"I Don't Think That Means What You Think It Means"

While preparing to visit Poland last summer we bought a set of Polish language Cd's to learn some basic phrases. One of the things we learned was nie rozumiem or nie rozumiem po polsku which means I don't understand or I don't understand Polish. We thought if all else fails just whip out this phrase and people will either stop talking to us or at least switch to another language. (Many Poles in this area speak German, which we speak from our days in Germany and has allowed us to get by in some situations.)

We've met several people who don't have the same understanding of what this phrase means as we do. One morning a couple got on the bus. The wife was struggling with getting her ticket stamped, so Chuck reached over to help her. The husband turned and smiled at us and began to chatter away gesturing at his wife and his boot. Chuck politely told him, "Nie rozumiem". So the man, still chuckling about the story he'd been telling us, starts again from the beginning of his story. This time with more gestures and more laughing. This happened three times before we got to our stop and were able to get off the bus. The man just waved and smiled as we left. I'm sure he had no idea that we didn't understand a single word he'd said.

With that experience in mind, we decided that it would be important to say I don't understand Polish, not simply I don't understand. Well, you would think that would solve the problem...

I've told two different people, nie rozumiem po polsku. Both people responded that yes, you do understand, and proceeded to talk to me in Polish! At least one person realized that I really didn't speak Polish, but did ask (in Polish) if I lived in Olsztyn and if my husband was Polish, and if I was English. When I told him Jestem Amerykanka, he placed his hand over his heart and said, "Ahh, the United States of America." We actually had a very nice conversation in which I was able to practice all the phrases I learned over the last month.

I asked our language teacher why people continued to talk to us after we said, nie rozumiem. She just smiled and shrugged her shoulders and said, "Perhaps you say it too well". That may be one phrase it doesn't pay to master!

Please pray that we will quickly be able to speak and understand Polish and be able to adequately share the gospel with those we meet.

Today is Independence Day please pray also that the Polish people will find freedom in Christ.