Pastor Mmanga is hilarious. He spent some time in Germany, so he likes to throw German phrases into conversations. John has also studied German, so they enjoy collaborating on this skill. I don’t want to miss out on the action, so I like to try throwing in a Spanish phrase now and then.
It is not uncommon to greet Pastor Mmanga in the morning with “Guten Morgen.” But I am also trying to teach him “Buenos Dias” and he giggles when he hears it.
He says “nein” quite often, and “danke” as well.
We echo with “no” and “gracias.” Of course we are also knowledgeable of “hapana” and “asante sana” the Swahili for “no” and “thank you.”
I’m loving trying to learn some Swahili phrases, just enough at a time to keep people guessing. I think maybe I’m up to 50 or so Swahili words now. However if I was asked to pray before a meal, I would just say “Asante sana Yesu. Amen.” (Thank you Jesus. Amen.)
Today mama started teaching me a new way to say “thank you” which is “nakushukuru.” I’m trying to get this one memorized. Do we have more than one way to say thank you in English?
Most of the time I am in awe that these people know 2 or more languages and I am almost certain I will only ever be fluent in English – but I love giving it a try!
These languages lessons and interactions sound like great fun. They are funny to read about as well.
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