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Kate PojedinecLanguage BarrierMy anxiety began to set in as the pilot announced that we were beginning our decent into Zurich. I was seventeen years old, and while I had traveled without my parents before, I had never traveled alone. So there I was, by myself, about to land in a foreign country where I didn’t speak the language to meet thirty strangers to travel Western Europe with for the next three weeks. I had been so excited about my acceptance into the People to People Student Ambassador program that I never gave the challenges I would have to face a second thought. While there was nothing that was going to keep me from participating in this program, I can’t deny that I had the feeling of “What was I thinking?” as our plane taxied to the gate. Typically when students enter into the program, they travel with chaperones to their destinations; but due to budget issues, our New Jersey group asked for volunteers to participate with a different group, which I did. At this point, I was standing in the middle of the terminal with a piece of paper that had the name of my new tour chaperone, and her contact number – for the United States. I followed the herds of people to the baggage claim, and began looking for the exit. I stepped outside, foolishly optimistic that my tour bus would be right near the one door I chose to exit from. No dice. I walked up and down the sidewalk for a bit, and decided to go back in and ask for help. Call it ignorance or arrogance or whatever, but I thought I’d be able to find at least one airport employee that could speak English; again, no dice. Panic, along with panicky questions, began to set in as I wandered aimlessly in circles dragging my suitcase behind me. What if I didn’t find them? What time was it back home? Could I call my parents? How the hell did you use these payphones? On the verge of tears, I allowed my cooler head to prevail and returned to the information window. Ok, Kate. Figure something out. “¿Habla Usted Español?,” I asked the man at the window. It was obvious that this gentleman remembered me from before, and, now recognizing that he could help me exclaimed, “¡Si!” After digging deep into the Spanish tucked away in my brain, I realized the clerk at the information desk had informed me that there was a separate area for buses where my tour bus would most likely be waiting. Phew! Just writing about this incident gets my adrenaline pumping again. I never understood before how debilitating a language barrier could be. With my initial realization of the situation, I did panic. I felt as though I was totally alone and that I was going to stay that way. I felt helpless. It was truly an awakening experience to be “stranded” in a country and to fully comprehend that no matter how loudly or slowly I spoke, no one understood what I was saying. When I look back, I am glad that I did have the presence of mind to know that panicking wasn’t helping and was able to pull myself together. Language barriers, though frustrating, force us to learn to communicate with others through channels that we might not have considered before. People can actually become pretty creative trying to get messages across. And there’s always the classic technique of speaking more loudly and more slowly – my personal favorite, as I’ve told in my account. In a world such as ours, with so many languages, it is common to encounter a situation where there is a divergence between languages, and even sometimes when you’re speaking the same language, but you’re from different parts of the world! Kate Pojedinec |
