What to Do When No One Speaks English????????

Nine Things to Do When No One Speaks English

Here is a helpful list, written by Tim Campbell, about how to navigate when no one seems to speak English.  I added a few of my tips at the end.

You've always gotten by with your high school French or Spanish overseas, but what if you're in a place so remote no one speaks anything but the local language and you haven't taken the time to learn more than "hello" and "thank you"?

English is a common second language in many countries, particularly those that see lots of tourists or international businesspeople. But go off the beaten track, and English speakers aren't as easy to find. In the jungles of Ecuador you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who spoke anything other than Spanish. What if you're in rural China or Russia, or even a major city in Asia like Tokyo that has very few signs in English?

Below are nine tips that can help.

1. Don't panic.

Logic and composure are your best friends. You might fret if it's getting late and you can't find an ATM or your hotel. Don't worry; eventually someone will help. Stay positive.

2. Write it down.

Before you leave for the day, ask the front desk or concierge to write down the name of your hotel in the local language, or get a business card with the hotel's details on it. That way if you get lost, anyone can point you in the right direction, and a taxi (your safest bet at night) will return you to the front door in a heartbeat.

3. Get an app.

If you'll be using your smartphone abroad, download a translation app. Our favorite is Google Translate, which covers approximately 70 languages. You can have a local speak into the phone or even take a picture of written text, and the app will translate it into English for you. The app will work offline if there's no 4G or Wi-Fi available. It's free for iPhone and Android.

4. Buy a phrasebook.

Remember that your smartphone may not work everywhere in the world -- and if your battery dies, you may need a backup plan. If you're headed to a place where power is limited and English speakers are hard to find, it's worth investing in a phrasebook. Even if you can't pronounce the words, you can show a local the page of the book with the phrase you're trying to convey. Many guidebooks also have a list of common words if you don't want to carry a separate phrasebook.

5. Go to a hotel.

Wherever you are, look for the nearest lodging, preferably a luxury or business hotel (which will be most accustomed to international guests). Hotels almost always have a person on staff that can speak English or will find someone for you who can. In the worst case, you can rest in the lobby and gather your thoughts.

6. Find a tourist office.

As with hotels, tourist offices are used to interacting with international visitors and will likely have multilingual people on staff.

7. Look for familiar franchises.

IndependentTraveler.com Editor at Large Dori Saltzman offers an unexpected tip: "Go to McDonald's or another chain that you recognize from home. Because these places attract Americans, the staff often will know a little English -- and even if they don't, some of the diners might."

8. Look for young people.

IndependentTraveler.com Senior Editor Sarah Schlichter recommends reaching out to younger locals: "I've found that people in their 20s tend to be more likely to remember the English they studied in school than older folks who haven't practiced their second language in a few decades."

9. Draw a picture or sign it out.

Hand gestures, sketches or even just pointing to a map can all get your point across if words fail. Be careful, though; seemingly innocent hand gestures in your own culture could prove offensive elsewhere in the world. We recommend reading up on taboos and hand gestures before your trip at CultureCrossing.net.

The main thing to remember is that people worldwide are generally helpful. Remember your charades and try to act out what you need. If nothing else, it will give the locals a good laugh, and when they are laughing they will be more inclined to help.

 

 

Here are my additions for those overseas on business:

Avoid Using American Slang, American Idioms, Acronyms, American Sports Trivia, and American Humor

 

Practice universal English language.  Avoid the use of any terms or idioms, jargon, buzzwords, military or sports analogies, colloquialisms, acronyms, or euphemisms that might be confusing to someone who is not from your region of the world.  Also, shy away from sarcasm or innuendo.  You will probably be the only one who understands your meaning.  Using these confusing terms only create barriers to effective communication

 

 

Sports metaphors and analogies are very commonly used in the US.  You will completely lose your audience if you pepper your language with these idioms in other countries. 

 

Think locally. Try to find a few topics that are important in the local popular culture. Remember, most people in the world have little or no interest in the World Series or the Super Bowl. (Think about what it means for us to call it the World Series-- when only we are involved)   remember, what we call “soccer” is football everywhere else. And it's the most popular sport on the planet.  Next year, watch the World Cup!

 

Humor is the last aspect of culture to translate across cultures.  In fact, humor is so culture specific that some humor is only understood by certain individuals in subcultures, even inside the US.  For example, unless you are a biker, you probably would not understand biker humor.  Often when Americans attempt to use humor, especially when they tell jokes from the podium, foreigners in the audience will laugh along yet have no clue of the meeting of the message.  Typically, they are instructed to laugh when everyone else laughs-- in order to save face.

