I have two very distinct memories of hearing a foreign language outside academia.
The first was at Evergreen America, my first job out of college. Open office concept, as it is a Taiwanese company, which was quite helpful when I first started. It was easy to listen in on conversations and learn how to respond to questions, or slide over and learn about the different fields in the system, which ones were important for export documentation and which ones to ignore.
I’ve been stashed in a cube at each employer since. Something to be said for Asian companies and the Asian culture: no physical barriers to communication. So much easier to learn and build relationships.
Anyway. One day, my office mate answered the phone in a language that wasn’t English.
It was Mandarin.
Evergreen had a number of foreign clients, some of whom spoke little English but very good Mandarin. One of my office mates was also fluent in Mandarin, and I would often hear her converse with clients. I gradually learned that inflection is important, far more important than in English. The wrong inflection, even if the same word, can be insulting or misconstrued. I had one of those “ah-ha” moments. I had wondered why, sometimes, it seemed as if the same word was being repeated. It wasn’t exactly the same word, it was a different inflection.
The second memory is on the train from Charles de Gaulle airport to downtown Paris. Two guys were standing near the door, conversing in French. It sounded rougher than what was spoken in the college classroom, and I didn’t understand any of it, but I quietly reveled in the experience.
It wasn’t until I moved on from Everngree that I found myself missing that language variety. I haven’t experienced anything quite that cool since. Every other employer has been an American employer with mostly American clients, or clients that speak English very well. Certainly makes communication easier, but it also loses a bit of a challenge since we all know the same words. It also makes the work place less interesting. There’s just a different kind of feeling in an international company than a strictly American one. I hadn’t realized that until I heard three women conversing in Mandarin on the bus ride home this week.
A very spirited conversation, with laughter and some grumbling, from what I could gain by inflection and their facial expressions. As I walked home from the bus stop, it dawned on me that I hear different languages nearly every day in Vancouver. Even ordering food in different languages! It’s helpful to go to dim sum with Asians. And Asian culture is so fascinating, and much more prevalent here than in Chicago. Understandable considering how close Vancouver is to China, Japan and Asia in general.
But there are other languages too.
French, for example. All the packaging is in French, and from time to time, I catch a snippet of conversation in French while passing a couple on the street. I’ve heard conversations in German, Swedish, what I think is Russian and some languages I can’t quite place.
Rather cool.