right back atcha

So, I've been sitting in on a Beginning Setswana course at UB. It meets three evenings a week for four weeks. It's a little disorganized, but not horribly so, and the teacher is both very good and very sweet.

Now, I don't really need Beginning Setswana -- at least, I don't need to go through the greetings for the umpteenth time. We haven't really covered material that's new to me, although I must admit the review has been quite helpful. I've found the course's real utility to be in the fact that it seems to encourage me to at least try out my broken Setswana in everyday situations.

This has led me to the following observation. When I manage to say something in Setswana, at least half the time the Setswana-speaker to whom I've spoken repeats back to me exactly what I've said, and then chuckles.

Example:

A: O tswa kae? (Where do you come from?)
B: Ke tswa kwa America. (I come from America)
A: 'Ke tswa kwa America.' Ha, ha, ha...

Sometimes the conversation continues in Setswana. (More often than not my Setswana breaks down mid-conversation; Batswana speak quickly, and it's hard to keep up.) Sometimes this happens more than once in a given exchange. I really don't take it personally -- it's not malicious, or even mocking, laughter. It's more the sort of laugh you give when your five-year-old manages to use a four-syllable word, or when your cat dances on its hind legs: a mixture of appreciation, amusement and dismissal.

That said, I really don't mind, because I get enough positive feedback for even attempting to converse in Setswana, however feebly, that it rather rolls off my back.