Battling the Language...

Habakkuk 2:14 - my first Slovene memory verse

Another question I'm commonly asked is how good I am at languages/ am I learning Slovene yet? My answer is always that I'm ok but not as good as my sister. I shouldn't really compare myself as she studied languages at university...

As Slovenia is not a very large country there aren't very many resources in England. Most of the progress will hopefully be made when I actually move to Slovenia. Part of the plan is to take lessons in Ljubljana. In the meantime I use the only app that actually caters for English speakers learning Slovene - Memrise. As with all things the more time I put into it the better I get.

That being said I think Slovene is a very hard language to learn. The hardest part I've come across so far is that they use the dual form. This means that verbs have different endings if one is talking about two people. For example to say 'we have' could be: midva imava (masculine dual), medve imava (feminine dual), mi imamo (masculine plural) or me imamo (feminine plural). The same is true for you or they!

Language lesson over you'll be glad to know! I have been very blessed to have been sent a Slovene Bible which has been a great tool.

I now use this as my main Bible at church and in Bible studies etc. (I do also keep an English Bible close by). Not only has it helped me start to understand the language in a practical way but it has given me a new insight on different Bible translations. I am starting to have enough understanding that I am able to pick out differences between the English and Slovene texts and so gives a broader view of what is being said. This Sunday was a bit of a triumph for me. It was the first time I was able to read a verse in Slovene before it had been read out in English and understand what was written there. It was made all the more interesting as the English differed in its translation!

This blog post has been very focussed on a topic I know is not as fascinating to everyone as much as me. People ask me the question and start to glaze over slightly if I go into too much detail but this is going to be a massive part of my new life. I should be able to survive in Slovenia using English but as someone helpfully summarised it, I won't reach many people that way!

The language is the culture and I fully intend to embrace it as much as I can! In the meantime I will continue to battle the language and with God's help I will learn the language and people will be able to understand me!