicious. I
do enjoy some Paraguayan food but I try and be extra polite and tell everyone
that I enjoy the food here more than in the United States. This usually results in them asking
why. The first time this was asked
this is how I responded, “La
comida acá es mucho mas fresco, en los estados usamos demasiado preservativas
en nuestra comida.” Now I am sure some of you reading this immediately
see my problem (Mrs. Daniel, Professora Barbas-Rhoden…) I just told my Paraguayan
host family that the food in Paraguay is much fresher and in the United States
we use too many condoms in our food.
My host-mom’s jaw dropped and her daughter immediately started laughing.
I quickly realized my mistake and tried to explain and then just starting
laughing as well. I still don’t know how to say preservatives in Spanish but I
think from now on I will steer clear of that one.
4. Che ro’y vs. Che ro’u: In
Guarani the y and u sounds are very hard for me to distinguish between (one of
my many language problems).
Generally based on context the people know what I am talking about but sometimes
it can give me trouble. Paraguay,
being in the Southern hemisphere is in the middle of fall and there have
already been some pretty cold days.
I decided to tell my host sister that I was cold when she saw me walk
into the outside kitchen in sweat pants, thick socks, and a big jacket. I looked at her and said what I thought
was “che ro’y” which means “I’m cold” turns out I said “Che ro’u” which means
“I want you to eat me” which is Guarani slang for “let’s have sex”. My host sister, who is 27, started
laughing hysterically at me. She
made some comment about how I needed to change if that’s how I was feeling and
then ran off to tell the rest of the family what had just happened. I sat in
the kitchen confused. It wasn’t
until later when I was talking to another volunteer that I realized what I had
said. Winter is on the way in
Paraguay and from now on I plan on sticking to Spanish and just saying “tengo frio”
whenever I am cold.
Guarani is full of double meanings and they love to trap me
into saying dirty things on accident.
I have told people that I was getting drunk when I wanted to say that I
was drinking maté in the morning, I have heard volunteers say they were horny
when they just wanted to comment on the weather. It is important to watch what you say in this country,
something that I have learned over and over. I only hope that eventually I get good enough at the
language so that I can get in on the jokes and they can stop being about me.
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