The end of Orientation week would normally have been the time for us to enter PNG and begin our language and culture training in Mt Hagen, but as I was seven months pregnant by then we had to look at other options. Our leadership made the decision for us to return to Canada to have the baby, but since we had three months on our Australian entry permit, it made sense to spend this time near to the MAF infrastructure and people in Cairns. MAF arranged for us to have a Papua New Guinean tutor in Cairns with whom to work for four weeks on studying the language of Tok Pisin, using the same materials we would have used in Mt Hagen. After the scheduled busyness and built-in community of the Flight Standardisation course and Orientation week, moving into self-directed study was an abrupt change. The guesthouse seemed very quiet as we built our own schedule, with one of us studying and the other spending time with Hannah.
The country of Papua New Guinea has over 800 unique languages and each PNGian will speak his/her Tok Ples ("Talk Place" or language of their home village) with his/her fellow wantoks ("One Talks" or those with the same mother tongue). PNG also has official languages that are useful for communicating between tribes: one is Tok Inglis (English); another is Tok Pisin ("Talk Pidgin"), the language that we are learning. Tok Pisin is unique in that it is a creole (or pidgin) language that has developed over the past couple of centuries primarily from English and a bit of German.
The time that MAF allots for direct instruction in Tok Pisin is generally four weeks. When being sent to a country with a more difficult language, or where english is not spoken (it often is in PNG) it is not uncommon for a missionary to spend a full year learning an new language, alphabet and script. This was the reality for our parents when they studied Spanish (Neufeld) and Nepali (Stevens). I think our parents are enjoying watching us go through similar situation they experienced all those years ago.
Our Tok Pisin tutor was able to provide us with lots of great insight into the town of Mt Hagen (where we will begin our time in PNG) as it was her hometown. She brought photos of the market and taught us about the different produce, how to buy them, and how to use them. A few times, she brought her husband along as well, providing another voice and perspective to learn from.
Hannah's Tok Pisin phrases so far:
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| Balancing study and parenting. Who says men can't multitask?! |
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| Laura with our lovely Tok Pisin tutor. |
The time that MAF allots for direct instruction in Tok Pisin is generally four weeks. When being sent to a country with a more difficult language, or where english is not spoken (it often is in PNG) it is not uncommon for a missionary to spend a full year learning an new language, alphabet and script. This was the reality for our parents when they studied Spanish (Neufeld) and Nepali (Stevens). I think our parents are enjoying watching us go through similar situation they experienced all those years ago.
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| Our final Tok Pisin class in Cairns. We asked our tutor to create an oral "final exam" for us! |
Our Tok Pisin tutor was able to provide us with lots of great insight into the town of Mt Hagen (where we will begin our time in PNG) as it was her hometown. She brought photos of the market and taught us about the different produce, how to buy them, and how to use them. A few times, she brought her husband along as well, providing another voice and perspective to learn from.
Hannah's Tok Pisin phrases so far:
- "Lukim yu!" (See you later!)
- "Naispela kaikai" (good food)
- "Nem bilong mi Hannah" (my name is Hannah)
By the end of our four weeks, we were able to carry on a simple conversation and I'm ready to hit the market! Now it is up to us to keep up what we have learned and add to it during our time in Canada.
