As I write, we’re driving to the snow for the weekend.
My beloved (linguistically impaired) husband is playing a “Learning Bahasa Indonesia” podcast while he’s driving and I’m about to stab myself in the eye.
The teacher’s boring drone is ruining my concentration.
The annoying Indonesian “tinkle tinkle” traditional gamelan music in between modules is causing extreme nausea.
Torture. Doesn’t even come close.
Now, you may wonder why Mr Surfer has to outsource while he has an Indonesian born wife.
If anyone’s seen the episode of ‘Friends’ where Phoebe tries to teach Joey French, then there’s your reference point.
He asks what a word is in Indonesian.
I tell him.
He asks me to repeat it. S-l-o-w-l-y.
I comply.
Nope. Still doesn’t register.
“How do you spell it? I’m a visual person. I need to SEE it,” he implores.
Oh, right. THAT’S the problem.
My parents who have no patience for me but have saved it all up for their beloved son-in-law, even they’ve given up on him.
The last straw was when my mother asked him if he was enjoying her special homemade fried chicken.
“Enak?” (Delicious?) she asked.
Despite, misinterpreting “enak” for “empat” (Indonesian for “four”), Mr Surfer thought he nailed it.
“No. It’s not four o’clock yet ” he replied while continuing to eat.
You know, I was actually going to write about the twinions and their developments as future comedians.
But, seriously. I just want to jump out of the car right now.
So, while I continue to painfully listen to Mr Surfer’s inability to roll his “R’s”, I present you with the twinions’ very first knock knock joke.
While the boys cheesy sense of humour is akin to their father’s, crossing fingers and toes that they’re linguistic abilities will be a different story.
What’s your favourite knock knock joke? What have you tried to teach your partner? Was it successful or an epic fail?
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I am like your husband. Linguistically challenged!
I have tried and failed many times to learn a new language.
Enjoy the snow!
Wave to me in Canberra on the way past.
Leanne @ Deep Fried Fruit
Ah, those twinions get cuter every week. This is my kids’ favourite right now: Knock Knock – Who’s there?- Little old lady – Little old lady who? – Oh, I didn’t know you could yodel?! Ideally this joke should be told very loudly with lots of emphasis on the yodelling! Have a great trip, despite the obvious frustrations 🙂
I heard one the other day that only works if you’ve seen Frozen-
Knock knock
Who’s there?
You.
You who?
Yoo-Hoo! Big Summer Blowout! (pic for reference https://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/c7/b4/1e/c7b41e3282ee4e21ea0ce3ec90f2b691.jpg)
It did make me chuckle!
Oh bless him. That reference point made me laugh. I always think I’m pronouncing words better than I probably do too in other languages. Year 7 French and Italian classes gave me false confidence. I used to get an ‘international’ accent when travelling. I’d speak so carefully so people could understand me. Embarrassing to think back… Good luck to you and hubby. I hope it’s a short trip. 🙂
I learned Japanese in high school, I’m terrible at pronouncing anything in French and sound like a bogan when I try to attempt any word. I find languages interesting, but I’ve never really stuck to learning a full language. (In year 12 they stopped us studying Japanese which meant we had to teach ourselves and it sucked because I prefer to have a teacher to help)
I am with you Grace – I don’t bother to teach my hubby things…. it is bad for our marriage 🙂 Your boys are so gorgeous!!!
Ha ha, yep. My husband speaks fluent and flawless Russian (he’s been mistaken for a native speaker while in Moscow a couple of times) but he just can’t seem to get his mouth around French. It baffles me, because to me they feel fairly similar to speak in some ways!
Haha, I love that episode! And Phoebe saves the day at the audition. ‘He thinks he’s really speaking French. Can you just play along?’ “WAY TO GO, BUDDY!” My husband’s not so good with languages either. I pick them up pretty quickly. It’s been 14 years since I’ve studied any French but I managed to have a pretty detailed conversation with someone on the tram the other day. It’d be a different story with Japanese, though. I remember ‘I am fifteen years old’, ‘I walk to school’ and ‘It’s nice weather today, isn’t it?’, and not much else. x
Your twins are the cutest!! I tried teaching myself French last year using an app and failed miserably!
Oh that’s hilarious. Bless him, at least he’s still trying though! Twinions are so cute:-) Knock knock jokes are the best.
We are half contemplating an 8000 km plus round road trip for our next venture back to NSW from Perth. You’ve just given me food for thought as to how to occupy the countless hours/days travelling in the car with all five of us.
Oh gosh I’m with you Grace. I have the patience of an ant! I could never teach anyone another language!!!
Have a great weekend in the snow – I’m sure the torturous language lesson will be worth it. I’ll be working on my Sanscrit – eg dandayamana bibkhaktapada passchimottanasana. Twins make knock-knock jokes even cuter.
Awww.. but at least he’s taking the effort to LEARN more about your culture and language 😛
Keep up the good work Mr Surfer!
Ai @ Sakura Haruka
Poor Mr Surfer. Still cracking up over “no it’s not four o’clock yet.”!!!
Your boys, they’re so sweet!!!! Swap ya?
Grace, your joke tellers are the best!
Bell is learning Indonesian at school, and she loves it. But will John teach her Chinese? No!! It frustrates me so much, because I think she’d pick it up so easily.
That scene in Friends cracks me up every time x
I understand perfectly where your husband is coming from.
My partner is Greek and in 9 years together I now understand the words:
good, handsome, slut, mouse, stomach, poo, fringe (the harir), and fart.
All very handy in conversation (not). I can’t even create one sentence.
PS this is not for lack of trying.
I don’t even want to contemplate how annoying it would be trying to teach trent another language, its annoying enough trying to explain stuff to him in english most times!
Grace, I love the new look of your blog. Great update. Looks fabulous.
I can’t imagine learning Indonesian. I remember being in the bali airport for hours listening to that horrible ting ting music. It does do your head in. I grew up speaking spanish fluently and I wish so much that I still knew it that well …
Gosh, I haven’t visited you in toooo long! How cool is this new look you’ve got going on here? Love it!
This post reminds me of what happens when my husband and I try to work out together. He’s fitness challenge and it never works out well LOL
Oh Grace that cracked me up so much!!! I’m totally imagining Mr Surfer as Joey now! Also the gamelan, whilst beautiful, sounds terrible on those lessons. Too much of a good thing for sure
Yep, been there. I have tried to teach my husband both French and Arabic and he is helpless.. Surprisingly, he seems to get straight away the bad words…
Your twins are adorable!
There’s also the factor that he may speak Indonesian like a woman, if you or your mom continued to teach him. That’s what happened to my husband – he started speaking Japanese like a housewife!
Oh I am sending you virtual strength to get through those podcasts, it does sound painful. Hopefully the boys are absorbing some of it too 🙂 May make your job a little easier. I used to adore joke books at primary school, I went through a phase there. Knock knock. Whos there? Orange. Orange you glad to see me 🙂
I love that episode of Friends!!
I am sure I commented already, but couldn’t see it here? So, again, good luck with his road trip! Sounds like you need it.