A Tiny Milestone

On the 5th of April 2017, I wrote this in my Wattpad diary:

A lot of people sometimes scoff at me when I tell them that I am doing Khoekhoegowab at school (my mother-tongue). They ask me why I didn't take a foreign language and how that would be helpful in the future.

I don't care whether there is a future in learning Khoekhoegowab or not. I do know that I am very proud of it and that I would want the whole world to know about it, that's how much I love my language. I'm not hating on anybody that's doing a foreign language because I know that people have preferences and I respect that. I wish people would too.

If I am to learn a foreign language then it will be rather late than never, that's what I know.

So, back to April 2020...

Sometime last year aunt Iselin wanted to show me a film that she thought was really good, I knew that I would like it too because she said a lot about it without really getting into detail and ruining it for me. The only problem was that the film was in French and had Norwegian subtitles, ouff da!

It was a 2011 film, The Intouchables about an unusual friendship between an immigrant that had just gotten out of prison and a wealthy French noble man, to make it even more interesting, it's based on a true-story. That was the cherry on top, amazing.

Last year we tried watching the film when I could read a little Norwegian but it was almost helpless because I would end up asking every second word which sort of distracted us from the whole movie so we agreed to put it aside for when I was ready, it didn't go all perfect but I got by.

I was nervous about having to watch a whole film in a foreign language, mind me, I didn't even listen to the French because that's a no-go zone for me. For the first time in a long time, my ears had a break so information was being carried between my eyes and my brain. I could hear stuff but I just had to block that, pull myself together and use all my brain power.

Before we started the film, I jokingly said to aunt Iselin, "Oh I'm gonna be sooo tired by the end of this", but I was wrong. I wasn't tired, I just became emotional and cried a bit:). It was a really, really good film and I hope you guys will go check it out, if you haven't seen it yet!

Throughout the movie, my Norwegian got tested time and again. There were some words that I had not come across before but the human mind works in mysterious way and once I knew what the context was, I could sort of just figure out what it meant. Some words I could make out what they meant because their spelling was more or less like Afrikaans. There were other words that I really had no idea about then I would just glance in aunt Iselin's direction and be like," what does 'trygd' mean?

There were some scenes that were really funny and when I laughed with aunt Iselin and repeated what they said in the film or cried, it made me realise that I had actually come a long way, even though I had not been very patient with myself. Aunt Iselin had been there from the beginning telling me how much I had learned, even if the only thing I could say was har du sovet godt? meaning did you sleep well?

Some days we'd have a conversation in English and then aunt Iselin would switch to Norwegian and we'd spent most of the time explaining words and me trying to use them in sentences, that's how it was.

Everybody had the school had been so supportive since day one, we were only four in the Norsk class which meant that our teacher gave us his undivided attention and sometimes other students would join to make it a bit interesting. By everybody, I mean literally everybody. Just a 'good morning' and people wold tell us how good we were in Norwegian and I guess that awesome support system helped in speeding up the process.

Now I can say with confidence that 'du er så flink!' are the most inspiring words I've heard so many times. I wish I had that when I was growing up, but now I know that I will say it to my friends and family to let them know that I'm supporting them all the way (means you're clever, you doing great!) and I wish people knew how much I really needed to hear that because it made things so much easier, more fun!

I remember in the beginning when I couldn't understand anything, people would speak English to me and then switch to Norwegian and that's when their stories would sound even more interesting or just, great. I would sit and smile until somebody would ask something in English and then it was the same thing over and over.

My patience was running out, I had no idea how much hard work it was to learn a new language, atleast for me. I'm still working on being more patient, they do say that patience is virtue.

I could understand a bit more than I could say but I guess that's how it is for most people when learning a new language. I was too insecure to speak around large groups of people but I did take advantage when it was a few people and now I feel like I will manage if I am placed in a room full of Norwegians and they say, "Okay Queen, tell us what you love most about Norway".

After the end of the film, aunt Iselin gave me a little hurra and congratulated me on watching a movie in a foreign language for the first time. She reminded me that the little I had been learning everyday from the time I got here had paid off and now she speaks Norwegian to me all the time unless when she has to explain some words.

I hope this piece motivates you in your language studies and makes you realise that some things really take time, if you have the patience for it then that's just great. I could learn from that!

hearts, Queen.

#blogging #true-life #language #norwegian #namibia #friends