Tips for communicating with international guests

[Lizzie]

Hey everyone,

As a host you get many opportunities to meet guests from all over the world. Interacting with international guests can be a lot of fun, however, it can sometimes be tricky when you don’t speak the same  language. One easy way to better accommodate the guest may be to learn a few conversational phrases in the guests’ language. I know we have spoken some time ago about this here in the Community Center, but I think it's one of those things that can crop up for all hosts and worth again. 🙂 

Here are some other approaches: 

• Use body language 
• Simplify your communication: choose simple words, point, and use gestures
• Draw pictures to help you communicate about ideas, objects, and locations
• Use translation apps to help you compose notes, emails, or instructions

Have you used any of these tips before? Do you have any other creative ideas to help communicating with guests who don’t speak the same language as you?

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Thank you,

Lizzie

[Cathie19]

Hi @Lizzie . Interesting topic to start.

As a host I’ve all but mimed....

I’ve used images and photos, and resort to simple English and repetition.

I’ve physically demonstrated “how to”.

But if you have regular guests from a specific country, then maybe the house rules in their native tongue, written on a card in your guide/info folder would work.

As a host, I’ve never had to resort to an App for translation. 

However, as a guest, I have!

But language beware......... I’ve rarely found Google translate makes any sense when translating Vietnamese. It usually is completely off course!

BUT, when on the Portuguese Camino next year, I’ll definitely need audible Apps for translation.

That will be for at least, Portuguese, Spanish, and maybe some Scottish!

LOL....... 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣💛

[Ann489]

@Lizzie 

I'm happy to say that in the two years we have hosted, we have never had a guest we couldn't communicate with.  I am fluent in German, English and French and one of those three usually works.  😉

But your post has given me some early morning food for thought. 😉    Luckily, we live in the age of the Internet and Google translate--which although, not perfect, will do in a pinch!

[Lan1]

@Lizzie some languages are from the same family root and similar to each other. For example I speak native Chinese but I can communicate with Korean and Japanese through characters writing. Though mainland China is using simplified mandarin, slightly different then traditional Chinese characters, but since history was my major, I can write and read traditional characters. I speak fluently Italian, sometimes I could communicate with Spanish and French guests with some basic and simple words and gestures, especially my mother in law was Milanese, she talked Italian, sounds like French... all three languages are from the same Latin root.

[Sarah977]

It depends in part on how good the other person is at making a leap of understanding if you pronounce something a bit wrong. I find that English speakers can understand what foreigners are saying in non-fluent, heavily accented English much of the time. But Mexicans seem not to be able to understand a non-native Spanish speaker trying their best to speak Spanish if even one vowel in the word is pronounced incorrectly. Not sure why that is. 

@Lan1  Now it's interesting to me that you found that your mother-in-law's Italian sounded close to French. Italian (which I don't speak) and Spanish (which I do, passably) do sound similar to me, but French (which I took 2 years of back in high school) sounds utterly different, although I know they all come from the same root and the grammar is basically the same.

 My French friend, who lived in the US for 40 years and is fluent in English, still speaks with a very heavy French accent. Her Spanish is a crazy mix of French, Spanish, and English. When she decided she really needed to seriously study Spanish, her Spanish teacher said, after hearing her say a sentence, supposedly in Spanish, "I don't know what language you think you're speaking, but you really need to forget everything you think you know and start all over from the beginning" 🙂

And I almost need a translator to understand Aussie English as well as some British dialects.

[Lan1]

@Sarah977 Local old Milanese has dialect very different from the south:  such as Siciliano, Napoletano, or Calabrese. I lived in Milano for about 10 years, and was told that old fashioned Milanese was very similar to French. In deed, I had difficulty to understand my mother-in- law at the very beginning with my limited school learned basic Italian. 

[Sarah977]

@Lan1 Ah, I see, thanks for explaining. There are a lot of Argentinians where I live and their Spanish actually sounds more like Italian- it has the inflection, the rhythm of Italian, even though the words are Spanish.

Quebecois in Canada speak a very different sounding French than the majority of native Frenchmen. I read that the reason for that is that the original French settlers in Canada were from a certain small region of France, and that if you go to that region of France now, the French spoken there does sound more like the way the Quebecois speak than the French spoken in the rest of France. 