 

Avoid using humor that is uniquely American.  Steer clear from making fun of other groups-especially as it relates to characteristics they have no control over such as ethnicity, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, etc.  Take the lead from your host when engaging in humor.

 

Finally, learn the metric system. 

 

 

Native American Tribe Races to Preserve Endangered Language

Native American Tribe Races to Preserve Endangered Language

By Jessica Cheung-New American Media

 

Convinced that discarding their language would be tantamount to discarding their identity, members of one Indian tribe recently donated $1 million to California State University (CSU), Fresno, in an effort to save their language from extinction.

The funds, which leaders of the Chukchansi tribe hope will allow linguists at the CSU to compile a dictionary and assemble grammar texts over the next five years, generated from the tribe-owned casino nestled in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

“When [the United States] began the genocide of Native American communities, the reason they allowed us to sign our treaties was because we had a language,” Kimberly Lawhon, education coordinator for the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians, said. “Generations of our elders went through drought and atrocities; the core of our language is our identity.”

Jose Diaz, associate dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at the Fresno school, said the grant would “speed up the process” already in motion at the school “to preserve an endangered language.”

“Before the grant, faculty members were volunteering on their own time with the Chukchansi tribe,” Diaz observed.

Research on the language started in the summer of 2009 when the Chukchansi tribe reached out to faculty linguists.

Agbayani, Chris Golston, and Niken Adisasmito-Smith are three of the main CSU Fresno linguistic professors currently working with the Chukchansi tribe.

A 2011 UC Berkeley survey of native Indian languages in California by UC Berkeley indicated that only a few fluent speakers of Chukchansi exist today.

“We were very lucky to be approached by a few Chukchansi fluent speakers,” Agbayani said. “[But even among them] a lot of the vocabulary is at the tip of the tongue. The more time we spend with them, the more we’re able to tap it.”

Two centuries ago, California was the most linguistically diverse region in the western hemisphere with about 90 native Indian languages spoken. Today, only about 50 native languages are spoken in the state — but just barely. Half of those languages have a scant number of native speakers, most of whom are in their 80s.

“Most speakers are semi-speakers” who remember their language, UC Berkeley Linguistics Professor emerita Leanne Hinton observed. “There’s a movement of language revitalization, with an increasing amount of second language speakers, and a growing number of families trying to use [their tribal languages] at home.”

Around the world, one language dies every 14 days, according to a study done by National Geographic and the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, which estimates that roughly half of the 7,000 world languages spoken today will disappear by the next century.

The movement to revitalize endangered languages is at high tide as students and schools across the nation are banding together to create Native American student groups and implement preservation projects. Hinton recently directed a Breath for Life workshop at UC Berkeley, where students and a linguistics mentor worked with a group of Indians to document languages.

But the effort is fraught with challenges partly because there is a scarcity of people who want to learn the language.

“The problem is that diversity in languages is so great in California that there aren’t strong programs where people can be fluent,” Hinton said. “Revitalization is pulled by the bootstraps, pioneered by individuals, organizations, advocates and living speakers.”

“We have a lot of people dedicating time and effort to teaching the language, but there aren’t a lot of adults dedicated to reach fluency of their language,” Lawhon said. “The biggest hurdle is getting our membership to devote themselves to learning.”
But Lawhon remains optimistic, saying that she’s even had “non-native speakers in the community come to learn the language.”

Chukchansi courses for kids and adults are taught predominantly by members of the tribe at Coarsegold Elementary School near their Rancheria. They will offer Chukchansi courses as an elective in the junior high class if 20 students sign up.

Even though the recent efforts to document endangered languages will provide records, the future of native languages, Hinton said, is in “revitalization, not survival.”

“There are two sides to language preservation,” Agabayani said. “One is to revitalize the language, encouraging their children to carry [forward] the language. The second is to document the language.”

Language research and documentation can only prevent endangered languages from complete extinction. The population of native speakers is shrinking, and researchers worry that in due time, all that will be left may be records.

Only a minute fraction of today’s 7,000 existing languages are indigenous, which Golston describes as “precious.”

When a language goes silent, knowledge along with it dissipates. Because speakers of endangered languages generally live near animals and plants, their language holds key to unlocking insight to nature.

“Languages don’t fossilize” like dinosaurs, Golston said. “We can still learn about dinosaurs [beyond their extinction]. When languages are not recorded, they’re gone forever. It’s becoming more critical as the number of native speakers dwindle into small numbers.”

“This may be the last generation of speakers,” Agbayani said. “We’re hoping that more tribes are taking action to revitalize their language, and I think it’s becoming a worldwide effort.”

see article link here:

http://www.nationofchange.org/native-american-tribe-races-preserve-endangered-language-1342965738