Posts Tagged ‘language & culture study’

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A little bit of Nahuatl

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Monday, May 14th, 2012

This is a story I’ve been working on the last couple of days.  Test your knowledge of Nahuatl (or see if you can decipher the Spanish mixed in!)  Be the first person to tell me what the story is about and I’ll send you a prize!!  Just click the “CONTACT” tab above or leave a comment.  Restrictions apply – family and coworkers are not eligible!

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This is the place where the story starts....

Nel unitakati analko pa se lugar itoh Tehas.  Umpa yoh kinán nih.  Kwah tonalko tona i tawaki.  Kwah sewa, kichih sewa.  Hame pareho, hame lomas.  Aveces kiawíh.  Umpa así tormentas con ganas.  Inmalaka heheka kiahkokí kinmayawí miya nihkalme.  Umpa chantíl noiwan siwa, noiwan taka, nonanita.

Kwah nitakati, notatsi moneshtilitikáh patanistiyá pin nihavioneta.  I de ukán, timokambiaró pa usé lugar itoh Panamá kwah nel nipiyá nahwi años i noiwan siwa kátika tepichito.  Umpa insaka wehweyote i kwil verde porque kiahwíh mochi días.  Siempre kichih tona.  Umpa serka tichantiláh kaha playa.  Tiawilá miya veces a la playa.  Siempre tishgustaró tiaski pin playa i titaneloláh pin mar.  Igwal timopashaloltiláh pin bisi.  Aveces tiawiláh pin monte titamawisoláh.  Aveces pin nihtienda pa usé pweblo.  Umpa nichantiyá nipiyá de nahwi años hasta kwah nikátika de prepa.

I de ukán nimokwé usé pa analko usé lugar itoh Michigan.  Umpa kwil tahpa.  Sewakátika i wetsiyá nieve.  Nimoneshtili inBiblia, inDios, de useki táhtol pin universidad.  I de ukán nihnekiyá nikasaró pero intaka amo kinekiyá.  I de ukán nimokambiaró pa kaha Chihuahua.  I nimoneshtili inkastiya.  I de ukán uníh pa nitaishmá pin sierra.  I de ukán nikinishmati Tomás i Teresa i nishtenewiláh miya de Las Moras de nihgentis.  Kwakín nipensaro niwalas nichantí pa Las Moras.  I ya, niku nias unichih nokal i nichantití agusto.  Ya utám.

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Wapurú

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Tuesday, May 8th, 2012

One day, Beni, one of the women of the village stopped by for a little visit with her girls.  We always enjoy their visits as they are very expressive and funny.  We always learn new words with them and they stretch our knowledge of the language in trying to understand them and talk with them.

As they were leaving, Katie gave the girls a red and white round peppermint.  The oldest one popped it into her mouth and said, “It tastes like wapurú!”  I grabbed my notebook and wrote, “wapurú.”

I thought, “This is great!  I was going to learn how to describe tastes and smells.  Here’s a word!”

So, in Nahuat, I asked, “What is wapurú?”  The girl answered, “Who knows!”

So, I asked, “Is it a fruit?”  The girl said, “Who knows!”

Then I said, “Is it sweet?”  The girl said, “Who knows!”

Getting nowhere with the daughter, I asked the mother.  She could not explain anything about what wapurú was, either.  So, I made a note to check it with my language helper the following day.

The next time I met with my language helper, I started by reviewing words or phrases that I had heard but hadn’t understood.  At the end of the list was “wapurú.”

I said, “Katie gave a candy to a girl yesterday and she said it tasted like ‘wapurú.’  What is that?”

She said, with slightly better pronunciation than the previous day’s visitors, “Vapurub?”

No more explanation needed!

Who knew?  Peppermints taste like VapoRub!

Tastes like peppermints!!

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From Katie: Do you do that?

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Saturday, March 17th, 2012

Andrea gave Katie a few tamales one day after a visit

I meet at least twice a week with my language helper, a lady named Andrea.  She teaches me the Nahuatl language and answers a lot of my questions about how things work in this community.  Every time she explains something to me about her culture she asks, “And you guys?  Is it the same for you?  Do you do that?”  Many times I answer yes.  Yes, we have dances in our culture.  Yes, sometimes boys and girls start liking each other in school and then get married.  Yes, babies grow in our bellies, too.  Sometimes, however, the answer is more complicated.