[Yadira22]

Hi everyone 

so far I have been very lucky. 
speaking Spanish and English  (my accent is soft and not very rhythmic unless I am angry or more specifically hangry) and I speak at a moderate speed, and “don’t eat my words” as the expression goes. So this helps a lot as it’s quite easy to understand, plus I try to avoid “expressions” and stick to literal speaking. 
With my Spanish I can understand italian and Portuguese quite well as it’s rooted from Latin and the grammar is particularly the same. 
My French is not perfect as I do not get to practice it every day but I used it a lot in my previous role when communicating with other buyers etc and this covers the bulk of our client base. 
For languages which are not covered by this we use google translate. I speak into it and it translates into the desired language. Only once or twice did we need to do this but as with anything we adopt. Otherwise when my phone is not accessible I physically show them all the main points (this is more impactful than just explaining to people as people learn in different ways) and explain in English and any questions is sent via Airbnb and is automatically translated to the relevant languages. 
Good luck everyone 

[Susan17]

@Lizzie 

Love the pic you chose for this topic! The guy in the photo is Dublin legend, Tonie Walsh, known locally as "the Godfather of Gay" - DJ, journalist, social and political activist, tireless LGBTQ campaigner, historian, epic storyteller, life-long clubber/party animal and all-round good egg. You couldn't have picked a better man to illustrate a post about communication with anyone - local, national or international! 😉

Tonie put on a powerful - and fabulous! - one-man show here in Dublin last winter about his life, times and social change in Ireland, called simply, "I Am Tonie Walsh". His story spanned the several decades that he has been a leading light in the Irish LGBT+ liberation movement, from the dark discriminatory, violent days of the 80's and 90s when it was still technically illegal - and a mortal sin, of course - to be gay here (same sex sexual activity wasn't decriminalised in Ireland until 1993), right through to the multi-coloured glory days of the the current decade, when in May 2015, Ireland became the first country in the world to legalise same sex marriage, by popular vote. 

The fact that Ireland transformed from being a country that held overwhelmingly conservative attitudes toward LGBT issues, to one holding overwhelmingly liberal ones - in the space of a single generation - is due, in no small part, to courageous, charismatic and proud men and women like the wonderful Tonie Walsh. A true Irish hero. 

https://www.totallydublin.ie/more/he-is-tonie-walsh/

[Helen350]

@Susan17 Never heard of Tonie Walsh, but he sounds like a very BAD egg to me. Sorry to see you applauding one of life's trouble makers, & one who would undermine so much that is good about Ireland. 😞

[Helen350]

..... he'd be very welcome in my Airbnb tho'!

- All are welcome chez moi! - If we only let in folk we agreed with, we'd never let anyone in, would we? - cos if you probed long enough, you'd find some area of disagreement eventually.... My note to self re hosting has always been to avoid the 3 great no nos of sex, religion, & politics! (Stick to small talk, & tourist attractions!)

[Susan17]

@Helen350 

Couldn't disagree more, but each to their own. I'll leave your comments to speak for themselves. 

[Susan17]

@Lizzie 

PS And the building with the green canopy behind Tonie, is Buswells Hotel on Dublin's Molesworth St, which coincidentally, was the venue for the very first official Dublin Homesharing Club meet-up on Feb 8th, 2017. Small world 😉

[Helen427]

Thanks @Lizzie @Susan17 @Yadira22 @Lan1 @Cathie19 

Scrabble is always a great way to help break down barriers and explain new words with International visitors, more so perhaps longer term guests who one may spend more time with.

It's fun to make sentences out of words created.

Make fun out of the different words that sound the same, e.g sea, see, hair, hear, here, hare it usually brings a giggle ( smile and laughter)  to one's face.

@Cathie19what month are you walking the El Camino with Gary?

You will have an incredible experience from what I've heard from those who have done it.

[Helen350]

@Helen427 Your comments re different words which sound the same (homonyms) reminds me of the poem The Chaos - by Dutchman Gerard Nolst Trenite - "Dearest creature in creation, studying English pronunciation......."  ncf.idallen.com/english.html - It's a fun read!