Lost in Translation...

I've been wondering how to write something about translation for a few months now... There are lots of things to say, vaguely connected. So I am afraid you'll have to bear with me as I offload them...

The Greek script is the first hurdle and for someone learning the language it is not a big hurdle, but for friends and family visiting it is enough to put them off learning to read Greek at all, mostly. Now if we see a familiar Greek brand sign transliterated into English it doesn't just look weird, it feels weird that the word can exist in the other script. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but it's true. Sadly I can't find a photo of the western script version, but imagine this sign reading ALFA instead of ΑΛΦΑ and you'll get the gist.

Some Greek words have become the most natural word for an item or feeling: we never say kiosk (περίπτερο - periptero), rarely say aubergines (μελιτζάνες - melitzanes), I generally ask Clarkie what the time is in Greek (I don't have a watch! It's "Τι ώρα είναι;" - "Tee ora eenay?") and I am hardly ever tired these days (κουρασμένη - kourasmeni) and we pray that that would become more and more the case... Some English words will never be ceded to Greek - there is no word for 'nod'. I have been reading Harry Potter 1 in Greek (am just about to start the Magician's Nephew - Narnia 1) and there was a lot of nodding which had to be translated as 'moving head in a positive indication'...

I've also been pondering the difference between the decision to translate or to transliterate. The metro signs, for example, are mostly transliterated (they are, after all, place names) - the airport being the exception. I wonder if it would be more helpful though for some of them to be translated, so you know you're at the Ministry for National Defence (Εθνική Άμυνα - Ethniki Amyna) or at Constitution Square, by the parliament (Σύνταγμα - Syntagma). I wonder how many non-guidebook-dependent tourists miss these places as a result (not that there's much to see at Ethniki Amyna!).

Sometimes, as an anglophone, you read translated guides or menus and want to get out a red pen (the teacher in me) and correct the spelling or syntax errors.

The real translation issue though, living as an ex-pat, is not the translation from Greek to English and vice versa but from American English to British English and vice versa. Most of our Greek friends are (obviously) more familiar with American English, some have lived in North America at some point, and most of our anglophonic friends are American or Canadian. So, here's a little test - I'll give you the American word, you give the British word...

1. onesie
2. diaper
3. pacifier
4. crib
5. stroller
6. teeter-totter
7. pants
8. jumper dress
9. bib-and-brace
10. sweater
11. sneakers
12. couch
13. biscuit
14. cookie
15. granola bar
16. scallion
17. zucchini
18. eggplant
19. shopping cart
20. stickshift (car)
21. garbage
22. sidewalk
23. highway
24. elevator
25. gas
26. faucet
27. "i gotta go bathroom"
28. "where did you go to school?"

Click here for the answers: http://alltheclarks.googlepages.com/thelostintranslationanswers

Some of them are seeping into our vocabulary - hopefully just for the sake of being understood (we hope to retain the British words in our active vocabulary as much as we are able to!).

Trying to become fluent in another language does hamper my eloquence in English but it also makes me value the richness of both English and Greek. Most importantly though, it makes me again "look forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God." (Hebrews 11:10)

Here's what we can look forward to, no matter how limited our language skills are:

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:

"Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb."

All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying:

"Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and
thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!"

Revelation 7:9-12

Reflecting on a year...

June was a month of endings and reflections: Jonathan and I finished our language course and passed well – we’ve been encouraged by our progress and now have to get to grips with actually LEARNING VOCABULARY and SPEAKING FLUENTLY; I finished Harry Potter 1 in Greek and understood most of it; Joel finished at his ‘kindergarten’ (νηπιαγωγείο) and took part in his end of year celebration; Hannah sort of took part in her end of year concert (both described in slightly earlier blog); and we all went to Barcelona for the IFES Debriefing conference.

