Funny Stories in Diné Bizaad - Taylor (Final)

Yá’át’ééh. Shí éí Tó dich’íí’níí nishłį́ dóó Bit’ahnii báshíshchíín. Naasháshí dashicheii dóó Táchii’nii dashinálí. Taylor Billey yinishyé. K’ad éí Diné Bizaad bíhoosh’aah.

Hello. I am Bitter Water and born for Within His Cover. Bear People is my maternal grandfather’s clan and Red Running into the Water is my paternal grandfather’s clan. My name is Taylor Billey. Currently, I am learning the Navajo language.

I did not grow up speaking Diné Bizaad, the Navajo language. Nor did I grow up immersed in traditional Navajo ways. Although both of my parents are Diné and my mom speaks Diné Bizaad fluently, my siblings and I were not taught to speak Diné Bizaad, the language our grandfather carried with him overseas as a Navajo Code Talker during World War II. Ironic huh.

Growing up, I got tired of not being able to speak or understand Navajo so in high school I took my first Diné Bizaad course and eventually enrolled in community college Navajo language courses. Now, I find myself in Stanford’s second year Diné Bizaad class writing stories like the own below.

Throughout these courses and having four Diné Bizaad professors, my favorite aspect has been listening to stories they heard from their parents and grandparents. Navajo stories are often funny and what makes them especially funny is being told in Diné Bizaad. Even as kid, I remember asking my mom to tell me what the adults were laughing about and she would translate the story in English but conclude, "It’s not as funny in English." Now that I have a stronger Navajo vocabulary, I understand a little better why that is.

Certain words in Diné Bizaad sound similar, are spelled similar, or have grammar rules that "you just can’t explain or understand in English," as my mom says.  And that is truly the beauty of it. My story below highlights how misunderstanding two words makes a grandson and grandmother interaction comical. I based my story on a similar story told by one of my Diné Bizaad bá’olta’í (Navajo language professor.)

The key words in this story are nímasii (ni-mas-ee) meaning potato and mósí (moh-si) meaning cat. The s-ee sound in nímasíí can sound similar (especially if you’re an ’ashkii yázhí (little boy) who mixes up sounds) to si in mósí. These stories emphasize in a subtle comical way why it is important to learn and know the language. Learning these types of humor has been one of my favorite aspects of learning Diné Bizaad 😊

T'áá Ákódí. Ahxéhee’!

That is all. Thank you!