“Phonetics is dangerous.”

Le 19 fevrier    Starting day one, Dad’s been keeping a Kinyarwanda-English dictionary. Everywhere we go, he pulls out his little blue notebook and asks whoever he may be speaking with a new phrase and then to say it slowly for him so that he can make a phonetic notation. I’ve got a few priceless pictures of my father asking waiters, door men, people in market how to say some phrase in Kinyarwanda and it’s hard to tell which party is enjoying it more.

He’s been quite a meticulous student and has been picking up quite a few phrases that have been getting laughs and smiles all over this little country. At mass today, Mom and Dad met my friend Thomas. Thomas is quite a card – he’s fun-loving, smiles more than not, and loves theatre. He never ceases to make me laugh. Today, though, it was his turn to witness a performance – my dad’s Kinyarwanda act.

Being simultaneously impressed and entertained, Thomas then asked to see this notebook. Looking down at the paper, he was quite perplexed. “But this isn’t correct spelling at all.”

“Thomas, he spells out the word in a special way so that he is able to pronounce it properly. It’s called Phonetics.”

“Ahh.” he said with a big, beautiful smile. “Phonetics is dangerous.”