So many sirens ce soir? What's going on in Toronto tonight? Communication Conundrums
It is almost too easy to remember situations in which communication goes awry. One great example comes from something that I feel is common, especially in Canada, where the nuance of language is “lost in translation”.
For a while, I was dating a Croatian girl whose parents spoke little to no English; so I started studying the language intensely. I had reached a point where I felt comfortable with the language. You know, that point where knowing a little can be exponentially more dangerous than knowing nothing at all.
I used what little knowledge of the language I had to the best of my ability one night before dinner. In an attempt to tell her mother that what she was cooking smelled fantastic, I expounded, in broken Croatian: “Ovo je smrdi vrlo dobro!”. Her mother looked at me like a deer looking into headlights, long enough for me to think that I had made some horrible pronunciation error that translated into some expletive. After a few moments of the “deer looking into headlights” gaze she and my former girlfriend started laughing profusely. Apparently, the direct translation of what I had said was “This STINKS really good”.
As a caution to all, use words from a new language only when you are certain of their actual meaning.
I’m unwilling to put up another intimate example as my own humility is limited. Thankfully, the business world offers me a plethora of miscommunication examples.
Just a few days ago, we were implementing a new quality control, with much fanfare, only to have no-one actually use it. The problem was that the message was received with no explanation of individual action to be taken. In a business setting, you really do need to tell people what they need to do even if you think you’ve said it, you should say it again. Not using the quality control led to my colleagues and I delivering erroneous information to a client – never a good thing. My mantra: I’ll tell you once, I’ll tell you again, and then I’ll tell you one last time for good measure.
It is almost nearly impossible to remember situations in which communication goes awry. I believe there is a term for this, but I can't remember.Our brains always try to make sense of everything. Making sense being what we have conditioned our brains to believe is accurate. Many people naturally omit anything unusul when recounting 'history.' This could very well explain history revisionists.Cognitive dissonance is an interesting thing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonanceGood and funny note.Why wasn't I tagged in this note?
A friend of mine once told a bunch of middle eastern coworkers that she loved keer, keer (sp?) is the punjabi name of a really bad tasting rice pudding but it apparently means ass in farsi. The joke went on for awhile before she caught on.
After passing wind and this tag, I feel so much better.Thank you for giving me comfort.
Salsa is Korean for Diarrhea.Shivering, civil, civilization, shipwreck and numerous others sound or can be easily made to sound a lot like the worst korean swear word.Don't go, when said quickly, sounds like the korean word for asshole.Get set, if you had a 'ki' at the end, is the korean word for son of a bitch.My entire life here is awkward miscommuncation.
LOL!So, basically, "Doh!" is the sound an asshole makes? lol
I spent a month in China and did my best to pick up as many phrases as I could. I was eventually able to make purchases with street vendors, turn away aggressive ones, and comment about how good certain dishes were at a restaurant. Most people were very accommodating about my lack of language skills, and were just happy I tried. This included a very enthusiastic cab driver who tried her best to converse with me. Eventually I told her one of my key phrases “Wǒ bù shuō Zhōngwén”. She looked somewhat incredulously at me for a moment, then burst into laughter and continued talking about something in-depth to me. I suppose my pronunciation was a little too good, and she had trouble believing that I in fact could not speak Chinese. Oh well, she seemed to enjoy my company.
That might have made a greater impact if I had actually mentioned that the phrase “Wǒ bù shuō Zhōngwén” actually means “I don’t speak Chinese”.
Tu as besion un autre boire (You need to have another drink)
Tu bes un autre bras (you need to hump another leg)