Goal: Master telling time and incorporating numbers 11-12 for this purpose
This week, my language partners and I met twice. We focused heavily on understanding time in Gujarati.
This week I focused heavily on telling time. Gujarat and greater India operate as a polychronic society. To a polychron, time is continuous, with no particular structure. Polychrons see time as a never-ending river, flowing from the infinite past, through the present, into the infinite future. Although this is very true, I figured that time is still an important aspect, as people do ask each other for the time during the work day. So I learned that (Ketla Vagya Che) means wha time is it? I respond with # vagya che. So if it is 2pm then I say, be vagya che.
These were the most important aspect of my learning process this week.
Numbers: (1-12)
1: ek
2. be
3. thrun
4. charr
5. pach
6. cho
7. sathh
8. at
9. now
10. das
11. ugyar
12. byar
and phrases of course: I had to incorporate half, quarter, and three quarters time
sadah: 1/2
suhva: 1/4
pona: 3/4
Gujarati differs from English time in that there are two exceptions
thord: 1:30
uhdhi: 2:30
Pooja drew up a large clock for me. So I have been practicing on the clock.
When I incorporate the additional phrases, I add only one component, the phrase at the beginning.
For example:
It is 3:30, Sadah thrun vagya che
It is 1:30: Thord vagya che
It is 7:45: Pona sathh vagya che
This was an incredible learning experience this week. Time is so essential and can be a great conversation starter. I'm eager to learn it to the point where I don't have to look at a clock and think about it.
Comments
It is such a switch to go from a very Monochronic Worldview to a PolyChronic Worldview. Really interesting.