Say what?

Due to the fact that the Chinese here in Kigali come from provinces all over China, and therefore have varied accents, there is the challenge of trying to understand them, and also make myself as a non-fluent speaker understood to them. However, there is another challenge, less daunting perhaps. It concerns the variations of English spoken here.

Here in the Kigali English Congregation there are perhaps 3 or 4 of us for whom English is the mother tongue. For everyone else, it is a second (or third) language. Consider that the brothers and sisters here come from Angola, DR Congo, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, etc. And of course Rwanda. In some of these countries the quality of English spoken is higher. In others, including Rwanda, it is a work in progress. As I mentioned in an earlier post, French was taught in the schools here until several years ago, when it was supplanted by English.

I can understand the English spoken here 90% of the time, but there are moments when--let's just say I'm tired or not completely attentive--my reaction is...huh? I notice that the "r" in the middle of words is often not pronounced, for example, in the words "earth" or "hurt." Sometimes "th" sounds like "t." The letter "i" is pronounced "ee" in most cases. And then there is French and Kinyarwanda thrown into the mix.

I hope everyone understands me, but I have come to the realization that English in the U.S. is often spoken in a somewhat slovenly fashion, with not all the sounds pronounced as they should be. So in an effort to be understood here, I find myself trying to enunciate more clearly, especially the "t" in words. That means "better." And "battery." And, one of the most striking examples, "water." Hey, just like the British!

Strangely enough, I can understand the French here slightly better (not "bedder") than the English. Maybe this is because French has been around longer and is one of the main languages in places such as Congo. So the way it is spoken conforms to what we learned in school.

Anyway, it's not a big deal, and to be truthful, the variety of accents does add a bit of spice and zest.

(Interesting observation: In the English congregation, we use the Simplified English study edition of The Watchtower, whereas in our sister French congregation, they use the Standard French edition, not the Simplified French edition.)

Wanna--sorry--Want to hear some greetings in English from brothers and sisters of different countries? (If you don't like the sound quality of my pocket-size camera, this is to let you know that donations are gladly accepted for a decent video camera.)

(Note: I finally figured out how to successfully add video clips, after getting numerous error messages, so feel free to check out the one in my previous post, which involves singing "We Thank You, Jehovah.")