And now, just for fun, Galego 西班牙語與該亞哥省方言的有趣對照

free hit counters

宣教士在西班牙生活的趣事
女兒與女婿在2007年9月帶著三個小孩（4歲及2歲多的男孩及剛出生不久的女孩）去西班牙西北角的“世界盡頭之城”La Coruna (A Coruna)擔任宣教士。該市是西班牙該亞哥省(Galego)的省會。該亞哥省有自己的語言，是西班牙四種語言中的一種，介於葡萄牙語和官方西班牙語之間。小孩上當地公立學校，要學官方西班牙語及該亞哥省方言，加上英語。這裡轉載一篇女兒在2009年發表在她的部落格裏面的文章，還滿有趣的。去年8月女兒在那裡又生了他們的第四個小孩，是個男生，然後今年七月因為宣教工作的需要舉家遷往南邊一些的聖地亞哥市。

Missionary’s Life in La Coruna, Spain
Faith Walter

And now, just for fun, Galego!
Posted: 17 Sep 2009 03:36 PM PDT Sweet Road Blog
http://thesweetroad.com/2009/09/18/and-now-just-for-fun-galego/
其他文章請見 http://thesweetroad.com/

One wrinkle in our lovely life is that here in the province of Galicia, the official language is not Castellano (the "Spanish" many people learn) but a language called Galego. All of the legal and official documents are written out in Galego, and in Brennan and Ryan's school, half of their day is spent in Galego and the other half is in Castellano. If you speak to people in Castellano they understand you and speak it back, but for the natives of Galicia, Galego is their heart language. It's best described as a mix between Portuguese and Spanish, and though some words are very similar between Castellano and Galego, it is an entirely different language and therefore complicates things since it means that we're trying to process two new languages at once. Today was a great example, when we received this note from Brennan's school:
"Estimados/as pais/nais: No curso que comeza, a área de Educación Física pide a súa colaboración para que os/as nenos/as cumpran unhas normas básicas de hixiene persoal. Desde a primeira semana de clase o alumnado deberá traer o material deportivo necesario e imprescindible para a práctica da Educación Física. Referímonos ó seguinte: chándal, calzado deportivo, unha bolso de aseo (xel ou xabrón, unha toalla [calquera tamaño], unha camiseta de resposto)."

When I get a note from the school - (did I mention that all official documents are written in Galego??), I always have to take a deep breath and concentrate hard when I'm reading it. So OK. I got most of the note. One word - and one word only, hallelujah! - tripped me up: reposto. From the context, I can guess at what it means, but I'm not sure, so I get out my Galego-Castellano dictionary:

I don't see resposto in the Galego/Castelán side, but I think that maybe it's a derivative of a verb repostar? I don't see that word, but I do see repostaría, which is defined as repostería in Castellano.
Out comes the Spanish-English dictionary:

I find that repostería means "confectionery" or "confectioner's shop." Um, that sounds too much like chocolate, and since I can't imagine them needing a camiseta of chocolate for gym class, I look above repostería and find repostar which is a verb - in Castellano but not in Galego?? - that means "to replenish." Wonderful! My guess from the context of the note was right - Brennan will need an extra shirt for gym class. So the entire note reads, "Estimated fathers/mothers: In the course that starts, the area of Physical Education asks for your collaboration so that the children will fulfill some basic rules of personal hygiene. From the first week of class the student should bring athletic items necessary and essential for the practice of Physical Education. We refer to the following: sweats, sneakers, a toiletry bag (gel or soap, a towel [any size], a change of t-shirt)."

I'm happy to now know what the note says, but I feel a bit drained by the tedious activity of looking up words in two dictionaries and the mental energy needed to go from one language to another to another! This same scenario gets played out several times a month.

The good thing is that the longer we're here the more Galego we're starting to recognize; being handed something written in Galego isn't nearly as overwhelming as it used to be. Sometimes people ask if we've had any dreams in Spanish yet. We always say no, which is the truth so far. We feel like those dreams will come soon, though, since we really have been immersed in Castellano through language classes, talking with friends, and getting involved with our Spanish church. Nevertheless... if I ever start dreaming in Galego... I'll know that I've grasped this strange and beautiful new language that we'd never even heard about a few years ago. ¡Vivamos como Galegos!