Sometimes, to my chagrin I can start to get a little cocky in the language learning department. It can be tempting to think that I know something, since I have learned so much since January. This is completely ridiculous, as I am reminded every time I blank out on the Kreyol word for something, or butcher the grammar in the middle of a sentence. Pretty much every time I start thinking that I get a pointed reminder of how much I have yet to learn.
Yesterday was one of those times. Lack of sleep Monday night made my brain a little fuzzy and by the afternoon my language skills were limping along. I was in the middle of clinic and I had a patient with abdominal pain. Since I try to be a good nurse, I asked her to climb up on the examining table and lay down so I could assess her. At least, I thought I asked her to climb up on the examining table and lay down. She gave me a puzzled look and I repeated my request, assuming my accent was too thick to be understood. We went back and forth a couple of times and finally she did what I asked. She climbed up on the table and stood there looking at me. Completely flustered, I called someone in to translate for me since I no longer had a handle on the situation. Apparently I had been using the word for stand, not sit all along.
That, friends, is why I have no business being cocky about my language skills.
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