Today during Tok Pisin devotions I took the opportunity to read, because I can read tok pisin fast, although my weakest place is praying, because I don't practice praying in tok pisin, typically you like to pray in your heart language.
A major difference between English and Tok Pisin is that the "i" is pronounced "EEE"
so when I was reading the story of Josep(h) I got to the word "pilim" which I mistakenly pronounced "pile em" instead of 'peal eem'.
"pile em" means - to make a pile of something and would be spelled "pailim"
"peal eem" means - to feel.
so Joseph cried and hugged Benjamin, in tok pisin is more like "Joseph felt tears and hugged Benjamin" what I apparently said more more like "Joseph piled water and hugged Benjamin"
I read tok pisin rather quickly, and when it comes to Tok Pisin, so long as I am not originating the thoughts, I can hear, read and understand quickly. So as soon as I said this I knew... some folks around me politely and quietly corrected me in murmurs. Out of all of Genesis 45 (in tok pisin it is called Stat (as in Start) 45), I made one pronunciation error, but it was a funny one.
At the end of the reading, I actually got a compliment. I wasn't expecting that.
The reason I chose to read this time was because I saw the chapter was long, Joseph is one of my favorite people in the Bible, and because I know that even though I'm not fluent in Tok Pisin, I can read faster, and I selfishly didn't want to be there for an hour, because we do devotions before work can begin.
It draws for me the ironic difference. They are native speakers, and yet I can read their language better than many of them can. It is because their language is a spoken one and the illiteracy rate is high and the education level is low. It is almost like a switch when we read the Scripture.
A friend of mine can read the Word very slowly and choppily sounding like a fourth grader from the U.S. when reading, but when he puts down the book and speaks on what he read, then the switch flips and he talks fluidly and rapidly. It is the opposite for me. I read fluidly and rapidly and speak more slowly.