Our time of Debriefing didn’t begin well as we missed our connecting flight to Barcelona in Milan, due to easyjet delays in Athens. It worked out well though (as it tends to) – we had planned to arrive in Barcelona a day early anyway, so we weren’t late for the conference – and we ended up staying with IFES colleagues Dean and Jo Ingham, their four kids (aged 9 to 14) and their dog. It was great to meet Deano’s family for the first time. They are Australian and have been in Italy for 7 years. We were able to pick their brains a bit about raising a young family overseas in two languages and multiple cultures! It also meant that we arrived in Barcelona mid-morning rather than late evening, so the transfers felt more sane and sociable.

Debriefing itself is a wonderful place to be. The hotel in which we stay serves good buffet-style food (eat as much as you want/can!), has a lovely little outdoor swimming pool and its own playground, and is only 5 minutes walk from a beautiful sandy beach. The kids had LOTS of friends to play with: there were eight 4 to 9 year-olds and five who were 2 and under. The conference programme is fairly relaxed so there is space for leisure and just hanging out together.

This year a team of us from across Europe were planning and running the conference and Jonathan and I were definitely more involved than last year. It was great to meet up with good friends and share reflections of the year, hear good teaching, encourage one another and pray together.

One of the first sessions, ‘Telling Your Story’, was about reflecting on the year and being able to talk about it in a God-centred and God-glorifying way (rather than self-centred/-glorifying). We were encouraged to write our own Psalm of Thanksgiving and Psalm of Lament. It was a GREAT exercise both in reflecting on the Psalms and trying to express experiences and feelings through a Psalmic medium (if you like).

Anyway, my Psalm of Lament remains unfinished and I’m happy to leave it like that. I felt a bit like a spoilt child in some parts – it IS an honest reflection of how I feel! – but it was good to write this stuff down. Laments aren’t always good for public consumption (though obviously some are!). However, I wrote the Psalm of Thanksgiving with a deliberate focus on thanksgiving sometimes in spite of difficulty. I MIGHT well finish the Lament and put it up at a later date. The Psalm of Thanksgiving isn’t very poetic, but it is an accurate reflection of one of my main struggles and why I can and will praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord, all you people, praise the Lord!
Praise the One who is Sovereign, He is a Father to His People,
A Gracious Father who cares for his Loved Ones.

I was troubled in my language learning,
Humbled by my inability to speak or understand.
My heart was low and I had little hope of fluency.
Like a huge mountain was the goal of understanding and fluency.
I was barely in the foothills and the climb was always before me.

But the Lord is good and encourages those who falter.
He has set the hope of glory in our hearts so that, though we stumble, we will not fall.
He gave me hope through His People.
Every Sunday as we praised God and heard from His Word
I would read or hear a word or phrase I had learnt
And know that God knew my troubles.
A message to me that He is with me,
That He is Sovereign and will enable me to learn.

Trust in the Lord, all you people.
Trust in the Lord who knows every detail.
He knows your troubles and will help you persevere.
Give thanks to the One who has saved you by grace,
Who has made you for glory and is refining you.
Humble yourselves before the only one who will make all things new,
Who is able to keep you from falling.

Praise the One who is Sovereign. He is a Father to His People,
A Gracious Father who cares for His Loved Ones.
Praise the Lord, all you people, Praise the Lord!

Language acquisition is hard. It's humbling because I want to be more eloquent than I can be, so I have to know my limits and accept that I sound like a ten year-old. It's frustrating because progress is slow and we need to make more time and opportunities to USE our Greek in order to improve. It's disheartening knowing just how much MORE language there is to learn... My exam results reflect my ability: I got 55% for my speaking, 80% for my listening and 85% for my written test - my overall mark was rounded up to 80% because the result is weighted towards the written result. I KNOW the language quite well, but my speech is faltering.

Pray for us, especially as we spend 7 weeks in the UK, that we use our Greek as much as possible, take opportunities to read (I have Harry Potter 2 and Persuasion by Jane Austen in Greek to read!) and study the language whilst we're in Blighty, and make sure the kids are still exposed to the language so that our return to Athens in September isn't too horrible a culture shock. Pray too for our continued humbling and greater motivation to get stuck into the language no matter how disheartening the 'climb' to understading and fluency is. Thanks.

