Languages Are Flying II

This was the most complicated situation at the Rroma Workers conference this past week. The first man spoke in Hungarian. The second man translated into Romanian. The third man translated into English. We all understood.

Communication with a Romany brother from Bulgaria was actually more straight-forward. He spoke English to me; Russian/Bulgarian to Petru from Moldova; Russian and Romani to Eduard, a Romany brother from Moldova.

I made an instant connection with a lovely young woman from Romania when I asked for "pani" (water), one of the few words I know in Romani. Fortunately, it is the same in practically all Romani dialects.

And in the midst of all the Australians, British folks, and English-as-a-second-language speakers, it was a sheer delight to meet a man from the state in America where I was born. Someone who spoke my dialect!

Mary, born in Kalamazoo