Reflections: Hurtling the Language Barrier

As I’ve admitted before, I don’t think that I’m a particularly good traveler.  One (although by no means the only) of my travel stress triggers/fears is being unable to communicate effectively in a non-English speaking country.

I have worried about this since OBA (Our Big Adventure) was a mere sparkle in our eyes a year ago.  Kee-Min insisted that we would be fine.  Still, I worried, I stressed, and I fretted.  Obviously, my time and energy would have been better used borrowing a language book/CD and working on mastering some language fundamentals.  But where would I start?  Our itinerary included Japan, Greece, Italy, Germany, Scandinavia…and there are only 24 hours in a day!  Besides, “we were busy trying to prepare and plan the logistics of the trip”.  The result?  Action by inaction, as I like to call it – In other words, I did nothing productive.  I just allocated some time and brain cells for worrying.

And so, last week, we set off for Japan, armed with the following:

1.  A Lonely Planet guide book that included three whole pages of “Useful Japanese Words and Phrases”.

2.  Kee-Min’s ability to read (some) Chinese characters. [Your Asian Factoid of the Day: Japanese shares some characters with Chinese.]

3.  Big (hopefully friendly) smiles and a modest ability to pantomime.

Looking back, I realize that I also packed some language-related baggage.  I acquired this baggage quite a few years ago, and have been letting it weigh me down ever since.  I first ventured abroad during college, when I traveled with a group of my classmates to Spain for a 1 month intensive language/art/culture immersion experience.  We were all enrolled in Upper-Level College Spanish, and thus were taking classes and writing papers in Spanish.  We had reasonable Spanish skills.  I knew perfectly well that I would never pass for a native Spanish speaker, but I was enthusiastic about a month of intensive, “on the ground” Spanish practice.  

But the trip was a rocky one, for me.  I didn’t know many of my traveling companions well (although many were friendly with each other), I was uptight about everything, and I was experiencing culture shock for the first time.  I could understand our instructors, who spoke carefully and clearly, pretty easily, but I struggled to understand the native Spanish speakers.  I struggled even more to be understood.  To this day, the most powerful memory I have of that trip is us trying to communicate with people who lacked the time, energy, or patience to try to understand our fledgling Spanish.  

As the trip progressed, we increasingly relied on the few members of our group who were truly fluent (raised in Spanish-speaking households) to facilitate our interactions with waitstaff, clerks, etc.  This was faster, easier, and annoyed fewer people.  As I became increasingly anxious about every interaction I had to handle myself, fear robbed me of any fluency I had.  I withdrew and (believe it or not) stopped speaking as much as possible.  My enthusiasm gave way to embarrassment, and I left Spain feeling incredibly self-conscious about my ability to speak Spanish, and my seemingly unwelcome “American-ness”.  

[Note: These were only, only, only my impressions and feelings from a single trip.  A sample size of n = 1 is a very poor representation.  I have no doubt that the people of Madrid are, generally wonderful, kind, and welcoming to visitors.]

All of my subsequent international travel has been to places where English is widely spoken (Eritrea, Singapore, New Zealand), and over the years, what happened in Spain has stewed and brewed in my brain.  But it has really been during this past week in Japan that I’ve been able to see – and verbalize - how profoundly that experience affected my attitude toward traveling to non-English speaking countries.

But thankfully, our time in Japan has been a wonderful language experience for me.  The people here are unfailingly polite (at least to our faces) – they welcome us into their shops, seat us in order at their restaurants, and smile encouragingly as we bumble our way through menus and purchases.  We taught ourselves some Japanese phrases and words, and learned that a picture menu is worth 1,000 Japanese characters.  The “point and click” method works pretty well, too.  

Sometimes, we deal with someone who knows – and is willing to use – his/her English.  Occasionally, the English is flawless.  More often, it is piecemeal, practiced from his/her own textbook, school experience.  But whether we were at a bar, market, or department store, it always felt like all of us – Kee-Min, myself, and whoever was trying to help us – were in the experience together.  We all wanted success, be it a content and full patron, a purchase, or a well-informed museum goer – and we did whatever was necessary to achieve that result.  We all pointed, gestured, smiled, and nodded.  [The Japanese are big on nodding.]

Kee-Min has led by example.  He is open, honest, willing, and has faith that we can “make an interaction work”.  Even when I’m advocating that we skip a purchase or walk instead of trying to communicate with a cab driver, he persists.  And I have to admit - Not once have we been disappointed.  We’ve always gotten the proper food, purchased the right product, and been delivered to the right street.  

In a way, I’m seeing the world in a new way.  Suddenly, places that I thought were closed to me, may be open again.  Of course, I recognize that I, too, need to make an effort – to learn whatever useful words I can, and to be culturally aware.  I also acknowledge that we may not be quite as welcomed in other parts of the world – the Japanese certainly have a reputation for being friendly, helpful, and respectful.

But for now, as we’re about to board our plane back to Singapore, I am giving thanks: For my family in the US and Singapore, who have supported us as we’ve taken on this crazy adventure; For my husband, who continues to challenge and support me as I learn to be a better traveler; And for the people of Japan, who “irashaimase”-ed (welcomed) us into their hotels, shops, restaurants, taxis, and country.  Arigatou gozaimasu!!