BHUTAN - THIMPU

One of the differences or challenges you encounter after a while abroad, or in my case in Bhutan, is the language. While I am taking a compulsory beginner's course in the national language Dzonkha at Royal Thimphu College, I still have problems communicating with others. The main focus of the module is to help us communicate a little better in everyday life. There are no dramatic communication barriers as the university is in English and most people can speak English relatively well. Nevertheless, I always notice that people fall back into their own language, which can sometimes be quite annoying when you have to do a group project together, for example. 

Especially in social interactions this happens more often, which is understandable if you are the only person who doesn't speak the language. Another situation I remember is when we were watching a basketball game together and comments were made amongst ourselves about the game, but unfortunately I couldn't participate, leaving me feeling a little left out. But if you point it out, they are receptive to speaking English. Sometimes I can also guess the context of the conversation, which is due to the many Englishisms in the language. Although this is of course interesting for me, it is also a concern for the country that its language is slowly but surely dying out. Since the country only has started to open up to the world in the 1970s with the help of India, there is now a great deal of interest and curiosity in the outside world. TikTok and other social media apps are therefore very popular, especially among the younger generation, which greatly improves the citizens' English. This is also beneficial in the sense that many students I have met are interested in going to Australia or America to work after their studies, as you earn significantly more there. Of course, this also requires international tests such as the IELTS certificate. 

But it's not just me who has some problems with the language, because I've also noticed that some of the students have their own difficulties. This is because there are so many different dialects in Bhutan, which surprised me a lot considering that the country is only 38,394 km² in size. This is because a lot of the boarder students at the university come from different parts of the country. One of my friends 'Kaydee' who also lives on campus explained to me that there are nineteen different dialects in total. For example, Nepali is spoken in the Southern part of Bhutan, while Sharchop is spoken in the Eastern part. But since we as students at the Royal Thimphu College do not have to pay the 'Sustainable Development fee, which is 100 dollars a day and therefore the most expensive tourist tax in the world, we unfortunately do not have the privilege of traveling through all of Bhutan. However, it is possible for us to request a travel permit from our college to parts of the country. But it was particularly interesting for me to see the many other tourists in Thimphu, the main town, who all walk around with a tour guide, which is obligatory as a tourist in the country, something I have never seen before. They are taken to the most beautiful places in the country and the historical background is explained to them, which is great. Nevertheless, I am all the happier to have the opportunity and permission to discover the country on my own. Living on campus is a great way to get to know the students better, who, as mentioned above, all come from different parts of the country. I am especially pleased to be invited home by friends, where I can experience traditional Bhutanese family life for a while this summer.

However, I am looking forward to improving my Dzonkha in the near future and feeling even more connected to the culture. It helps me to test my newly acquired language skills in situations such as in a cab or when shopping.