I’m not one to complain…
Well, maybe a little.
This last week we went from parts of the body (Pati a pou kò a) to “common and popular” idioms and proverbs that use parts of the body to make the point.
And I’m telling you, it was like going from 0 to 60 in three seconds because understanding the meaning of idioms in any language is hard. English has them, of course, so it’s not like it’s unusual for kreyòl to have them. But holy cow, was it trè difisil to wrap my head around them to figure out what they meant.
Even reading the explanations for what they mean was hard.
The “proverb” or “idiom” expressed by this? Se pa paske yon moun ap ri avè w oubyen li janti avè w, ki vle di se zanmi w li ye.
It’s “Bèl dan pa vle di zanmi pou sa.”
“Beautiful teeth do not mean a friend for/like that.” Or, “a good smile doesn’t make someone your friend.”
Because of course even “vle di” isn’t “wants to say.” It’s an idiom meaning “means.” So “Se pa paske yon moun ap ri avè w oubyen li janti avè w, ki vle di se zanmi w li ye” is “It’s not because a person is laughing with you or is kind with you what/that means it’s a friend with you.”
And then that gets transmogrified as “beautiful teeth” and not “bèl souri” (literally, “beautiful smile”) because of course that would be straightforward and we can’t have something simple like that. No souri. (Pun intended.)
Sigh…
I’m not at all upset or anything because learning a new language is more than just memorizing words. And any language is going to have these slanted ways to get a point across.
Still, it’s difficult.
At least the last one in the group wasn’t too hard. Nou itilize lè yon sitiyasyon konplike. (“We use this when a situation is complicated.”) O pwofesè! Tèt chaje! (my head is full)