Inculcate!

Hey all,

“We seek to inculcate within members a feeling of brotherhood and popular participation in poultry projects…”
“Inculcate?” Really? Actually, I’ve encountered this word twice in the past week…and that’s pretty much two more times than in the whole of the rest of my life, and I thought it was worth a mention. I’ve thought a lot about language since being here, and the ideas that language is meant to relate, and the status symbol of using one language over another.
The chicken group that I’ve been working with has been on hold for a little while. Yes, or grant was approved by the grant committee, but before we could get the money, the man whose job it is to give final approval and write us a check was released from his job. We’re waiting for the UNDP to hire someone else. We’ve been waiting for some time…but we’re patient. This is development. Anyhoo, we’re using our time wisely, to review and revise our group’s constitution. Its written in very flowery, wordy, English and I’m not at all convinced that the general members of the group understand it. We’ve had trouble with people not following the rules laid out in the constitution, so I suggested that maybe revising the wording to make it more straightforward might be a step in the right direction. We seek to inculcate a lot of ideas into the membership. I wonder if we might try to encourage these ideas, or foster them. The other word that was repeated unnecessarily much was “quorum.” Quorum, quorum, quorum. Its not that I don’t know what it means, its not that it was used incorrectly. It’s just that its such an odd word to hear from non-native English speakers. Heck, I’m a native speaker, and I’ve never had need to use it. In fact, I think it lends itself rather well to made-up meanings. (Harry and Ron were having quite a difficult time in Herbology class this term. They had yet to harvest enough quorum to complete their potions. All of a sudden, the seed pods with which they were working burst all over them. “Ugh! I’m covered in quorum and it‘s burning my skin!” yelled Ron. See?) So the goal of the meetings with my group has been to simplify, simplify, simplify, an idea that wasn’t as readily accepted as I thought it might be. I’ve over and over been asking, “yes, but what does that mean? What do you mean by that?” but we’re working through it, slowly slowly.
Oddly, later in the week, I again encountered more people wishing to inculcate ideas or qualities in other people. I stopped by just to greet a headmaster at the local primary school. He was working on revising the school’s mission statement, and wanted me to look it over and give suggestions. According to the statement, the school wishes to inculcate in students all the necessary tools to be successful in life. When I asked just what tools these might be, he listed academic skills, which is great. When I asked if there were any personal qualities which he thought were important to inculcate in the students as well. It was interesting what we came up with. We agreed on such qualities as honesty and a good work ethic. But when I suggested inculcating such qualities as independence and self-sufficiency, these were met with reticence. Even when he was trying to get a word out of me, and defined it as “being able to provide for yourself and your family without resorting to banditry” So self-sufficiency? No, he really didn’t like that idea, it was too focused on the self. Interesting. Yet another time when I am forced to remember how damn American I am, how American my values are, and indeed how well inculcated I was with them throughout my childhood.

Anyway, with both of these documents that my counterparts are trying to write, it was very important to them that they were in English, and even more so, in complicated English. It’s a status thing. But I’ve wondered for awhile just how much is lost in translation. From English to Mandinka, I can get the words right, and surface ideas across, but I think that important connotation, much of which cannot be really explained is lost. Its more obvious to me when it is someone speaking English for whom it is not their native tongue. Even if their words are correct, sometimes I am still pretty sure that what they have said is not what they meant. Or what it means to me, is not what they meant to say exactly. I’m sure it goes the other way. What are we not communicating to each other?
Oh man, I set the goal of saying inculcate 10 times in this entry.
Inculcate!