End of Year Celebrations

The school year ended mid-June and we were treated to end of year celebrations – an assembly and a concert at Joel and Hannah’s schools (respectively). There has been good progress over the year for both. In the first instance we really felt like we were throwing them into an unknown deep end that we wouldn’t be able to jump in and rescue them from even if we wanted to. It’s gone from being bewildering and lonely to familiar and quite friendly. It’s still hard work and we’re really not sure how much they take in (or even LISTEN to – I think they’ve learnt to switch off a bit from the Greek and not try to understand), but they are getting there slowly. I'm sorry there are no photos - we are still camera-less at the moment.

Hannah’s school has three year groups with a class for each year. The end of year concert was a whole-school affair, so we got to see children Joel’s age performing too. The concert was held the penultimate Friday evening of term at the local outdoor theatre – a little amphitheatre in the park near H’s school. The theme was something to do with a little girl’s travels underwater and the oldest class performed some songs and dances and skits about that. The lower two classes were split along gender lines and each group dressed up and performed a little dance on a sea-life theme. Hannah and the rest of the girls in her class were crabs. She was really excited about her ‘crab party’. I’d bought some orange clothes on which to sew her little crab picture, which she was very enthusiastic about (she looked like a fan of the Dutch football team!) and we had found a babysitter for Esther (the show started at 1930). Jonathan had stayed behind to put Esther to bed, so Joel, Hannah and I made our way up the hill together. H was all skippy-jumpy and didn’t seem the slightest bit nervous until we got to the theatre. I entrusted Joel in the saving of some seats and took H backstage. All her little friends in orange were happy and smiling but H didn’t want me to leave and clung onto my leg. With the help of Stella (one of her teachers) I extricated myself and left her backstage wailing. I figured that she’d calm down and that there was no way she’d go out and perform if I was still backstage, so this, at least, gave her chance. Ten minutes later, just as Jonathan appeared, the show began. All that time we could hear howling from backstage – some of which, at least, was definitely Hannah. Hannah’s group were on first. She was led on (not quite dragged) at the back and cried throughout the whole performance. She didn’t join in with any of the dance (I’m not sure she would have even if she wasn’t crying – she is her father’s daughter, so far, in that respect) and just stood and howled. It was quite funny and sad at the same time. I was at the front filming it (see it on youtube!), so at least at the end she was able to come straight to me.

I think she did really well just getting up there (I don’t think she knew she had a choice!) and we’re hoping that this won’t have scarred her for next time but rather given her an insight into how painless it could be… We shall see!

Joel’s school is much smaller: just two classes. The assemblies are always separate and this one was in the middle of his final week. We’re really grateful to be able to both go to these sorts of things, even though they are always in the mornings. Frustratingly my video camera battery hadn’t charged properly, so no-one gets to see how well Joel did in his school assembly. With a little coaxing from us (the promise of lunch at McDonald’s!) he agreed to take a fuller part than before. This meant dressing up in the same outfit as the other boys and sitting with his classmates rather than with us. Admittedly, Jonathan had to sit next to him but at least he was at the front. He joined in with most of the singing and none of the dancing (typical Clark male there then); stood in the right place for the recital of the boys’ poem, remembering his verse and speaking slowly and clearly; mostly managed to remember his long poem without reading the whole thing; and even took part in the flower-giving and ice-cream eating at the end (seriously, he wouldn’t have done that a few months ago – his reserve generally outweighing his enthusiasm for ice-cream!). For me, there were two highlights: simply seeing him sitting with his peers and singing along (especially when he and his friend Yezan kept pulling faces at the same point in the chorus of one of the songs – an in-joke) and hearing him speak voluntarily in good, simple Greek. During one of the dancey/sketchy bits the children were all given flowers. Panayiotis didn’t get one and Joel said to his teacher, “Κυρία, ο Παναγιότις δεν έχει ένα λουλούδι” (Kyria, o Panayiotis then echei ena looloothi – Miss, Panayiotis doesn’t have a flower). Slowly, slowly he is becoming more like his English self: not shy to speak…