Overcoming language barriers
By: Vimukthi Mawilmada
Tags: Travel, Translation, Language Barrier, Travel Tips, Language Learning

Believe it or not you can live in a foreign country and not know the language. Hell, you could even be a local and not even know your own native language. Trust me, I’d know. I did it for fifteen years and its much easier than you would think.

If you’ve got the courage to face being mocked or laughed at when you make a pronunciation mistake, the awkward silences between dialogue, and the frustration of reciting gibberish everyday till you get it, well then you’re good. If all that seems a little daunting don’t feel intimidated, some native folks don’t even know their own mother tongue despite living in their native country for over ten years. It’s me, I’m some native folks…

Having grown up in the beautiful island of Sri Lanka, I never truly took the time to learn the native language (Sinhalese) and I still got away with it. I was too lazy to learn despite everyone around me insisting that I needed to get by.

After years of experience attending social gatherings and getting around, I have figured out how to handle and escape awkward small talk. I cannot guarantee these tricks will always work for everyone, but they just might be able to get you out of a conversation alive one day.

1.Body language and tone

You would be surprised at how observing body language and tone can help you “go with the flow” of a conversation. People may use their hands, shrug, or change their pitch at some point in their sentence without even realizing it. Identifying these aspects are key to figuring out how you are supposed to react to statements. For example, speaking with higher pitch could mean that the topic is exciting and body language like a raise in the persons eyebrows could mean they are talking about a rather surprising topic etc.

2. Act introverted

I cannot stress this point enough. Avoiding small talk whenever possible can spare you the embarrassment and frustration. Appearing as a “closed off person” will give people the vibe that you are not the talkative type, which is exactly what you need for social gathering type occasions. You could cross your arms, grab a drink, or pull out your phone. Not only does this make you seem preoccupied, but it also gives you a good reason to reply to all the emails and texts you’ve been avoiding.

3. Mix a bit of English in there!

You can’t escape conversations with people forever. Once you talk you may find that people understand only bits and pieces of what you are trying to say. If they start shifting their eyebrows or ask you to repeat yourself, there’s a good chance they’re trying to process what just came out of your mouth. This means you have no choice but to speak a few words from the language you are familiar with. People will sometimes repeat a particular key word or phrase they did not understand by which you should reply with the meaning of the word in your familiar language. If you’re lucky, the person will understand better and help you out if you need something.

4. Surrender

If you just made an awkward conversation a million times more awkward by failing to slip by, you have no choice now but to come clean and be honest for once. Who knows, it might have actually been better if you were upfront at the beginning. Telling the person you are talking to that you don’t know the language would actually save you a lot of time and effort and might even be the best option of them all.