Speaking in Tongues and Throwing Rosetta Stones

How exciting it would be to switch from English to other languages on a whim! Because of my job as a nurse, I come in contact with many people who have English as their second language. This week alone it would have been handy for me to know Chinese (Mandarin), and Spanish. Other weeks I wish for a knowledge of Japanese and Farsi. On occasion a limited understanding of Russian would be helpful. But for all my great aspirations, at times I even struggle with English. This causes me to fear the language learning centers of my brain have become closed forever.

I love to see the joy in a person's eyes as I try to communicate with them in their native language. My humble attempts are encouraged and I'm patiently helped along as I walk with crutches through a new vocabulary. But at the end it always turns out the same. For the Hispanic speaking person I can instruct in the retrieval of a pencil and paper for the exam. I can even impress them with my knowledge of colors and numbers. Then for the grand finale I name their articles of clothing and tell them that the year is 1986. But that's about as far as it goes. When I encounter Korean speaking individuals, we can have a very exciting conversation using the words I learned while watching Korean soap operas and cooking shows. We discuss barbecue, pickled cabbage and I can instruct them to eat quickly. I consider myself the expert in saying "Hello" in Korean, because I can distinguish between the proper word for the phone verses the "in person" greeting. I could also call you an old woman, mother or grandmother. And if you really upset me, I'll call you a savage, if I can remember how to pronounce it. But none of these words are very helpful to my patients.

One of my favorite pastimes is going to the Asian market. This helps me learn to distinguish the differences in the languages spoken around me, and the food is super yummy. My family is not as pleased to see me return from the market. I have been known to return with pickled eggs, octopus dumplings and ice cream made from beans. This changes completely when my mother-in-law goes with me. She opens my eyes to another world - a world of exciting foods and new words that I never would have found on my own. I walk through the aisle with confidence when she is by my side. On those days I read the jars, bottles and boxes with the ease of an expert linguist. It is as simple as saying "Please tell me what this one says?"or "Should I get this one?" She kindly shows me what I would like and never laughs when I pick up the more unusual items. She is an inspiration to me in many ways. Knowing her has caused me to be more sensitive to the struggles of those around me who don't have English as their primary language.

Because I need to communicate frequently with foreign language speaking individuals, I try to imagine myself in their country, walking around struggling to understand. It is a very humbling experience even in my imagination. I'm not sure if I will ever be comfortable speaking another language but I will continue to try and learn. Because there are many worlds, and foods, yet to explore.