I mentor a friend who has a business and has a great need to communicate with her employees and other associates. Most of them speak Spanish. She told me today the story about two ladies who got involved in a car collision. She happened to be a witness and decided to help them since one of them spoke Spanish only.
When the police officers arrived, they recruited her to become the "official translator". My friend offered compassion and instructions to the lady who didn't speak English and waited for her until the ambulance transported her to the nearest hospital. I told her that not too long ago I had the opportunity to help someone who got hurt and I was asked to call 911 and request emergency services for the person who couldn't speak English well enough to have a clear communication.
My friend and I agreed that being able to help someone in need provides a great deal of satisfaction. This is not limited to languages, it could be that someone needs CPR or simple instructions to find a unfamiliar place.
Do you have any stories about your helping someone in the past?
Showing posts with label communication. Show all posts
Showing posts with label communication. Show all posts
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Why five?
Why not. In some parts of the world speaking five languages is as natural as waking up in the morning. For some reason, or many reasons, that is not the case where I live. But that does not mean that it can't be.
Over the past several years I've spent a noticeable amount of time helping native English speakers try to learn at least a little bit of Spanish. But there's no reason to stop with Spanish. In Europe, for instance, someone who speaks Spanish can probably also communicate in Italian and maybe Portuguese as well. French is not out of the question and some bits of Romanian will at least sound familiar.
Fluency is not what matters about this kind of polylinguism -- what matters is being able to have a basic but effective conversation. No one here will ever advocate that everyone should have interpretive skills that could be used at the United Nations. It's more about how to order a meal, catch a bus or get a date in five different languages. Five is what I'm using here, but that is not a limit on you. I want to know about your multilingual experience, even if it's just your attempt and even if it's not a Romance language. After all, communication is the important thing.
Over the past several years I've spent a noticeable amount of time helping native English speakers try to learn at least a little bit of Spanish. But there's no reason to stop with Spanish. In Europe, for instance, someone who speaks Spanish can probably also communicate in Italian and maybe Portuguese as well. French is not out of the question and some bits of Romanian will at least sound familiar.
Fluency is not what matters about this kind of polylinguism -- what matters is being able to have a basic but effective conversation. No one here will ever advocate that everyone should have interpretive skills that could be used at the United Nations. It's more about how to order a meal, catch a bus or get a date in five different languages. Five is what I'm using here, but that is not a limit on you. I want to know about your multilingual experience, even if it's just your attempt and even if it's not a Romance language. After all, communication is the important thing.
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