True language learning cannot be done in a vacuum. In order to sufficiently understand the language a person speaks, one must also understand the culture that they live in. With that in mind, a major part of our time spent learning Tok Pidgin (the trade language of Papua New Guinea) deals with delving into the culture and finding out what and how these people think.
We thought you might be interested in hearing a few of the stories that our PNG friends have shared with us. Please keep in mind that they really believe these things. The point is not to make them look foolish or backward but to show you a little glimpse into the lives of the people with whom we interact.
Here are a few of the things we’ve learned:
– You can easily identify evil spirits – they are the ones standing in the shadows with red lights shooting out of their armpits!
– You can make the wind blow by whistling.
– There are certain people who know magic for traveling to other provinces and back in a day, for climbing mountains quickly, making a road shorter and transporting themselves over great distances. These same people also know how to shoot an arrow while saying your name and the arrow will go and find you no matter where you are.
– There are ways to know if you will stay alive even if a curse has been put on you. One way to know if you will live is to catch a fish, remove his slime, and then talk to him. Put him back in the water and if he runs you know you will live. If he dies, well….you know the answer.
– One friend told us that within the last month, he has been brought back from the dead. He now owes a lot of money for that though!
– Area priests hide their illegitimate children in Rome.
– If you chew the bark of a certain tree and spit it around your house or area, you will be protected from the spirits. It’s a smell that the spirits hate.
All through our training with New Tribes we heard stories similar to these, but now it is our friends who are telling them to us!! Stay tuned – there will undoubtedly be plenty more stories to share in the months and years to come!