Everyone has experienced various degrees of miscommunication at some time. Maybe you thought that someone had said something different than what they were trying to say, or maybe you were not successful in getting your point across to someone who did not speak the same language as you or at the same level of fluency as you did. This is a natural occurrence periodically in life. Experience has taught me that the miscommunications and misinterpretations that occur between native and non-native language speakers can be the most confusing in the moment, but they are also many times the most amusing (sometimes even hysterical) in retrospect. Anyone who has ever seen the movie Lost in Translation knows what I'm talking about.

Granada, Spain – What did she say?
Every Tuesday afternoon during my semester in Spain, a good friend of our host mother's would come for lunch. My roommate and I never knew this woman's name, so we secretly referred to her as "the friend". The strange part about "the friend" is that neither my roommate nor I could understand one single word this woman said. She didn't mumble or have any kind of difficulty speaking, and she was speaking in Spanish. I really am convinced that it was just her voice (very high pitched and very nasal) that made it difficult to understand. We had to try so hard not to laugh through lunch because every week it was the same scenario. "The friend" would ask us a question. We would look at Maria (our host mother) with a blank stare. Maria would then translate (I assume verbatim) what "the friend" had asked. We would answer and on and on it went. Despite four months of Tuesday lunches with "the friend", we never did get any better at understanding her. Lucky for us, this was an isolated case as our overall Spanish skills improved tremendously during our time in Spain.

Prague, Czech Republic – Playing Charades
My brother, plagued with allergies, found himself surrounded in every hotel by feather pillows and down comforters. He was staying in mostly smaller hotels that did not have staff with strong English speaking skills. At first, he did not want to make a big deal and be the ugly American yelling at the housekeeping staff in English for "NOOOOO FEA-THER PILL-OWS." So he kept quiet, until the third night where he could not stand the allergy attacks any longer. The maid came to the room and he got a pillow off the bed, gave it to her and proceeded to shake his head no violently while flapping his arms and clucking like a chicken. After a few attempts at trying to get his point across with no visible response, he gave up and started fake sneezing. The maid finally caught on to what point he was trying to make, and gave him a non-feather pillow. This technique worked throughout his trip in Europe. Finally, he did stay in a larger hotel and proceeded with the standard reenactment as usual. He was very embarrassed when they asked him in English, "Why don't you just tell us you are allergic to feathers?"

Frankfurt, Germany – Who's Alice?
It was my first day in a beginner German class. The class consisted of myself, a girl from Japan and two boys (one from Russia and the other from Turkey). The teacher was a native German speaker. The class was conducted entirely in German. I was clueless for most of the class until the end, or so I thought. At the end of class, I thought I was starting to get the gist of what was being said. The teacher started with a long list of examples (I will translate from German from where I thought I was starting to understand).

"And you know, if it's this way, then Alice will be this way, and if this happens, then Alice will do that." This went on for the last few minutes of class. She kept talking about all kinds of things that Alice could do. I sat in utter confusion wondering to myself "Did I miss something? Who's Alice?" I looked at my notes since I wrote down the teacher's name (Katarina) as soon as she said it. "OK, I thought. She's not Alice. The Japanese girl isn't Alice, she just called her by name. Wait! Does she think my name is Alice? Who is this Alice person? The character in the story we just read was Hans. What is she talking about?"

Class finally ended, and I left shaking my head knowing how confusing and frustrating the next 2 weeks would be. I trudged back to my host family and decided to ask my host mother a simple question to try and make some sense out of everything. "Was beduetet Alice?" (Translation: "What does Alice mean?") My host mother looked at me and said in English "it means – everything." I started laughing and couldn't stop. I felt so stupid. I explained to her what transpired in class. We both had a good laugh at that one. That night, I re-told the story to my dad who had taken years of German in school. "Come on, Elizabeth," he said "It's pronounced ahl-less not Alice." Whatever, dad. I'm still sticking to the fact that it sounds like Alice with a German accent!

By Elizabeth Gregory

There is so much more meaning to a message than
what exists in the spoken/written word. For example, if a person says,
“You know, Barbara, I really like you” it will have different meanings
depending on if it is said by/to a man or a woman, in a work
environment or a bar. Eye contact, physical distance, relationship
between the speaker and listener, context, the tone of voice, and the
stress put on certain words are all aspects of the message which give
meaning to the words being said. In fact, these factors can provide
much more meaning than the words themselves. Sarcasm is a perfect
example of how non-linguistic aspects of communication relay meaning.
If a friend says to me, “Gee, I can't wait to vote in the upcoming
election”, the way I interpret that message will be based upon my
knowledge of my friend's political views, the situation with the
current campaign, and my ability to understand the meaning behind the
tone of voice.

Our ability to interpret such cues is subconsciously developed through
our process of socialization. The meanings that we attach to certain
non-verbal aspects of communication seem inherent to us. Our
interpretation of these cues just comes naturally. Now take into
consideration that every culture has its own set of cultural cues that
each member of that culture understands. It's easy to see how a person
from Culture A and a person from Culture B may interpret the very same
words in totally different ways. Here are some examples:

When Sarcasm Means Sincerity
Marsha thought things were going well with her new French friends,
particularly Bertrand. He continually invited her to interesting and
fun events, but he was constantly making fun of her. One day at an art
exhibit, while looking at a particularly abstract piece, Marsha says
that she cannot understand what the artist was trying to express.
Bertrand smiles and responds, “Yes, I'm afraid French art is far too
advanced for Americans to comprehend.” Marsha was desperate; she really
liked him and could not figure out what she was doing to cause his
constant teasing, so she asked her host mother about it. “My dear,” the
host mother told her, “this means that he really likes you. In France,
when someone feels comfortable enough to tease you, that means that you
have been welcomed as an intimate friend.”

When Now Doesn't Mean Now
Joshua, an American student in Heredia, Costa Rica, called his Costa
Rican intercambio partner to meet for coffee. When he asked what time
they should meet, the response was “Nos encontramos ahora en el
parque.” For Joshua (and the dictionary), “ahora” literally means
“now.” So, he grabbed his jacket and headed straight to the park where
he sat on a bench and waited for over half an hour. His friend arrived
without the least sign of repentance for being late. After discussing
the matter with his Spanish teacher, Joshua learned that in Costa Rica,
“ahora” means sometime within the hour. And, if you are meeting a
friend someplace like the park, it is expected that it is no problem
for one or the other person to wait for a while because you will spend
some nice time sitting in the park, probably running into some other
friends, or meeting someone friendly also sitting on a bench.

When Yes Doesn't Mean Yes
Many business people have experienced this frustrating scenario in
Japan. Sarah, a young businesswoman from New York, was sent to Japan to
close a big deal for her company. While giving her pitch, she became
more and more sure of the sale because her Japanese counterparts
continually nodded their heads as she spoke. When she finished, she
thought the deal was made and asked when they would like to sign the
contract. She was shocked when she was told that they were not yet sure
if they wanted to make the deal or not. What Sarah did not know is that
in Japan, nodding of the head does not necessarily mean yes as it does
in the U.S. It can also mean “Yes, I am listening and understanding
what you are saying."

These stories provide just a few examples of how language skills are
simply not enough to achieve effective communication in another
culture. To get the most out of your international learning experience,
focus on gaining cross-cultural skills as well as linguistic ones.
Cross-cultural skills will enable you to:
1) Understand how culture effects communication (your own and that of others)
2) Deal with behaviors that, to you, seem strange or annoying
3) Learn from your cultural adaptation process
4) Communicate more effectively.

These skills will also help you in your pursuit to learn a new
language. After all, language is a reflection of the culture from which it developed.