A few weeks ago, Andrea was explaining to me about the local gods of the mountains.  She said that they are “clean” while the people around here are sinners.  Because of that, the spirits can help you if you make them a promise or bring them gifts.  If you bring them corn and fish and peaches after a good harvest, for example, they will make sure you have rain for the next season.  She went on to explain things in more depth and then asked me her standard question: “And you guys…do you do that?”  I told her that some people in my land thought like that, but that I didn’t.  I said that soon I was going to sit down and tell her what I thought in her own language, just like she had told me.  But first I had to study.  A lot.

Andrea, like many of the Nahuatl, do not communicate well in Spanish.  I know that she cannot understand the gospel well in Spanish and so I am trusting God’s timing as I continue to learn.

Please pray that our team will be diligent students while we work at learning how to communicate the Word to the Nahuatl.

Pray that the Nahuatl will begin to have questions and doubts about their beliefs that can only be met by the truth of the Bible.

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From Katie: Not straight talking…

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Monday, March 12th, 2012

As we continue to spend hours daily studying the Nahuatl language, it is fun to see things start to take shape and make sense.  Several months ago I had written down “amomelahtaketsaliste” as meaning “a lie.”  We knew that the verb, to talk, is “taketsa” and “amo” means not.  Then, a few weeks ago, while studying some adjectives, we came across the word “melah,” or straight.

Suddenly, it became clear: a lie to the Nahuatl is “not straight talking.”  A perfect example of this kind of conversation comes from a young girl in another village.  She gets on the radio and spreads fear and confusion about what it takes to please God.  She tells the Nahuatl that they must dress in a different kind of clothes, perform certain dances so that it will rain, or stop using modern technology.  If the people fail to comply, they are warned about wild animals that will eat them or bad things that will happen to their family members.  We know that Satan has the Nahuatl trapped by his warped and twisted thinking.  We also know that we have the “straight talk.”

Please pray for God’s protection on the Nahuatl people until they have his truth.

Nahuatl family - father, mother, and most of their kids

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Do you want to weave again?

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Friday, March 9th, 2012

Weaving the strap for the bag

One of my Nahuatl friends knows how to weave well.  A while ago, she wove several bags for us from yarn that we had provided her.  She did a good job and I had been meaning to ask her if she wanted to weave another bag.

So, when she stopped by the house one day, I quickly checked how to say the verb “to weave” again as I had just recently learned it.  With the verb in my head, I created the sentence, “Do you want to weave again?”

She looked at me a little funny and said, “What did you say?”

I said again, confidently, “Do you want to weave again?”

She looked at me again and said, “Like…. What did you say?”

I thought, “Oh no, I’m not communicating.”  So, I said, “What I just said, what did it mean?”

She replied in Spanish, “You said, ‘Do you want to lay’ you know, like a chicken lays an egg.”

Everyone in the room laughed and I learned to proper way to say, “Do you want to weave again?”

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Conversation with Alberta

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Wednesday, June 29th, 2011

Alberta for blogOn the second day of the dental clinic, a truckload of people arrived first thing in the morning. Alberta was the first one in the door and therefore the first with the dentist. She was really nervous. I told her it wouldn’t hurt, the doctor would give her medicine (anesthesia) so she wouldn’t feel pain. I checked on her a few times. When she was done, she left quickly!

A few hours later, as I was sitting with some ladies outside, she came back to the clinic to wait for her friends to finish with the dentist. I asked her how she felt. She said, “I feel SOOOO comfortable! I don’t feel any pain. In fact, I didn’t ask if I could eat anything, and at lunch time, I just ate my food, and I felt SOOOO comfortable!”

I asked how her visit was with the doctor and if she was afraid to come back. She kinda laughed. “There’s no reason to be afraid of this doctor! I didn’t feel ANYTHING! I’ll tell everyone to come, but this is the last time you are having a dental clinic, right?”

Not sure what rumors she was hearing, I said cautiously, “As long as the people here are happy with us living here, we want to help the people and we’ll bring dentists whenever we can.”

She quickly answered, “We like you guys. You don’t kill people, and you remove the plaque from our teeth!”

It’s nice to know what people think of us! :)

Alberta 2 for blog

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Life in Las Moras

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011

2011 Video from rachel chapman on Vimeo.

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what’s our team up to?

