Travel Blog 10: A Language Barrier in Singapore
The story of befriending two native Korean speakers
Recently I was in Singapore for five days. I was excited to go and see a new city - the pictures I saw made the city look so futuristic!
I usually travel for people more than I travel for touristy places. A phrase I’ve started saying lately is that people are my tourist attractions, not places. It’s fascinating to see the world through the eyes of another. Singapore was an exception though - I not only wanted to meet people, but also see the buildings.
While I was there, I met two siblings from South Korea. They spoke a limited amount of English. I would estimate their level to be approximately an A1 (low-beginner), maybe an A2. I do not speak Korean at all.
Even with this communication barrier, we spoke for about an hour or so. Here is what stood out to me about our conversation.
Body language is very important. I tried to accompany all key words with relevant hand gestures and facial expressions. I also used pictures on Google Images as often as needed to demonstrate my point.
Speak very slowly and use simple words. You’d be surprised how many topics you can discuss (even complex ones) with a limited vocabulary and willing conversation participants who aren’t afraid of making mistakes.
Learn the other party’s language. For example, I was eating curry with naan. I asked them how to say bread in Korean, along with a number of other words and short phrases.
Most importantly, find common ground and have fun with it.
Once I learned how to say bread in Korean, I asked the brother and sister how to say I’m eating bread. Then, once or twice when we had a lull in conversation or a communication breakdown that might have lead the discussion to fizzle out, I would loudly proclaim BREAD! or I’M EATING BREAD!
It was so ridiculous and silly that it made all of us laugh. That reset the conversation. Bread was our common ground.
It reminded me of how quickly kids make friends with each other.
As a teenager, I helped run an after-school recreational soccer program for kids. Once, there was a boy who did not speak a word of English. His name started with an A, but I can’t remember what it was. Let’s call him Alex.
Somehow, Alex was quite popular and had many friends despite not knowing English. I was curious about how he got along with everyone without having a language in common. After observing him, it seemed to me that one of the things that bonded Alex with others was making faces and gestures. Alex and the other children made faces at each other and laughed. Seemingly this was enough to lay the foundation of a friendship.
I was reminded of Alex when speaking with the two siblings I met in Singapore. When you don’t have a language in common, communication gets very simple and direct. The mundane somehow becomes comical and the laughter creates social bonds.
We got along very well, mostly because we laughed…a lot. Aside from laughing about me saying bread in Korean, we also bonded over other day-to-day topics such as:
I was drinking tea. I asked if Koreans like tea. They said old people drink tea. I said something to the effect of “I guess I am an old man. I like tea.” For some reason we all found this to be hilarious.
I asked them what they like to drink. They said beer and soju. I asked how much beer and soju people drink in South Korea. They turned to each other to discuss in Korean, almost as if they didn’t know the English words to respond. After a moment, the sister said that Koreans don’t count their drinks and burst out laughing. I didn’t know if they were serious or joking, but I decided I didn’t care. I laughed too.
I asked the sister if she was married. She said no and pretended to cry. There was a silence. I turned to the brother and asked if he was married. He said no as well. There was another silence. The brother asked me if I’m married. I said no and pretended to cry myself. There was yet another silence and then we all burst into laughter at the same time. Something about this conversation made us crack up.
The sister asked me how old I was. I said I turn 31 in a couple months. The brother perked up and said excitedly that he was the same age as me. I got excited too! He then, I’m guessing, wanted to practice his English numbers and told me, slowly, what year he was born in. I said I was born in that year too (obviously - we’re the same age). We then celebrated having the same birth year.
Regardless of how fluent you are (or aren’t), focus on laughter and having fun in your target language, particularly when you’re around native speakers :)
Thank you for sharing..you help us all to be daring!