“Devlenye”

May 8, 2011

 

Let me tell you something interesting about language acquisition:

 

When you learn a language through immersion, the words you learn fastest are those that are most useful to you in daily life. 

 

Last week, I came to work and they told me one of my coworkers was in the hospital.  When I asked what was wrong, the English speaker hesitated and told me she didn't know how to say "devlenye" in English.  Without missing a beat I respond: "High blood pressure."  Then I caught myself, and what had just happened. It made me laugh, but in a sad way.  I learned the word "devlenye" out of necessity.  This is the third person in two months that I've seen go to the hospital for high blood pressure.  Sure, loads of people have "devlenye" at home, but it doesn't mandate a hospital stay most of the time, does it? Here, it is as much a part of daily life as the standardized tests prep at school and spring-cleaning at home.

 

Living in Kazakhstan, I need to know how to say, "I'm full," and "thank you." "I don't know" was an important addition to my vocabulary. "Electricity" has proven quite helpful. And yes, even "high blood pressure" is unfortunately useful in my day-to-day conversations.