Namaste – Ni Hao

 I have to admit that I am not great with languages, even though my social circle at university believed that you were not really educated if you could only communicate in one language and speaking English and something else didn’t count as being bilingual. The only language that operates completely in, is English with German coming a distant second (I speak it well enough to be understood and I can read and write in German but a very basic level.) I can, if push comes to shove, get by in conversational Cantonese (it’s the language I used with my paternal grandma) and Mandarin (thanks to Donald Trump and Brexit, I realized that having some capability of Mandarin would be sensible). However, I am not multilingual and when compared to the guys I was closest with at university, I am a lout.

So, to cover the fact that I am uneducated lout who is only operational in English, I developed something of a means of covering this inadequacy – I learnt key words in many languages. So, whilst I don’t speak anything much other than English, I know how to pepper a conversation with many phrases from different languages, thus sounding more intelligent that I actually am.

Interestingly enough, this “party gag” of mine seems to work exceedingly well in Singapore, which is officially proud of educating a “bilingual population.” I remember attending a Saudi National Day function and dropping the various Arabic expressions (mainly the ones relating to God). The Saudi’s seemed to appreciate the fact that I was using what little I knew of their language in the right context but more importantly, I actually received an email from a young lady who worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs gushing over my command of the Arabic language.

This dropping of “foreign” words into the conversation took a particularly interesting turn tonight at a networking function I attended. Ran into an Indian lawyer who works for an international law firm. Although I don’t speak Hindi, I watch enough Bollywood movies to pick up a few words and so I proceeded to use what I had picked up from Bollywood cinema on this chap. Managed to break the ice. Then, he proceeded to do one better by admitting that although he’s ethnic Indian, he’s actually a citizen of Hong Kong and it turns out that his “other languages” are Cantonese and Mandarin.

What both of us concluded was the fact that using a language other than your own is a great opener. I think of a speaker at my lower sixth current affairs who mentioned that people become more receptive towards you when they see that you are trying to reach out to them on their terms. I’ve always kept that in mind and although nearly all my negotiations in life are in English, I try, from time to time to say something in another language. It gives the other side the impression that I do understand them.

 

 Copyright Hays – When you make the effort to communicate in a language other than your own, you demonstrate a willingness to meet the other side on their terms.

I’ve found this especially true in two particular scenarios. The first comes from my days in the Bistrot when European customers came in and I could greet them in German, French or Italian. I like to think that this made me stand out as an Asian boy who realises that White People are actually more than a single group only capable of speaking English and I was rewarded with customers who spent a lot of money with me.

The second area comes when I deal with foreign workers in my day job. These guys are usually in a pickle by the time they see me. Dropping that odd word or two in Bengali or Tamil helps give the impression that I am prepared to try to understand them.

There is a caveat to this and that is that only works when it comes to a language that nobody expects you to speak. My new friend had a similar life experience growing up. Everyone expects him to speak Hindi. Nobody expects him to speak Cantonese or Mandarin. The same has been true for me. Nobody expects me to know a European language other than English. Nobody expects me to know anything of Arabic or Hindi. Everyone expects me to know Mandarin or, much to my Mum’s annoyance, everyone in Singapore thinks my natural state is Hokkien (minus the usual curse words).

Still, that’s no reason not to try and make the effort to communicate in something other than what you’re used to. Linguistic chauvinism has to be the stupidest things around since cigarette smugglers voted to leave the block that made their trade legal. I think of all the idiots yelling “SPEAK ENGLISH – you’re in……” with a sense of pity because it’s a sign that your mind is limited and that is definitely not something to be proud of.