language barriers

Who would have thought that people who speak the same language would have a hard time speaking the same language? This has been a bit of a problem, albeit a minor one for the most part. We are learning quickly that a cookie is not a cookie, but a biscuit. A diaper is a nappie, a binky is a dummy. A sucker is a really dumb person and a lolly pop is a sucker. A bench is not a seat, but a countertop. The trash is the bin. Full of rubbish, not garbage. Any kind of candy is a lolly. The list goes on and on. So generally our conversations include a lot of, “Do you want a cookie, er, biscuit?” (as Sari is imagining in her mind a buttermilk biscuit…)

For some reason Keith is having a bit more of a struggle than the rest of us.  He’s had some pretty funny episodes trying to decipher comments so that he can respond appropriately. Out of compassion for him, I’ll only share a couple. On our first Sunday here, a really nice guy came up to us and shook Keith’s hand and introduced himself. Keith said, “Sorry, but could you repeat your last name again? Shawn who?” The man looked a little confused, then repeated, “Shawn the ward clerk?” (Shoan, the woad clark) We got a good laugh about that one. Thankfully Shawn laughed along with us. Last week we were visiting my cousin and they were telling us about some of their favorite movies. He told Keith that he needed to watch ‘One Good Man.’ Not one of us can still figure out how Keith got ‘Uncle Vinnie’ out of that.  So guess who has a new forever nickname… We about wet ourselves over that one.

On Sari’s first Sunday at her young adult Sunday school class, she was surprised and excited to find that there is another young adult from America, a young man from Mississippi. She was horrified to find, though, when he started to speak, she had a harder time understanding him than the Aussies.

We downloaded the Aussie voice on Shawnie’s ipad before we came. For some reason, though, she prefers to be an American. :)

Aaaaannnddd….we are crossing our fingers that Z catches on to that Aussie accent. There is NOTHING cuter than a little kid with that Aussie voice.