To be completely honest, I went into my year with the intention of getting by without learning Faroese. I figured it's a language that I'm never going to use again, and everyone speaks English anyways - so what's the point?
Here's the point - I can't understand sh** that anyone says. It makes me feel bad that people have to go out of their way to speak English so that I can understand and be included in the conversation. I am in THEIR country, and I need to learn to speak their language. Within two days of being here, I made the decision that I will learn to speak, write, read and understand Faroese. I want to understand. I don't want to spend my year constantly asking people to speak English.
So, over the past week I have learned to count to ten. I have learned how to greet people, and how to form a few sentences. I know some words here and there - for example, "ganga" means walk - but I'm sure my vocabulary will continue to grow. My host family has been excellent at helping me learn. They speak slowly and repeat what they said in english afterwards. I find that the more I speak Faroese to my host sisters, the more they speak English to me. It's a unique exchange, but all of us get to learn from it. My sisters are both great at telling me how to say certain things in Faroese. Sometimes I say the wrong thing, but we all get a good laugh from it. :) My whole host family is so patient and helpful as I learn, and I couldn't be happier about it!
We visited Bergtóra's sister and her family the other day for dinner. Among many other children, her sister has a four or five year old daughter, who was very giggly and absolutely adorable. She asked Bergtóra if I could count to ten in Faroese, so I did. The shy smile on her face warmed my heart! She then counted to ten in English, and buried her face in her mom's lap after. She was just so cute! It was a moment to remember, that's for sure!
Mirjam, my rotary counselor, has also set me up with an old rotarian man named Eilif. He is about 80 years old and has offered to teach me how to learn Faroese! A few times a week I meet up with him at his house in Tórshavn. He is very sweet, and incredibly generous in helping me learn!
My goal is to be able to understand most of what people are saying in three months.
Farvæl, everybody.
Katie
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