English

Yesterday Beth and I were visiting in the Gach. It was a strange day with lots of folks out on the street at a time when it’s usually rather calm. Beth and I had some great conversations (and also some rather disturbing conversations/observations – but that’s a blog for another day).

I was talking with a girl and of course we ended up talking about marriage (I really can’t tell you how many times I’ve had conversations about if I’m married, why I’m not married, what sort of guy I’m looking for, and if they can arrange my marriage for me). After confirming that I wasn't married, she asked about my sisters. I told her I was going home for my sister’s wedding in September. And then she asked me if my sister spoke Bengali. I said no, my sister only speaks English. And then she asked me what I was going to do when I went to America. At first I didn’t understand, so she clarified, “when you go to America you’ll have to speak English. What will you do?”  and then it clicked…somehow she didn’t realize that I also speak English (in addition to my mistake-riddled, poorly pronounced Bangla!). 

It was really an interesting interaction..and actually rather affirming…I apparently speak this language well enough to convince at least one person that Bengali is my only means of communication. Pretty cool…also…funny.