Language Barriers...tell your stories

[Stryker One]

Coulda been worse

I just grabbed the most popular brand, rang him out, and ran to the back to giggle uncontrollably for several minutes.

At least he didn't come in sporting red wings.

[Munkie]

Ti-chien means goodbye.

zàijiàn in Mandarin.

Shi-sheie means thank you.

xièxie in Mandarin. (Yes, I Googled :P ) Xièxie nín, actually, but that's ripping directly off the site (I don't speak Chinese, sometimes wish I did!)

MDBG Chinese-English Dictionary is the link I found.

[Spork4pedro]

um, "naranja" IS orange. Maybe he was used to getting large oranges, and all you had were small ones?

I know that naranja is orange..everytime he said it I would point to the oranges but he kept shaking his head and the daughter said it wasn't oranges so I assume he kept saying "like orange" or "bigger than orange". I dunno?

btw...the red wings comment was hilarious!

[Android Kaeli]

Every summer I help these two German exchange students as I can understand their broken English better then my co-workers. They're very nice and the language barrier isn't that bad, we understand each other rather well -- they often get art supplies.

There's a lot of Canadians that come down from Canada during the winter months as well, a good portion of them speak both English and French but sometimes there are those that can only speak French. Had one lady not too long ago that spoke only French and she came through my line; she didn't understand English very well, I only understand maybe two or three words in French. The transaction went smoothly, there was no problems, and we both smiled and said goodbyes. Very nice lady.

[mamawork]

Quoth mamawork
It's really frustrating with Indian and Arabic folks, because they tend to get angry very quickly.

This however, is close to the knuckle, folks. Generalizing should be avoided as much as possible. Thanks.

I apologize. I didn't intend to offend. Looking back on that comment, it does look pretty... well... wrong, and that isn't what I was trying to convey here.

[LillFilly]

I knew just enough Spanish after high school to take a family's food order during my college internship. I was so darn proud of myself!

Lately, the only language barriers I've had are when we catch shoplifters. Some of them understand everything you tell them UNTIL the police arrive; then, magically, they don't understand English anymore!

[depechemodefan]

I have this happen a lot.

Years ago, a guy called wanting "shitfair". I finally figured out he was saying, "Shakespeare".

Yesterday I was talking to one of the security guards. He speaks English but with an accent. He was asking me what was a "wheel". He said a "wheel" was stolen from the Kids room. A librarian for mthe kids room made a report with the cop stationed here.

So I look at the cop's log on our desk (accessible to the guard too) and see it said "stolen wii". The kids room has wii games they loan out to be used in the kids' room. So I explained what "wii" is.

The other day, though, some long conversation with a loser ended up with a misunderstanding. I thought she said I was "stupid vague." I told her she shouldn't say that to my face, "stupid vague". She said, "I said, "super vague. I know how to speak English." yes she did speak English well, but you know, I wanted to tell her, even people who only speak one language can muffle it where it isn't understandable.

[Broomjockey]

I apologize. I didn't intend to offend.

It's okay, it's usually easy to tell when people are trying to offend. No one's going to hold this one against you.

[terana]

She later learned that (a) the first shop was out of eggs but getting a delivery the next day, and (b) that she had walked into all the other shops and just shouted "TOMORROW" at them...

Victoria J

Laugh, I have been sitting here for like 5 mins laughing at this and getting weird looks from my husband. Thank you for the laugh, because this seems like something I would do.

[bhskittykatt]

Working in a motel, I get travelers from all around the world. We get a lot of Spanish speakers, which frustrates a lot of my CW's (Fortunately I speak enough that we can communicate to some extent).

I am VERY glad, however, that Boss Man didn't use the "Spanish" he learned from his waiter.

Boss Man: My waiter taught me to say "Have a nice day" in Spanish.
Me: (knowing enough Spanish to survive in Mexico if I had to) Really? Let's here it.
Boss Man: "Besa mis huevos!"
Me: Please...Boss Man...tell me you haven't tried that on a guest
Boss Man: Why?
Me: Because...that does not mean "have a nice day!"

I remember once we got some guy from an east Asian country. I have no clue which one it was. He came in with a police officer who was struggling with a translation dictionary to communicate for him. I managed to get the guest a room and the officer told me what the guest needed (ride to the bus station in the morning). That poor officer clearly knew nothing about this guy's language and was stuck escorting him around town armed with nothing more than that dictionary...I felt bad for both of them.

