March 2, 2010
-
Question Jar #2
Today, I pulled a question from the jar and now I will answer it. Extemporized right before your very eyes.
Question: What would you do if you wanted to be friends with someone who spoke no English?
Answer: Spoken language is only one way to communicate. There is the universal smile, music, laughter and hugs. You can start out with what you’ve got and learn new ways as you go. Ok, that sounds a little generic, so I will attempt to be more specific. I’ll imagine a scene and go from there.
If I happend to meet someone on a bus while I was riding into work, I’d start with a smile and attempt to have a conversation. Then I would discover that this other person didn’t speak English. I would still talk to them anyway. I might say a word they know, like ‘thank you’. That would be able to communicate that I was glad for something they had done. YAY! Then I would look for the person each time I rode that bus. Say hello, share a seat, maybe even share some food such as a muffin or a cup of hot chocolate that I would bring for them. I would find out what language they spoke and see if I knew any words in their language. Wait.. back up. First I would learn their name. The sweetest word you will ever hear is someone saying your name. Think about that. It’s true. Names are powerful words. When they are spoken, they are so sweet. When they are yelled, it invokes fear or anger. So, I would learn the most powerful word I could an speak it to them often.
So now that I know their name and the fact that they like blueberry muffins and hot chocolate, I would move on to try to communicate more. Bring that person to a concert. Music can be understood by anyone. Find ways to DO things together and learn from each other. Eventually, one of us is going to learn enough words in the other person’s language to talk to each other. While we are learning that, we can still grow a friendship.
I think it would be fun to try. Have a happy day!
Comments (9)
If I met you on the bus I would pretend not to speak English, just to see do all those things!
Are you still riding the bus?
Is Mr. Grumpy still riding the bus ?
You could giggle and point also.
And if they don’t understand your words you could talk louder. LOL
Your generous and kind ways transend spoken language.
Remember your days in Japan. smiles….
@theprettysister - No, I’m not still riding the bus. I did see Mr. Grumpy the other day and I have to tell you it made me smile. I think he saw me too and avoided eye contact! Hahahaha
Actually I was thinking about Japan when I wrote this.
@Aloysius_son - If you met me on a bus, I’d know who you were as soon as I saw you and I’d talk your ears off.
@IamDonnaC - NOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooo NOT MY EARS!!!
I liked your answer! I would do the same thing! Have a great day! Any sub stories?
God bless! Tracy
Yep! And I have so been there! Before I learned Danish, I did a lot of this kind of communicating. Pantomime is also a blessing!
DaHjaj’ oH QaQ jaj
@Aloysius_son - HI! You’re kinda green and you look a little mad. I have a spare blueberry muffin and in case you don’t like that, I have a dill pickle I’ll let you have. Where are you from? I’m from around here. It sure is a nice day out. Well, this is my stop. Maybe I’ll see you later. Have a great day!
Yeah! I like blueberry muffins and hot chocolate! How did you know that?!? And we didn’t even ride the bus together! MSP must have told you! She knows everything!