Have you ever said something that got lost in translation? A few years ago, our family traveled across country to California. My husband's job took him our there for a few months, so we thought it would be a wonderful opportunity for the kids to see other parts of our country. We ended up staying in an area that was primarily Hispanic. Our hotel was wonderful and the staff of course became like family since we were there for a few months.
The staff, which was primarily Hispanic, spoke both Spanish and English. Now, my husband is the world traveler of the family having served in the Army for several years. He knows enough words and phrases in other languages to be able to function when English isn’t spoken. Stay with me…it gets better.
He is always sharing different phrases with the kids such as "inshallah" which is Arabic for "God willing" or in this particular case "Hola cómo está ese" which is "Hello, how are you"…or at least that is what we thought. The hotel staff just adored the kids…always looking forward to see them.
One morning, Newbia was preparing breakfast. She was responsible for preparing breakfast each morning for the guests. Newbia had a very strong Spanish accent. She was very disciplined and didn’t tolerate much. She took everything serious and never laughed much. One particular morning, our youngest daughter who was five at the time rounded the corner and looked up at Newbia and confidently said, “Hola cómo está ese?" Well, Newbia did all she could to keep a straight face…and when she couldn't hold it any longer, she began to laugh. She asked our daughter to repeat herself and she did. Newbia began to laugh even more because the phrase that our daughter was using was slang... basically saying “what’s up homie!” Now, imagine it coming from our adorable little girl who we affectionately call "Big Sugar" with her pigtails and toothless smile.
We all had a good laugh. Newbia hugged her up and loved all over her. My point is that scripture tells us that the greatest of all is LOVE. While many things can get lost in translation, everyone can speak the universal language of love and speak it fluently.
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