lost in translation

This morning, at nursery, a classic case of things just not translating very well.

I dropped Luke off first with a cuddle, a kiss and as he was steaming off into the classroom, looking around for who to play with, I said to the teacher in English: 'Here comes Trouble!'

She looked horrified, then worried. 'He isn't trouble!'

Already regretting my choice of words the conversation continued in a mixture of Bosnian and English as I tried to reassure her: 'no no no - it's affectionate. It isn't a bad thing to say!'

'He doesn't have trouble at nursery. He loves it here'

'I know, I know! He must love it here, he looks so happy and is having such fun' (Luke at this point has got hold of a car and with one hand is merrily bashing it on the table making a right old racket whilst stuffing his face with his second breakfast of the day with the other).

'he is always having kisses and cuddles with me and the other teacher and look at all his friends, Toni, Amila. He hasn't got any trouble here'

Really regretting my choice of words now, I try to explain that it doesn't mean anything bad. In fact it actually is a good thing because it means he is confident enough to be a bit naughty which is what toddlers should be.

'so why did you say he was trouble?'

'It's a phrase we use in English, it doesn't mean what it says. It is a good thing.' (Luke by now smearing his breakfast over his hair and starting on his neighbours breakfast)

'Are you having trouble outside of nursery? Any problems with people? You must tell us if you are'

I go back to basics. 'Luke loves the nursery here, he is very happy. I think I just used a phrase that doesn't translate well in Bosnian. He is a very happy boy here and I can see that. I'm sorry for any confusion caused.' (Luke now smearing breakfast over the cupboards and looking every inch a very cheeky toddler who is looking to create all sorts of havoc, which is exactly what a toddler his age should be doing and does show that he is comfortable, happy and confident at nursery).

He isn't trouble. He doesn't have any trouble. He is happy here.

And so on. We went round in circles for a while. I don't think we fully cleared it up. I'm now horrified that they now think that I don't like the nursery, which couldn't be further from the truth. I checked with a translator friend of mine - Bosnian doesn't have an equivalent phrase with the same meaning behind it. In other words, it just doesn't translate.

I think in future I should stick to the simple phrases that mean what they say.

The Legend of Lukey

Luke reached the grand old age of 2 yesterday. Only 2 - it feels like he has been around for much longer (that may be to do with his disincilination to sleep). Full toddlerdom awaits us and I feel he will embrace the terrible twos with enthusiasm. He is a sweet little boy, loud, rumbunctious, stubborn, charming and a real one for an audience. He does exactly what he wants to do. On a walk, he will decide he wants to go back to the car and set off, without looking back or stopping and with or without the rest of us. Luke has taken to Bosnian life with enthusiasm. He likes nursery, he likes the food there and he is loved by the Bosnians who are charmed by his attempts to speak Bosnian and penchant for blowing kisses.

We had a small party for him on Sunday. I made a cake (which tragically collapsed, I have yet to get to grips with the different types of Bosnian flour, and am still trying to work out what might constitute self-raising flour, which most my cake recipes call for). Still the 15 or so people who came round sang Happy Birthday and gamely ate the stodge.

The tradition is that you take a cake to nursery on the day of your child's birthday. I'm quite happy to submit my friends to my baking attempts, but thought better of public humiliation at nursery so I asked Tanja, our lovely cleaner, if she would mind doing the honours. The cake appeared, the biggest cake I have ever seen, resplendent with Bob the Builder on top.

Bosnian cakes are quite different to the British ones, lots of layers and cream and coconut flakes. I have to say, I'm not the biggest fan. But the Bob the Builder cake was greeted with delight at nursery and none of it was left at the end of the day. The nursery did a really great job of making his birthday special - they sang Happy Birthday in English and Bosnian, danced dances and generally had a right old party. He won't remember it, but I do feel he had a pretty decent birthday.

Boslish / Engian

With improving Bosnian language skills comes the recognition that our beloved off spring and dog do not have the fine and majestic names in Bosnian that we were aiming for in English. Rather brilliantly Jessie sounds very similar to 'gdje si' meaning 'where are you'. Never has a dog been more aptly named. Although retrievers are supposed to be the most trainable dog and come back when called, ours must have missed that lesson. Both boys have been through of a phase of shouting 'Jessie' at the top of their voices, clearly imitating their mother who spends rather a lot of time every morning trying to relocate the dog on our walk.

The Bosnians also use gdje si as a form of greeting - a sort of how's it going - and particularly use it for children and dogs. Jess now believes that everyone knows who she is as every one who comes up to make a fuss gives her a pat and mutters gdje si.

Not content with that it turns out that Luke means onion. D muttered darkly in the early hours of yet another morning spent trying to get Luke back to sleep that it was because he can make grown men cry. At least now he has a full head of hair he doesn't look as much like one as he used to.