You said what?

It's always been a fear of mine that I would say something horrible in a another language just by mispronouncing something.

For me, it was speaking Navajo to Mr. Salt a few weeks ago.

As I said to Diva in the comments below, Navajo (Dine bizaad) is a tonal language, meaning that where you put the emphasis in a good portion of the words can totally change the meaning of the word. Say it one way, it means this. Say it another, it means that.

So, when we were at the softball game I referenced a few posts ago, there was a grill fired up to cook burgers. Mr. Salt referenced the smoke coming our way in Navajo. Repeating him, I attempted to say the word for smoke. Mr. Salt immediately corrects me.

What I said wasn't smoke.

I had said shit.

Ah, for the joys of learning a new language.

It does has it fun moments. For instance, you can talk about people that give us evil looks (Angry Black Cat referenced this in her blog), and they can be totally confused because they expect Spanish(due to Mr. Salt's coloring). It always throws them for a loop.

Saying "over there" in Navajo can be fun too. The distance to get to o'er there where something is can change from two feet to ten miles depending how long you draw out a certain constant.

And, of course, misspeaking the language isn't always limited to me. Mr. Salt says that when he was little and learning the language, SaltMama had sent him over to his grandma's house for onions. So when he gets there, he tries to ask for onions using Navajo.

He didn't say onion. He said the vulgar word for a woman's lower anatomy.

So grandma was offended and was mad at SaltMama for teaching Mr. Salt dirty words.

Oh, and Mr. Salt's first learned English word?

Shit.

-DineBoo

Frybread Power!

Diamond in the blog post below this asked about frybread, so I decided to post about this since I finally uploaded my pictures.

Frybread is dough fried in shortening or lard until it's crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. The Dine like their frybread just a tad bit more salty than other tribes, so the recipe I use for Mr. Salt adds just a bit more salt.

The recipe for frybread I use calls for:

2 Cups of flour. I use Bluebird Flour from the Rez when I can get it. If not,
use King Author All purpose flour. This is the brand I've found that is closest to BlueBird.

1/2 Tablespoon of Baking Powder. Make sure it's fresh!

1/2 teaspoon plus a little more of salt. This varies a bit since I eyeball it. I can use up to 3/4 of a teaspoon. If you don't like salty food, use a little less than half .

Enough warm water to make a dough ball, about a 1 cup.

Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder in a bowl. Add enough water to form a ball of dough. Note the spoon in the bowl. SaltMama uses her hands to mix the flour and water together. I have long nails, so I use the spoon.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface, and kneed the dough until it's soft, but not sticky. Separate the dough into smaller pieces, about 6 or 7.

Now here's the tricky part: You need to flatten a piece a dough to a uniform thickness. I press the dough ball between the palms of my hands to flatten it out, forming a shape like a miniature pizza. You can use a small rolling pin for this if it's easier for you. SaltMama(and others) can do this really fast by tossing the dough between their hands like a pizza. I'm not up to that level yet. Google some frybread making on YouTube to get a better picture.

Melt enough shortening in a large skillet so that the oil comes halfway up the side. Gently place one of the flattened pieces of dough into the skillet. The dough will cook quickly...and watch out for spatter. When it puffs up, floats and turns brown around the edges, flip the piece of dough with a pair of tongs. Let cook for about two minutes more, then remove when browned. Place frybread onto paper towels towels to drain.

While the dough is cooking, I'm usually flattening another piece of dough. You can do this advance, because if you're not fast enough, the bread can burn. Continue frying the dough, and stacking the frybread on a paper towel.

Voila! You get the frybread pictured at the beginning of the post. You can eat the frybread as is, or drizzle it with some honey. Eat it while it's hot!

The batch pictured here was called my best batch I've ever made by Mr. Salt. Yum!

-DineBoo

P.S. Oh yeah...make sure you have some sort of vent and close the doors to your kitchen when you make frybread. Or open a window.The smell of frybread gets everywhere, so if you don't want to smell like a fried bread at state fair the next day, make sure the vent is on. ;)

"Don't use your lips!"

Whenever SaltMama calls or when Mr. Salt calls her, I try to use it as a chance to practice my understanding of the Navajo language.

Since I've met Mr. Salt, I've learned bits and pieces. It's not an easy language to learn. There's a reason why the military used Navajo Code Talkers in World War II.

Mr. Salt says not to use my lips as much, and concentrate on using my tongue more. It's hard to adapt to since English and the French lessons I took almost require you to use your lips, but I'm working on it.

Why am I doing this? So I can enjoy talking with SaltMama(who knows English) and Mr. Salt more, and to pass along the language to any Zhindians that may come along. Mr. Salt and I both want our kids to know their language.

So for now, I practice. And enjoy Mr. Salt when he speaks it. One of the most beautiful things he has ever said to me is that he loved me in Navajo...and that's not the full translation.

DineBo

What are your clans?

First of all, welcome to my blog! I'm DineBoo, the 'Zhini' of Zhindian Affairs. I've discussed with my husband about creating a blog about our life, so here it is. This will also have commentary on interracial living, issues, Navajo way, and of course, frybread.

So let me introduce my husband, the 'indian' of Zhindian Affairs. I'll say this in English to simplify things:

He belongs to Salt Clan, and is born for the Mexican People Clan. So he'll be called Mr. Salt from now on. If I say his other two clans, people would probably figure out who he is ;)

If we were to create our own clan, it would have to be the Tasty Salt Clan. It's a joke from my mother-in-law.

When Mr. Salt was talking about his family when we were dating, it would often confuse me when he would talk about his many grandmas. Especially when I thought you would only have two grandmas. Now that I know about the clan system, I get it.

So what are your clans?

DineBoo, who passed all but two of the tests to be a Navajo wife. More on that later.