Language

During orientation week we were presented with the opportunity to apply for the dual language program here in Macedonia. Whereas most volunteers in MK learn Macedonian, some volunteers learn both Macedonian and Albanian and subsequently live in mixed or predominately Albanian communities within Macedonia. Kacey was chomping at the bit to apply while I was a bit more hesitant. After talking to Colin and Jackie (current volunteers) I was convinced, we applied, and we were accepted. As a result Kacey and I are two of nine trainees learning both Macedonian and Albanian.

For these 11 weeks of training we are living with a Muslim family in a small Albanian village, Cherkeze, outside of Kumanavo. There are seven communities around Macedonia hosting groups for training. Five groups are learning strictly Macedonian while two groups are learning both. We are lucky that every group but ours has five people while we only have four. We are here in Cherkeze with two other Trainees, Amanda and Anna.

Mondays and Tuesdays we attend Macedonian class and Wednesdays, Thursdays, and every other Friday we learn Albanian. Classes are four to four and half hours long and always seem to fly by. It’s a little bit insane trying to learn two completely different languages simultaneously. Complicating things further is the fact that languages are highly localized in Macedonia. Therefore the Albanian we learn in class is different from the dialect we speak with our homestay family, and both are different from the dialect we’ll speak in Tetovo. The same pattern holds true for Macedonian. In Kumanavo the Macedonian is mixed with Serbian and is a different dialect than Macedonian spoken elsewhere.

Macedonian is a Slavic language and it uses the Cyrillic alphabet, which was actually developed here in Macedonia. It is similar to Serbian, Serbo-Croatian, and Bulgarian and is highly phonetic. Albanian is also pretty phonetic, but has more sounds we don’t have in English. Albanian uses a derivative of the Latin alphabet but has 36 characters. Albanian is far more grammatical than Macedonian and is much harder. There are almost no similarities between the two languages and every town and village is called one thing in Macedonian and another in Albanian. Most Albanians can speak at least some Macedonian, but very few Macedonians speak any Albanian.

The most difficult part of the dual language program is trying to compartmentalize the two and keep them straight. Switching back and forth, especially for class is difficult. Our teachers are incredible, especially for not being full-time PC employees. The are only hired on four and a half month contracts. Lidija is our Macedonian teacher and she is the head teacher; she helps coordinate and instruct the other teachers. This is her sixth year working with the Peace Corps and she just celebrated her 36^th birthday. Vahide is 25 and is our Albanian teacher. This is her 3^rd year working for the Peace Corps. She is the only Albanian teacher, so she works with the other dual language group Monday and Tuesday and with us the rest of the week.

Regardless of the challenge and the insanity it is still a blast and a ton of fun!