New Language

When you move to a new country of course you have to learn a new language. But imagine my surprise after moving to Israel to discover that dogs no longer said, "bow-wow" nor birds "cheep cheep". (Luckily, cats DO still say "meow", cows still say "moo" and pigs still say "oink" - whew!)

An American friend and I recently got to laughing about Israeli animal sounds. Here is a short list:

Israeli dogs say "hahv-hahv" or "how-how".
Israeli birds say "tzif-tzif".
Israeli ducks say "gah-gah".
Israeli pigeons say "gur-gur".
Israeli frogs say "kvah-kvah" (HUH?).
Israeli roosters say "koo-koo-ree-koo!". (When E attemps to say this it comes out "ree-koo-ree-koo" - lol.)
And an Israeli rider says to his horse "dee-oh, dee-oh" (rather than "giddy-up").

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I remember shortly after arriving in the country, I was living and studying Hebrew at the Immigrant Absorption Center in Kfar Saba. A few weeks after arriving I got a bladder infection and went to the medical clinic. I knew the word (barely) for "test" (Heb.: b'dikah) but didn't know the word for "bladder" so I told the nurse I needed a "peepee test". I'll never forget the peals of laughter from all the nurses and all the people in the waiting room - most of whom were new immigrants as well and whose Hebrew was probably not any better than mine. Needless to say someone told me the correct word for "bladder" (Heb.: sheten) and thanks to this experience it's a word I'll never forget.

It's times like this after moving to a new country where you've got to make a conscious decision just to lose your selfconsciousness, let whatever you're trying to say just fall out of your face and leave it up to your listener to work out what they think you mean. Otherwise you'll give yourself ulcers.