Oh this is not a job I would want.
First- Innes is not good at learning language... any language
Second- Innes has a horrible memory
Third- Innes likes to try to speak new languages (but see first and second )
So there I was in Burmese class. I figured no problem as I had been throwing out "Mingalabars" left and right. Or pay and ya if you will. I love saying this with a smile as I bike to work as quite often I get a smile and a Mingalabar in return. Maybe the smile is along the lines of "oh bless you special boy for trying" or maybe I'm saying it right.
Lisa signed us up for Burmese lessons at the school. Here are a few things I've learned so far.
The basic sentence structure is Noun+ Verb + ending. The ending can tell you if its a question or future tense, etc.
example:
Beer = beer, thout = drink, la = present tense. So I would say "beer thout la" for I drink beer or you drink beer or we drink beer or he drinks beer.
*I'm thinking at his point- I got this*
To make it future- ma la. "Beer thout ma la" (I will drink beer)
Needless to say there are variations- but I will keep trying to learn them- and at the very least if you come to visit we can go and drink beer together.
A few more observations:
a common greeting is Sa be be la = have you finished eating lately?
I asked if there was a greeting along the lines of "how are you?" and was told that in Myanmar if you ask someone how they are they will think "why is it any concern of yours how I am doing? that doesn't matter to you!"
So I will start asking people if they have eaten after I mingalabar them.
Stay tuned- more language lessons coming your way!
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