What Language Barrier?

Let me paint this picture for you…a picture of life lived overseas:

Yesterday there were four men in my driveway having a conversation.  Matthew, who speaks English and a little French.  Pepe, who speaks French and a little Lingala.  Mosengo, who speaks French and Lingala, and a teeny bit of English.  And Orelik, who speaks English, Lingala, and probably French, though I’m not actually sure.  There’s a good likelyhood, too, that Mosengo and Orelik also speak Kikongo, but I don’t think it came up yesterday.  The back and forth of trying to have a discussion, which really did involve all four of them, and the translation, understanding, misunderstandings, and gesturing were hilarious.  I just stood there, just outside their circle, in total amusement.  I kept laughing at the hilarity of having a conversation in four different launguages.  Mosengo translating for Pepe.  Orelik translating for Matthew.  And around the circle it went.  Thankfully, it was a happy, boisterous conversation.

The topic?  Bunnies.  But that’s for another post, another day.