Learning Burmese can be fun!

Burmese have their own alphabet and charactersSince I joined Columban Lay Mission Programme in 2000, I have had to learn three different languages - English, Filipino (Tagalog) and Spanish, apart from my own native language, Korean. Now, since my assignment to Myanmar last June, I am learning yet another language - Burmese! 

Some people tell me that I am so lucky because I can speak four languages. But honestly I don't have much confidence to speak any of those languages. It seems all languages are mixed up in me!  When my Burmese teacher asks me something in English, many times I answer 'Si!' (yes!) in Spanish since Peru was my last (and unexpected) assignment. When I get surprised, until now I express myself 'Ay, naku! Jesus Maria Josef!' as the Filipinos do! Luckily my two companions in our house, Columba and Lenette, speak Tagalog so we don't have much difficulty among ourselves saying something in Tagalog.

From my past experience of learning different languages I realize that everyone needs some time to get used to speaking a new language.  Some can get the language a little bit faster and some might need more time to get it.

As I see it, I am not a quick learner. So when I arrived in Myanmar, my concern about learning Burmese was not how fast I could get it, but rather how much I could enjoy learning this new language! 

Burmese is a ‘very new language’ for me. In Burmese, they have their own alphabet and characters with four tones including nasal sounds which I am not familiar with. And they use their own characters for numbers as well as using the Arabic numerals (1,2,3…..) so I was not even able to read the bus numbers going to school at the beginning. Their numerals are mostly round shapes that, to me, look like a kind of design and it took me some time to discover how different from each other they are! They look very similar but all are different letters.

After my language class, I practice how to ‘DRAW’ those letters correctly. One by one, I draw the letters repeatedly in a blank notebook. I feel that I have gone back to when I was a six year old child and had just started learning how to write Korean! Thank God, I found that it's interesting. I made a joke to my friends that I fell in love with these lovely Burmese letters. About five months has now passed and the beautiful designs have now become like letters to me.  I can write them more quickly and in a better way without too much confusion. I still need more practice to properly pronounce them but the Myanmar people can get what I am trying to say. How smart they are! 

I remember one TV program in Korea about some elderly people who missed the opportunity, as children, to learn to write in Korean. When they got the chance to learn how to write in Korean in their later life, they really put their heart into their studying. They ‘draw’ the letters very carefully but happily with their shaking hands. It was a beautiful scene and I admired them as I saw their smiles. They wrote their first letter in Korean for their beloved families and to say thanks to their husband, daughters, sons and grandchildren for their support, encouragement and patience.

My Burmese is getting into better shape now. When I am able to write my very first letter in Burmese, I will celebrate by sending it to a Burmese friend of mine.

Columban Lay Missionary Catharina Son comes from Korea and has worked in the Philippines, Peru and now in Myanmar.

Read more from The Far East, April 2016