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.
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| *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.)
Lolll one time I had a phone college interview with one of the universities in Singapore. It's really hard for me to grasp what the interviewer was saying! I needed to ask her to repeat her sentences multiple times… Needless to say, I didn't get in, but it's probably better this way!
Hahaha I loled hard at Philcox! <br />I totally get where you are coming from on accents, some of the German pronunciations for English words are tough to get your head around! Particularly how s is normally pronounced z. Zuper!
I LOLed at that part too! Epic facepalm moment for Dee 😉 <3 it!!!<br /><br /><br />German people and their way of speaking is a whole new deal sometimes…<br /><br /><br />I remember once we had guests staying at our lodge (I think they were from Austria) and the woman asked me for some cold water – but the way she pronounced it sounded like hot water… Let me just tell you that the
I sometimes have a hard time understanding English here in Northern England and it's what I've spoken my entire life! Man different dialects and accents can be super confusing! x
YES!! Like Amanda's comment it's so embarrassing when you're both first language English speakers and trying to communicate (my New Zealand-English vs. my husbands North England accented English).
Haha, Philcox…<br /><br /><br />Some accents throw me and others don't, but it always ends up awkward and/or funny when you misunderstand something because it's lost in translation.
I feel like we as Americans assume that all non-native English speakers will speak English with an American accent – or maybe that's just me? – so it's always startling to me to hear someone not from an English-speaking country speaking English with a non-American accent because of who taught them!
Ah, Philcox. Love your stories! In my case, I didn't have major problems understanding Koreans/Chinese (though I did think a middle school student's nickname was Mystery instead of Mr. Lee). But I can't understand Australian or some New Zealand accents without asking them to repeat stuff endlessly. I had a conversation with an NZ guy in Korea, and I don't think either us
Hahaha, these are hilarious! But an accent makes all the difference. I was trying to remember the name of that Ben Affleck superhero movie and a French friend kept saying "dary-dil" and I repeatedly said "NO!!" After repeating this 5 times, he finally gave up and wrote it down. Daredevil. That IS the movie.
So It's not just a Filipina thing then, their accent really is hard to understand!
Ha, but isn't it ze zame zhing een Franze?
Who are you kidding? I LOVE lengthy comments! Don't ever be sorry for them!<br /><br /><br />Thank goodness I didn't tell him what I thought what he said, that would've definitely been more of an epic facepalm moment.
The British accent is difficult indeed! I remember when I watched my first Harry Potter movie in the cinema, I said, ugh, I wish they had subtitles! I really had a tough time understanding what they were saying. It's probably why I loved the books more.
Oh dear, I do hope you've become an expert at understanding your own husband by now. 🙂
I guess it's what happens when you're surrounded by people who speak the same way you do all your life. You think that's how everyone speaks, and it's a shocker when you meet someone who doesn't.
You've lived in so many more places than me, so I bet you've had a tougher experience readjusting each time! I only got used to Singlish after months or even years of living here!
OMG LOL at Mystery! Hahahaha poor NZ guy. I can imagine how it went, you probably just nodded politely at what the other was saying, all the while thinking, "Oh God what did he say? I hope it wasn't a question."
Hahahaha! The French accent eez definizly hard to underztand! Sometimes you just really need to write things down.
How funny are these! I have this problem with my own last name, I say it in an Americanized way, my husband says it in a Southern Sweden way and now we both have had to change into saying it into a Northern Sweden way!
Oh dear, that's a lot of adjusting for you!