Ever wonder why non-native speakers of another language always claim they understand you when you are fairly confident that they in fact do not? You know what I mean, when you are talking to a person in a language other than their native one and they keep nodding and saying "Yes. Yes. Ok." And every time you ask them "Do you understand?" They nod and repeat "Yes. Yes. Ok." All the while you're thinking to yourself, this kid is clueless...
I have an explanation.
Now that I am that person down here in Brazil, I have some inside information to share with the rest of you. We in fact DO understand what you are saying - just not 100% of it. We are secretly hoping that in the next sentence you will utter all will become clear. You will use the perfect combination of words that we really do know to explain yourself. If you could just say it one more time a little bit differently, we really will know what you are trying to say. Now, we are trying to be agreeable and not impede conversation flow or decision making processes by hindering the group with such a silly thing as a language barrier.
So here is some advice if you ever find yourself in this type of a situation where you are very convinced the other person has NO idea what you are saying.
1. Speak slowly - this does not mean speak louder. We can hear you, we just can't separate the words that are coming out of your mouth because you talklikethishardlyevenbreathingorpausingbeforeyouarejumpingtoadifferentpoint.
2. Say the same thing more than once in a different way.
3. Use small phrases and avoid slang. I have no idea what it means to be 'half mouth' (it mean's you are just okay, like 50%, you are meia boca)
4. And please - stop asking us every 2 seconds if we understand. At some point we are going to start screaming at you in OUR native language and then who will feel awkward?!
So, to that end - good luck communicating! Don't forget a smile and a laugh go thousands of miles (or kilometers) with people even if you can't figure anything else out!
Also - watch this video - it's awesome!
2 comments:
Did we have a bit of a language issue recently? I expect you to be fluent when I come to visit! Then I can be the idiot nodding and saying okay a million times. Then the year after next we can actually go to Portugal so you can bust out your mad language skillz (that's right with a z!).
E-mail me so we can set up a skype date.
Ah Allison,
I had the same thing when I first got to the Dominican Republic I was like...uh, right, *nod* *nod*, si, si. I knew I was getting better when my host dad told someone I understand about %80 and I was like...wow, I was going to go with %50! Now I am at like %99, so hang in there!
-Brittany
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