Situation:
A group of students got together to discuss their project. This takes place in one of the Universities in Singapore. Two Indians and three Chinese girls form that group. What starts of as a discussion in English changes into an all Chinese discussion. One of the Indian girls was all pissed. What results is a communication break down. Obvious reasons are the ignorance of the Chinese girls and the Indian girls who could have expressed their discomfort during the entire situation. Considering this took place in Singapore where our first language is English and the Chinese students were rather carried away with their language, I am a little lost at what to say. I did however told my friend, who happens to be one of the Indian girls; yes the one who was damn vexed, that she should have voiced out. Even before she did that, she assumed the Chinese girls were not gonna heed her. She didn't even try. If she had mentioned something to the other girls, do you think things would have changed? I think it would have been worth the try.
Having lived in Shanghai for almost two years now I have come to understand the situation of being lost in translation more than half the time. When I first arrived, I rarely travelled alone. I ensured there was always someone with me when I went to Wal-Mart (we have it here :P), to Administration office, pretty much everywhere. If I did end up going alone I would practise my hand gestures and write down the location in chinese, after having it translated. Two weeks of Chinese lessons before departing Singapore were not of much help besides being fluent in expressing my thanks to the Chinese who were able to help me out. Surprising enough, I haven't been robbed, pickpocket-ed or even cheated on my money. Touch wood. The city has been rather nice to me. Guess I have been nice to it in ways I never realised. :-D
The first useful thing I bought after landing in Shanghai was a toothbrush. The next day I invested my cash on a 2nd hand bicycle, Josh. I name stuff! Riding a cycle on the Shanghai streets, to me, was worse than the scariest roller coasters on Earth. Cars came from every possible, available road space. And there were the useless, insignificant traffic lamps. The colors which do change between green, red and orange had no effect on the drivers. To the drivers, it was always green or perhaps there were no traffic lights to begin with. Josh and I had pretty miserable experiences crashing into fences, people's butt (not on purpose but we going downhill and Josh's brake malfunctioned), other bike riders and later having to apologise and hear their rage expressed in a language I then barely understood.
Things have changed now. I grasp the language much, much better, though fluency is not the word I would use for my Chinese speaking abilities. However, I no longer own Josh or any bicycle for that matter. I walk to my campus, so damage to the many bike riders have been minimised. Although I do jaywalk/dash across the very same streets I was talking about earlier. I have mastered the art of understanding the Chinese roads. Key is to not make eye contact with the driver who is about to make a turn while you cross. If you do, he assumes you are allowing him to take the turn first. And the vehicles behind him follow suit and you are stranded in the middle.
One thing that I feel is extremely beneficial with me becoming multi-lingual is to able to interact with as many people from a wide array of cultural backgrounds as possible. If I were in the same situation which I have been more than half the time, I turn to the next person beside me and tell them to translate the conversation for me. Often the translation takes a toll, and the mode of language returns to English. Imagine the next time someone speaks in Chinese amongst themselves, I will be able to understand. Whereas if I turn to my Indian friends and start speaking in a different language, they are at a lost. :p
A group of students got together to discuss their project. This takes place in one of the Universities in Singapore. Two Indians and three Chinese girls form that group. What starts of as a discussion in English changes into an all Chinese discussion. One of the Indian girls was all pissed. What results is a communication break down. Obvious reasons are the ignorance of the Chinese girls and the Indian girls who could have expressed their discomfort during the entire situation. Considering this took place in Singapore where our first language is English and the Chinese students were rather carried away with their language, I am a little lost at what to say. I did however told my friend, who happens to be one of the Indian girls; yes the one who was damn vexed, that she should have voiced out. Even before she did that, she assumed the Chinese girls were not gonna heed her. She didn't even try. If she had mentioned something to the other girls, do you think things would have changed? I think it would have been worth the try.
Having lived in Shanghai for almost two years now I have come to understand the situation of being lost in translation more than half the time. When I first arrived, I rarely travelled alone. I ensured there was always someone with me when I went to Wal-Mart (we have it here :P), to Administration office, pretty much everywhere. If I did end up going alone I would practise my hand gestures and write down the location in chinese, after having it translated. Two weeks of Chinese lessons before departing Singapore were not of much help besides being fluent in expressing my thanks to the Chinese who were able to help me out. Surprising enough, I haven't been robbed, pickpocket-ed or even cheated on my money. Touch wood. The city has been rather nice to me. Guess I have been nice to it in ways I never realised. :-D
The first useful thing I bought after landing in Shanghai was a toothbrush. The next day I invested my cash on a 2nd hand bicycle, Josh. I name stuff! Riding a cycle on the Shanghai streets, to me, was worse than the scariest roller coasters on Earth. Cars came from every possible, available road space. And there were the useless, insignificant traffic lamps. The colors which do change between green, red and orange had no effect on the drivers. To the drivers, it was always green or perhaps there were no traffic lights to begin with. Josh and I had pretty miserable experiences crashing into fences, people's butt (not on purpose but we going downhill and Josh's brake malfunctioned), other bike riders and later having to apologise and hear their rage expressed in a language I then barely understood.
Things have changed now. I grasp the language much, much better, though fluency is not the word I would use for my Chinese speaking abilities. However, I no longer own Josh or any bicycle for that matter. I walk to my campus, so damage to the many bike riders have been minimised. Although I do jaywalk/dash across the very same streets I was talking about earlier. I have mastered the art of understanding the Chinese roads. Key is to not make eye contact with the driver who is about to make a turn while you cross. If you do, he assumes you are allowing him to take the turn first. And the vehicles behind him follow suit and you are stranded in the middle.
One thing that I feel is extremely beneficial with me becoming multi-lingual is to able to interact with as many people from a wide array of cultural backgrounds as possible. If I were in the same situation which I have been more than half the time, I turn to the next person beside me and tell them to translate the conversation for me. Often the translation takes a toll, and the mode of language returns to English. Imagine the next time someone speaks in Chinese amongst themselves, I will be able to understand. Whereas if I turn to my Indian friends and start speaking in a different language, they are at a lost. :p
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