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Friday, April 1st, 2011
L-R: Katie Moore, Me, Tom & Teresa Elkins, Dan & Sarah Alkire and Josiah

L-R: Katie Moore, Me, Tom & Teresa Elkins, Dan & Sarah Alkire and Josiah

Our team has shrunk!  The Davis family has moved back to Northern Mexico to fill a ministry need there, so they are no longer a part of our church-planting team.  We miss them and they leave a hole on our team.  Please pray with us as we trust the Lord to fill that hole with whoever He chooses.

Tom & Teresa continue to be a blessing to our team based in the city.  They make trips out to the village, hauling materials, supplies, dentists, etc…  They are also our guest house when we are in the city!  It’s quite a house-ful!

Katie is almost finished teaching Josiah 6th grade.  They’ve worked hard and will finish early.  Now, with fewer kids to teach, she will be able to spend more time learning the Nahuatl language and culture.

Dan & Sarah are still lacking half the adobes they need for their house.  Pray they might be finished soon!  Their hope and goal is to get a roof on their place before rainy season.  They both are beginning to study the Nahuatl language and culture a few hours a day.

I have just begun studying the Nahuatl language and culture full-time.  That means a lot of time spent out with the people and the rest of the time at my desk!  Pray for patience, diligence, and aptitude!

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Our best Nahuatl so far…

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Monday, January 17th, 2011

To kinda give you an idea of what we know so far, I’ll let you listen in on a conversation my co-workers and I had with one of our friends…

Visiting our Nahuatl friends

Visiting our Nahuatl friends

We spoke in Spanish, Nahuatl, and English.

Here’s how it went…

My co-workers and me:

Our Nahuatl friend:

Hi!  How are you?

I’m fine.

Come in.  Child, go get some chairs.

Sit down.

What have you been up to?

Nothing much.

What have you been up to?

I am teaching. (home-schooling Josiah)

What else can we say?  Eat!

I eat. Sleep!  How do you say sleep again?

We slep.  No.  We seep.  No, we sleep!

You all sleep together?  or separately?

SEPARATELY!!

If you sleep together, you say “We sleep (together.)”

If you sleep by yourself, you say “We sleep (apart.)”

That’s a huge difference!  We need to learn that!

Can I record you?

We sleep (together.) We sleep (apart.)

I bathed really early this morning.  The water was freezing!  Cold water.

Do you say cold water or water cold?

Water cold.

That’s what I thought!

Your pig is really big!  Big pig.

Here’s some corn from our garden.

How much?

Nothing. It’s a gift.

Thank you.

Well, we’re going now.

Go ahead!

See you later.

I’m waiting here for your return.

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God Answers Prayers!

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Thursday, December 16th, 2010

Our last week in the village was pretty exciting!  We held an eye clinic for the area and God answered our prayers!

We were able to see 122 people in 3 days and probably 3/4 of them got glasses. We saw people from at least 8 of our surrounding communities!  Several people were amazed at the difference with the glasses and were very expressive!  It was like night and day for them.  They could see!!!  Very exciting!

God used and I think will continue to use the glasses as a door for relationships with these communities and people.

We were able to communicate with the people in Nahuatl and Spanish.  We learned phrases that made communicating easier.  Is it blurry?  Is this better?  Cover up one eye.  Look at the light.  Look at me.  Follow me.  Sit here.  Stand here. The phrases worked great unless the person was from a different indigenous group.

There was one man who was from a neighboring indigenous group and was practically monolingual.  He had a hard time seeing, and it was sad to send him away without glasses.  We could have helped him if we could have communicated with him.

On the second day of the eye clinic, my co-worker, Dan hauled some people to and from their community to the eye clinic in his truck.  As he was returning to our village, he was talking with one of our neighbors who had accompanied him.  Frank was asking about different religions and what we believe.  He said he had seen that we are different and he wanted to believe what we do.  And, he wants his family to believe also. He and his wife live in our community, but are not Nahuatl.  They are each from two of the neighboring indigenous groups so they communicate in Spanish.  Dan said he could begin to teach them in January.  So, please be praying for Frank and his family.  The Holy Spirit is at work.  Pray for a hedge of protection around them as they desire to learn the Truth!

Frank's girls

Frank's girls

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