One of the biggest struggles of a new expat has got to be conversation. I’m lucky that I moved to a country where most people can speak English fluently (just like the Philippines, I’d like to point out), but they have a different accent compared to ours, so it still wasn’t easy.
I clearly remember a moment in my first job when my team mate gave me instructions, and after I asked her to repeat what she said thrice, I handed her a pen and paper and said, “Can you please write down what you said? I really didn’t understand.” :-S
Another memorable scenario happened over lunch with a couple of local Chinese colleagues and an Indian foreigner. The locals Desmond and Ewee asked Nidhi what she had shopped for her family. “Did you buy a Malayan?” they asked her. “Yes I did,” she replied. “I can’t believe you actually bought a Malayan!” they responded incredulously.
I was thoroughly confused at this point. Wasn’t a Malayan a person? Why would anyone be able to buy one?
“What’s a Malayan?” I finally asked.
This earned me a shocked look from them. “You don’t know what a merlion is??”
Oh. Right. Merlion. Of course that makes sense now. Boy did I feel so stupid.
But the funnier scenario happened that same year when I was on my way to the company TGIF event. I encountered my colleague Isaac, a Chinese local, outside the door and the following conversation ensued:
Me: Are you going to the TGIF event?
Isaac: I’ve already been.
Me: Oh. What happened?
Isaac: Food happened.
Me: Who did you see?
Isaac: I saw a few cocks.
At this point, a dozen thoughts raced through my head. Did he actually say that? Him, a guy? Was he gay? Was it appropriate for him to tell me something like that? Why did he see those in a corporate event? What kind of event was that? Did he even go to the right event?
I got a grip on my thoughts and continued the conversation.
Me: You saw what??
Isaac: You’re asking “what” is a Philcox? Have some respect. He’s been in the company for like 40 years.
Me: Oh. Philcox is a person. Sorry, I don’t know him.
*FACEPALM* |
I’ve gotten used to their accents now, but I still haven’t learned Mandarin, which is the most common local language here. I used to wonder why my mom never learned the local dialect in the city where I grew up even though she had lived there longer than I had, but now I understand her completely. There is just no incentive to learn it when the people around you also know how to speak your other languages and you can communicate that way.
Also, it’s a lot easier to learn languages when you’re a kid. I learned 4 languages/dialects as a kid, but I find it hard to learn them now. Or maybe I just don’t want to because I don’t really need to, like I said. If we can’t communicate in English, there’s always charades.
One time I had to instruct a Chinese colleague, who knew no English, that I wanted him to buy me fish for lunch. I kept trying to say it in Mandarin, but I was apparently saying it wrongly, because he had a confused look on his face. I finally put my hands together and wriggled it in front of my face, mimicking the movement of a fish in water, pouting my lips to mimic that of a fish for added effect. He laughed and got it.
The next day, when he was asking me for my order again, he mimicked my hand movements and asked, “fish?”
See, I survived.
Sayonara! (No, wait, that’s Japanese, you idiot.)