Doing my translation homework, I looked up the Vietnamese word, “buc,” and found it had three meanings: picture, face, or sultry.   That’s not confusing. While face and picture could sort of be related, sultry was definitely the odd man out. What’s worse, I tried substituting each of these words into the sentence, but none of them made sense. Which means that...

Burma ethnics never wanted to be Thai citizens. They never wanted to own land in Thailand. These desires were forced on them by a terrible situation, which forced them to become refugees, something else, they never wanted. Given their choice, most would return to a democratic Burma, and work as farmers, in their traditional way of life. In fact, to say that they want a...

My entire Vietnamese course consists of a single textbook, THE textbook for Saigon, two teachers, and a whiteboard. There is nothing else. There are no videos, no significant listening exercises, no workbook, no supplemental reading, no newspaper articles, and no novels or stories.   I asked my teacher if there were other materials I could by to supplement our learning....

When I was in China, I was admitted into the hospital, suffering from severe stomach issues and dehydration. The doctor asked me what was wrong. I didn’t know how to say diarrhea. So, instead, I said, “Last night, I went to the bathroom twenty five times. And now there is no water in my body.”   The doctor understood what I needed and he treated me. Then he called...