Mar
20
2008
Adjusting to Romanian Culture
Early on in my Romanian travels, I picked up the book by Catherine Marshall called Christy, the story of a city girl who at age 19 took off to the mountains to become a schoolteacher.
I had read Christy before, but when I read it again during my first year in Romania, it was new to me, for I could relate to many of Christy’s situations. I understood what it meant to deal with strange superstitions regarding health (sweating a fever out, for example). I understood what it meant to go live in a different culture, devoting your life to people who were very different from you. I understood what it was like to not “fit in” when you return to your own home and again inhabit your own culture.
The place you fit is the place you shouldn’t. And the place you should fit, is the place you don’t!
During this time, I still battled the temptation to assume I knew Romanian more than I actually did. A little more than a month after my move to Romania and I was still struggling to understand sentences and grammar structures. Often, there are words that strongly resemble English words, but with a different connotation. “Imediat” in Romanian, therefore, means not “immediately,” but “shortly” or “momentarily.” Another word that even English-speaking Romanians confuse is the English word “nervous”, which closely resembles the Romanian “nervos.” But the Romanian “nervos” doesn’t mean “on edge” or “jittery.” It means “mad” or “angry.” Words can fool you, so I became more cautious in assuming the meanings of familiar words.
(My experience in learning Romanian has led me to this conclusion: pastors need to be cautious with word studies. The fact that a word may sound like another word does not necessarily mean it carries the same connotation.)