EDIT: Forgot this sighting. I was checking out of a hotel once, and the desk clerk was on the phone with the police while a guest was quietly standing at the front desk. Half of conversation I heard went something like this: "Yes he's been here for over an hour and he's just standing here...he just handed me his ID and credit card but I have no clean rooms yet and if I did, I don't know what kind he wants...I've tried talking to him, but I don't think he speaks English..."

This guest looked like he was from Mexico and had a Mexican-sounding name, so another guest tried to ask him what he needed in Spanish. This guest was just standing there with a blank look on his face. Apparently Spanish wasn't what he spoke, which means it was probably one of the indigenous languages of Mexico (Nahuatl, Zapotec, etc), which would make getting a translater this far north nigh impossible. *sigh* Can't people at least learn some of the language of the country they're visiting, or at the very least get a translation dictionary?

[KellyHabersham]

This one happened a few years ago...........I noticed this woman standing at the "returns" area of the circulation desk, and as other staff members were busy, I asked her if she needed help with anything. She looked at me like I was crazy and said "What???". I repeated myself, and this time she kind of sighed/grunted and rolled her eyes at me. I wasn't sure how to respond, so I just said "um.....okay then.", and went to do something else. Come to find out later on, this woman didn't speak English, and that was apparently how she chose to communicate.

[Flying Grype]

Boss Man: "Besa mis huevos!"

... Kiss my eggs? I know what 'eggs' means.

Living in Toronto I find that I rarely run into someone whose accent I can't understand. I guess being here long enough means I get used to accents that aren't mine. Although I remember once when I was a kid (in the much smaller and whiter city where I grew up) going into a health-food store with my dad, and for one reason or another we struck up a conversation about rice with the Indian guy at the till, and he recommended 'elephant brains' which after a few sentences we realised was 'Elephant Brand' rice.

[Magpie]

Accents are fun. The head of grad studies here has a very strong accent (Chinese, but I honestly can't remember what language/dialect it is). He has had to bring one of his grad students with him when meeting with someone else who has a strong accent, to translate. The grad student speaks only English, but while he can understand both the strong Chinese accent and the strong Indian (Jamacian, etc) accent, the two people in the meeting can't understand each other, despite having a common language. So the student translates from English to ... well... English.

[JustaCashier]

This wasn't so much an actual language barrier experience, as it was a potential one.

This group of Filipino Sailors in a van, is dropped off at our store, and proceed to come in and look around. Awhile later, the guy, (their Host, I guess) that dropped them off comes back to pick them up.

He's near my register and is looking around, so I ask if I can help him. He says, "Yes, I'm looking for some Filipino Seamen." I go *snerk* to myself, but, having seen them come in earlier, knew what he was talking about.

Now, I'm not sure how to actually get them to the front of the store, because I don't know if they understand enough English, if I were to put out a page. One of the Managers is nearby, so I call him over to see if he has any suggestions.

When he comes over and asks "What's up?" I say "This gentleman is looking for some Filipino.....sss....uhhhhh......Seamen." I was trying to come up with another word, (Sailor would have worked, if It would have come to mind), to prevent the awkwardness relating to the homophone for "Seamen", because this Manager, a few years younger than I am, has about as sick of mind as I do.

The Manager was a bit , and I don't remember exactly how, but managed to explain what we were talking about. (Maybe I finally came up with the word "Sailors").

So, the Manager takes the Host guy through the store to round up the.....uhhhhhh......Sailors.

They get all rounded up, and go on their merry way, and sometime after that, it dawned on me how weird my initial words must have seemed to the Manager. (Besides the obvious *snerk* factor). The phrase: "This gentleman is looking for some Filipino Seamen", must have sounded odd, creepy, and downright scary to him. Because........he was half Filipino himself!

Mike

[Imogene]

. But what else is like an orange but bigger? a Pumelo maybe?

A pumpkin? Or a squash of some sort? The inside of a yam is orange...?

My story? Working at the D... we had just introduced the chicken wraps... someone comes up to me, and asks for a wrap. I go, "Would you like crispy or grilled?"
The wraps...
"Yes, sir, crispy or grilled?"
repeat... 50 times... until the manager calls over someone who speaks Spanish... they converse, worker turns to me and says, "He wants the wraps."
I GOT that! Crispy or grilled?
"Oh..." they converse more.

Yipe.