Today I was cleaning out my purse. It really needed it. I have a horrible habit of wadding up receipts and saving them - for months!- in my purse. Anyway, while I was "cleaning house", I ran across a yellow piece of paper. It brought back such fun memories! Alice and I were walking the streets of Amsterdam, when we decided to go inside a Buddhist temple. Upon entering, we were greeted by a table with candles and a bowl full of yellow pieces of paper. In the distance sat Buddha. Alice and I each took our own piece of paper and read them once we were outside. Hers made sense; it was something about watching your attitude and being an encouragement to others. Mine, however, served as a good example of why word-for-word translation of a foreign language is a very bad idea. Here are my inspiring, life-changing (?) "yellow paper" words:
Most wonderful is the eye that can see boundless scenery. And so is the lamp that can light up. Heaven and earth. Ten thousand families live beyond dense willow trees and the bright flowers. You knock a door any place, someone will open it for you.
Words. I work very closely with them every day. I need to be able to explain the meanings of words every day to my language students., and I find it often taxes my mind and leaves me exhausted. It happened again this week when I tried to explain the simple word "run". The problem occurs when I try to explain that, in English, we sometimes use "run" as a verb but sometimes we use it as a noun. They just don't understand why we say things like, "I need to run to the store because I have a run in my pantyhose, but I can't because I've run out of money!"
Words are important. And when you can't find just the right word to use, it can be frustrating. I see frustration on the faces of my students as I work with them. Not being able to use words freely inhibits their personalities. I'm thankful that I'm also with them for their "Ahhh-haaa" moments; to see their faces light up when something finally makes sense...well, it's a look that is priceless. Did I mention that I love my job?
Thinking of the importance of words brought to mind the first chapter of John where Jesus is described as the Word - God's living way of communicating with us. "In the beginning was THE WORD..." I'm so thankful that when God speaks, He's clear and precise! “In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through a son” (Hebrews 1:1-2). Jesus is Word because he communicates God's mind to us. He is a message from God. What does Jesus say? He speaks of what God is like. He reveals the tremendous love God has for us.
And then there's this video on youtube. This girl thinks she has a handle on the English language. It's so cute to listen to her try to phonetically repeat the sounds that she hears.
She's on Bulgarian Idol and she's trying to sing Mariah Carey's hit, "Can't Live", but she says "Ken Lee". Enjoy!!!
Most wonderful is the eye that can see boundless scenery. And so is the lamp that can light up. Heaven and earth. Ten thousand families live beyond dense willow trees and the bright flowers. You knock a door any place, someone will open it for you.
Words. I work very closely with them every day. I need to be able to explain the meanings of words every day to my language students., and I find it often taxes my mind and leaves me exhausted. It happened again this week when I tried to explain the simple word "run". The problem occurs when I try to explain that, in English, we sometimes use "run" as a verb but sometimes we use it as a noun. They just don't understand why we say things like, "I need to run to the store because I have a run in my pantyhose, but I can't because I've run out of money!"
Words are important. And when you can't find just the right word to use, it can be frustrating. I see frustration on the faces of my students as I work with them. Not being able to use words freely inhibits their personalities. I'm thankful that I'm also with them for their "Ahhh-haaa" moments; to see their faces light up when something finally makes sense...well, it's a look that is priceless. Did I mention that I love my job?
Thinking of the importance of words brought to mind the first chapter of John where Jesus is described as the Word - God's living way of communicating with us. "In the beginning was THE WORD..." I'm so thankful that when God speaks, He's clear and precise! “In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through a son” (Hebrews 1:1-2). Jesus is Word because he communicates God's mind to us. He is a message from God. What does Jesus say? He speaks of what God is like. He reveals the tremendous love God has for us.
And then there's this video on youtube. This girl thinks she has a handle on the English language. It's so cute to listen to her try to phonetically repeat the sounds that she hears.
She's on Bulgarian Idol and she's trying to sing Mariah Carey's hit, "Can't Live", but she says "Ken Lee". Enjoy!!!
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