Foreign Correspondence

I've totally been neglecting this blog. I don't want each update to be the same ol' boring, "Today I studied Portuguese object pronouns," so unless I have something useful to say, I refrain from posting. As a blogger, I don't know which is worse: talking about boring things or not talking at all.

At least this time I have something a little more interesting to post. In January of this year, I began sponsoring a girl from Haiti through Compassion International. It was sort of by accident, because I had originally expected to sponsor a girl from the Dominican Republic, but at the time they apparently didn't have any urgent need for a sponsor in any of their programs there, so the info I got ended up being for a girl from Haiti. A few months later, I began sponsoring a girl from Brazil and another girl from Nicaragua.

I don't know Haitian Creole at all, so have been writing and will continue to write in English with perhaps a sprinkling of Creole thrown in for good measure. For example, she turned ten yesterday, so I sent her a quick email to wish her a happy birthday and included a short Bible verse in Creole.

I do, however, know enough Spanish and Portuguese to be able to write simple letters to an eight- and six-year old girl. The problem is that I don't know if I should. I don't want to cause any hassles or confusion. That said, in the letter writing section of their FAQs, they do say it's perfectly fine to write in the child's native language, because the translation staff will go over the letters no matter what, so either way, it's gonna be looked at and perhaps modified where appropriate. I guess it's pretty obvious I'm leaning toward writing in Portuguese and Spanish, though if I do, I think the best thing is to be consistent and commit to sticking with whatever language I initially write in.

BTW, if you'd like to hear or try to read Creole, check out VOA.