Ice-breaker conversation when you speak very little of your guest's language

Terri38
Level 10
Auckland, New Zealand

Ice-breaker conversation when you speak very little of your guest's language

A lovely middle-aged woman and her daughter booked one of my rooms last night. The woman didn't speak much English but really wanted to be social. Her daughter spoke English fluently but had succumbed to jet-lag an hour earlier.
Her mother most certainly was not jet-lagged! She sat next to me on the couch and did her level best to hold a conversation (punctuated liberally with gestures).
I don't think she realized that only about 1 in 10 words were in English but eventually, I figured out that she was telling me where she grew up. Cue Google Maps. After a few false starts - phonetic spelling of a foreign place name is always going to be problematic - we found it. My guest's face just lit up when I showed her Street View and she spent the next half hour pointing out all places she went to in her home town.
Warm fuzzies all 'round!

11 Replies 11
Marzena4
Level 10
Kraków, Poland

@Terri38, teaching a language is my daily bread, and you know which students are the most successful? Motivated and with a natural gift to socialise through speech. 😉

If she's staying longer, teach her. She will appreciate it.

// "The only person you can trust is yourself"
David-and-Fiona0
Level 10
Panglao, Philippines

I find a good bottle of red wine usually makes you multilingual : )

J-Renato0
Level 10
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Box of sweets, typical of the host's country.

Cida8
Level 2
Espírito Santo, Brazil

Olá,sou nova no site, alugava o apartamento inteiro, mas agora decide ficar e alugar o quarto, recebi um casal, e foi uma experiência muito boa, ficamos amigos. Gostei da ídeia dos doces, da próxima vez, deixarei uma caixa de bombom da garoto. Valeu. 

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

This is a really lovely story @Terri38 and I bet it meant so much to her to show you where she is from. I think at times we all want to talk about our home a bit. 🙂 

 

Did you learn any words from her?  


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Terri38
Level 10
Auckland, New Zealand

@Lizzie

Thanks!  I had a stab at "Thank you" in Korean.

@Terri38, I'll bet you could make a souffle with one egg; what a bit of brilliance on your part. I have an Apple iPad and am ready, willing and able to try the Google translate program when I run across a language barrier. So far most of my guests speak fluent English, so my opportunity has not yet arrived.

@Terri38

Wow~! Such a heartwarming story!

I work as a professional interpreter (English-Korean) and I always like to tell people that non-verbal communication is just as important as the words actually spoken. Using apps or sites like Google translate or Papago can also make things a little easier 🙂 

My parents lived abroad for quite a long time and while they are pretty fluent, they both have accents and my mom especially has always been shy about speaking English and speaks much slower (than she would in Korean) - so  she gets nervous when she can sense other people are frustrated or impatient. So I am personally very thankful there are kind people like you out there @Terri38.  If my parents or anyone I know ever happens to travel to your neck of the woods I will definitely send them your way! 

 

감사합니다~! 

Thank you most kindly.  Personal recommendation is worth its weight in gold.

Jean286
Level 2
Orlando, FL

Such a lovely story @Terri38 . We always appreciate the effort when somebody tries to speak your language,

and usually we end up having fun memories of those conversations.

Rene-and-Zac0
Level 10
La Quinta, CA

240DBD3B-9D42-4857-A649-4B3219D09E7E.jpeg

This little combination will get the party started, no doubt 

@Terri38