Tip of the Week-- January 22, 2015

I was recently in a village with a good friend to visit his family.  I was tired and distracted that day, and my language skills seemed to have completely abandoned me.  It didn't help that the village was in a zone where the dominate language is one I don't understand, and even when speaking something I "should" understand, they do so with a weird accent.  Uncomfortable as it was, it did provide some fodder for this Tip of the Week.

Every new language learner goes through the uncomfortable, and far-too-long, phase of wearing the figurative dunce cap.  As soon as you open your mouth, the native speakers grimace and nod knowingly.  "Yup, this guy's a slow one."  The amount of humility needed to go parading around in that special cap cannot be underestimated.  However, you soon realize that it does provide you with a certain protection.  At least no one takes you seriously, and they don't really expect you to be able to take them seriously either.  Sometimes it gets you out of sticky situations.  The teacher, after all, never asks the dunce to skip recess to grade papers.  And if you do happen to understand what is being said, but just feel like not participating in whatever activity, social obligation, or request you are being invited to, you can simply respond: "I have no idea what you are saying to me.  But I so (worsen accent...) ahhpprreCIATe that you...come (slurring altogether now)tohave cooonveeerssssation witme."

However, if you stick at it long enough, you lose the relative "privilege" of wearing the dunce cap--that disgrace being replaced with the ignominious Stupid Badge.  You've studied long enough and been around long enough, that you SHOULD understand what is being said to you.  There are numerous reasons why you might not understand, for none of which you bear full responsibility--the speaker was speaking far too quickly; they have a thick accent and/or are missing teeth; they were speaking another language, you started day-dreaming, they switched back to include you but didn't change the accent, cadence or rhythm and now they are looking at you for a response and you are still thinking about what you would order if Pizza Hut were just around the corner.  Not your fault, true, but you, alone, get to take the bow for being the public idiot and playing it so well.   

The Stupid Badge is sometimes light and easy to wear, like one of those stick-on paper name tags: Hello, my name is: Dummy!  Other times it is a heavy metal pinned prominently on your chest, glinting in the sunlight, it's weight pulling so heavily on your lapel that your shirt starts to pull awkwardly over your shoulder.  Probably it would just be best to accept this, get used to how it looks on you, and go on with life.  But there are those moments--you know the ones.  You've asked the speaker to repeat 3 times, and the weight of Stupid is pulling so heavily you are sure your shirt is almost touching the floor.  If...you...could...just...get...a moment of reprieve! 

Always happy to help!  Here are 4 tips for taking a breather  when Stupid has you weighted down:

1. Play the contemplative sage.  Long, slow head nods accompanied by a pensive "hmm..." are essential to this technique.  Admittedly this is a stall tactic and can result in being called out, but it is often your best first line defense.  You are really just trying to buy enough time to rack your brain to try to make sense of what the person said or remember what the context was before they spoke, so that you can give some kind of intelligent response.  Occasionally, if you hold out long enough, the speaker will assume you are deep in thought, or that you've understood what they've said at some deeper level, and leave you alone or change the subject.

2.  Confuse the confuser.  This tactic is not for novices as it requires honed skill and hardened courage, but when well-executed, the pay offs are enormous.  Whatever has been said, you respond with a blustery, long-winded speech about a topic of your choosing.  You needn't even make complete sense; you just need to make enough sense that it leaves a nagging doubt of plausibility in your interlocutor's mind.  Preferably, you will use vocabulary that has been used in the conversation already, making it seem like you've stayed within the subject.  Now, the speaker is in the uncomfortable position of trying to avoid the Stupid Badge.  When he more clearly states his point, and you've understood, you say, "Exactly, that is what I'm saying."

3. Lead on.  Sometimes getting just a bit more context will give you enough to work with, but you must first get the speaker to keep going.  You respond initially with a slow nod and something like, "Interesting, very interesting.  Please go on..."  or "Hadn't thought of it that way.  Explain to me how you came to that point of view." Hopefully you've listened to the intonation at the end of what the speaker said to you so that you can judge between a statement and a question.  If it was a question, you'll need to modify the tactic a bit.  "Hmmm... yeah, I don't know what I think of that.  Can you explain a bit more?" 

4. Crack a joke and walk.  Sometimes the best you can do is to try to get people laughing at anything but you, and then change the topic.  This largely depends on what works in your cultural context, but the basics are the same.  They've asked you a question or made a statement that you do not understand at all.  You smile, crack a joke that has absolutely nothing to do with what they said, and laugh with gusto.  In this context, it would be something like, "HA, Coulibaly you've obviously been eating so many beans that the gas is getting to your head!" (For those living in cultures where bean jokes don't work...I am SO sorry for you.)  You will want to try and apply some discernment to the implementation of this tactic.  If it is possible that the speaker just told you that a family member died or some other such tragic news, it would be best to avoid this technique, as it may result in wearing a rather large Stupid Badge.

Prayer requests:

1. Pray for Issa who leave next week to go to Senegal for the start of his Youth With A Mission training school.  Pray that his travels would go smoothly and that he would adjust quickly to the new surroundings.

2. A situation has developed with the friend I mentioned last week, "B".  I can't share the details here, but this had made some things pretty complicated and risks to have some serious consequences.  Pray that what the enemy would use for evil, God would use for His good purposes.

3.  Continue to pray for our hospital outreaches.  We are having a bit of trouble finding dates that work for everyone involved.   Pray also for the preparations for public health teaching, that we'd find members of our staff that would be motivated and gifted for the different lessons we'd like to give.