The re-occuring theme in these entries is language. Since I deal with it everyday it has become a big source of education, frustration and some humour. Moving to a foreign country and living in very remote areas where there is almost no possibility of english reminds me of early childhood.
The first thing is the way I communicate with a non-english speaker. Complete sentences are useless and the chance of getting your message across is greatly improved by only including the important words in a conversation. This is a typical conversation for me with some of the employees….
‘David, you live Canada?’
‘yes, Canada’
‘How like Russia?’
‘Like Russia, very good. You live city, here?’
‘No, live (some undiclosed town) far’
‘David, family?’
‘Family, Canada. You, family?’
‘Yes. wife, boy, girl, home’
‘Ok’
- long silence……
‘Hockey….like?’
‘yes, like hockey’
Also, if the language gets to be too much then almost everything, can be answered with with a series of grunts/sound effects and hand signals, as I’m sure I did when I was young. So far, I have struggled but have been able to get what I need without resorting to throwing a fit and crying hysterically, but i’m not above it.
I’ve been very appreciative of the way I’m taken care of here but the reference to my childhood didn’t really click in until recently when I was travelling with an operator and an young female training engineer, fresh out of university to a wellsite in Siberia. The operator (driver) did not speak much english, but the girl spoke it fairly well and was well used as a translator during the trip. At one pit stop, this ~ 22-year old girl turned to me and said..
‘David, you need use toilet? ‘
‘I’m 28 years old, I would have said something if i needed to….oh wait, there it is. Yes, I suppose i do.’
The first thing is the way I communicate with a non-english speaker. Complete sentences are useless and the chance of getting your message across is greatly improved by only including the important words in a conversation. This is a typical conversation for me with some of the employees….
‘David, you live Canada?’
‘yes, Canada’
‘How like Russia?’
‘Like Russia, very good. You live city, here?’
‘No, live (some undiclosed town) far’
‘David, family?’
‘Family, Canada. You, family?’
‘Yes. wife, boy, girl, home’
‘Ok’
- long silence……
‘Hockey….like?’
‘yes, like hockey’
Also, if the language gets to be too much then almost everything, can be answered with with a series of grunts/sound effects and hand signals, as I’m sure I did when I was young. So far, I have struggled but have been able to get what I need without resorting to throwing a fit and crying hysterically, but i’m not above it.
I’ve been very appreciative of the way I’m taken care of here but the reference to my childhood didn’t really click in until recently when I was travelling with an operator and an young female training engineer, fresh out of university to a wellsite in Siberia. The operator (driver) did not speak much english, but the girl spoke it fairly well and was well used as a translator during the trip. At one pit stop, this ~ 22-year old girl turned to me and said..
‘David, you need use toilet? ‘
‘I’m 28 years old, I would have said something if i needed to….oh wait, there it is. Yes, I suppose i do.’
No comments:
Post a Comment