POLAND IV
Exploring a foreign country is always a challenge. The language is completely unfamiliar and you find yourself in helpless situations. One year ago I read an article that stated that a different language can give you a different personality. When I came to Poland I realized what it really meant: A talkative person suddenly finds himself as a shy observer, the most articulate person expresses himself in a very simple way and the most confident person can not communicate at eye level because he is dependent on the kindness of others and has to repeat constantly what has been said.
However I also came across some advantages of people not being able to understand your language: I have to be less aware of what topics I am talking about, I can have a call on the train with my family without the entire train knowing my summary of the week and you can text in the subway without having to tilt your phone.
You become a little child again: Signs, advertisings and the train schedule become encrypted, secret messages. I suddenly started to feel what it is to be an immigrant and the feeling of someone robbing your sense of hearing and speach: You are not able to argue about a specific topic and you start to realize how important it is to use specific terminology to get across your point. All of a sudden you become more aware of non verbal forms of communication like tone of voice, posture, hand movements and eye contact. You start to feel the desire of learning this new language to fully engage in a conversation. I never had this much desire to evolve from an immature child to a fully mature adult. Your mind wants to encrypt these secret messages hidden everywhere. You really want to get into this new language and you want to explore it. You want to start to being able to argue, to give compliments or tell funny jokes.
It is not always that easy to tell a spontaneous, funny joke while you are trying to translate the words in the meantime. Also some jokes in German language just do not exist in English or in Polish. Germans love Sarcasm, however some cultures may just not understand your jokes and find our German sarcasm rude. The hardest thing is to tell a spontaneous joke. You have to deal with untranslatable words and your jokes are just not as funny as in German. The hardest thing is to find and remember the meaning of a word all while you are explaining the joke. In some cases German expressions just do not exist in other languages. One by one translations of sentences and questions often create speculation and confusion.
Out of this willingness to not be a kid anymore you form creative ways to communicate like an adult. You start to communicate with your hands and facial expressions, you get help from locals or you use Google Translate.
Using Google Translate makes less fun in having an interaction, but it makes communication easier and there is less room for misinterpretation.
Overall after a few months of living on Poland I am not that afraid anymore in living in a country where I do not speak the language. I have always found some way to communicate. However, it is definitely a good idea to prepare yourself for such a trip. Simple phrases, language courses or downloading the Google Translate App help you in case of emergencies, foster communication in general, make your life easier and just avoid common misunderstandings.
Moritz Steindl, May 2022