Stepping off the plane into Romania I had the realization that I know NONE of the language. I had just come from being in Spanish speaking communities for 6 months where I could at least have some conversations without a translator. Here, I didn’t even know how to say thank you…
I decided I wanted to learn as much as I could, even though I’d only be in Romania for a month. I learned very basic words “hello” “how are you?” “Good” “and” stuff like that. I also decided that I wanted to try and use it whenever I can even though I knew I’d probably pronounce stuff wrong majority of the time.
Sometimes, people loved it.
One of our ministries was handing out gift bags from the church. I learned how to say the word gift, but nobody seemed to understand. They thought they needed to pay for what I was handing out. They didn’t want to accept what we were giving.
One day was particularly difficult. People would barely even look at us. I heard my Romanian friends speaking to the people as they walked by and they kept saying the same thing. I asked them what it meant, turns out they were saying “a gift from hope church.” I asked them to teach me and with a little help from my translator friend, I learned how to say it and started saying it to everyone who passed by. That’s when I noticed people smiling and actually accepting the gift.
Sometimes, people didn’t love it.
Another day, when I was handing out the same gift bags, a lady walked by and looked at me so I said “Buna Ziua” to greet her. I think she asked me a question in return, but since I didn’t understand her and the translator wasn’t around I just told her I don’t actually speak Romanian. She started saying even more at that point so I called my translator over to help. They spoke for a while and I had no idea what was going on.
After she walked away I asked my translator what she said. He said “Why Buna Ziua? Why? Why?” Basically she wanted to know why I would say hi to her in Romanian if I don’t actually speak Romanian. Fair enough I guess…
One time though, trying to speak Romanian got me free coffee!
I went to Starbucks with my team to do Bible Study. I wanted to buy some water and a cookie. So I held up my water bottles and said “?i cookie.” One Romanian word and the barista thought I spoke the language so she asked me in Romanian which cookie I wanted.
I only understood one word. “Negru.” I felt a little panicked so I laughed while I said “nu negru” and then explained to her that I don’t speak Romanian. The other barista actually told me that I looked Romanian and we all laughed about the situation.
I took my cookie and waters and sat down with my team. When we finished praying I looked up and the barista was standing next to me with a cup of coffee. She set it in front of me and said “For trying to speak Romanian”
Wow! Thanks God. This seriously made my day. Now… I’m in a new country (Albania) surrounded by people who once again speak a language of which I know zero words. Based on my experience in Romania, I learned that it doesn’t hurt to try. In fact, it can get you a free coffee. So, I’m gonna do my best to learn some words and hopefully share some joy in the process!
Blessings,
Kaci
