Yes the world is getting smaller. Most major cities now are filled to the brim with people from all over the world, imported products are everywhere, and it's almost a necessity to speak another language to get a decent job, that other language usually is English.
I've been blessed with a really good education where I've learned how to speak not 2 languages, but 3 and for that I am grateful.
Others, unfortunately have not been so lucky. I think it's perfectly fine to speak only one language, provided that's the language being used in the country you live in. Where I have a problem is when you're in the right place, speak the right language, but somehow a foreign language gets through with no subtitles and you make assumptions. Never assume people. If it's in a language you don't understand, don't assume.
Let me give you an example to illustrate. I don't really treat myself often, but every so often, I decide what the hell, let me spend some money on me... So I get off work and head off to the nail salon to get an manicure and pedicure. So I'm sitting there, getting the royal treatment, my feet soaking in some warm water while the lady starts working on my hands, when I notice something odd about the label on the bottle of cream she's using. So I pick it up and read it. There's no translation on the bottle, it's all in English (and I live in a country where the official language is as far away from English as can be) and on the label it says: "Cream for the Strong, Happy Man" (okay that's not exactly what it said, I don't really remember it word for word, but it was something along those lines).
Anyway, I read the back and it's a cream that helps improve blood circulation down there, thus making a guy last longer. Now the problem is, the lady doesn't speak a word of English, not one, and she's using this cream away as skin moisturizer and it just killed me! I'm sitting there thinking I'm getting moisturizer on my skin, but instead my foot is being treated as a failed penis! Do those things really work? Should I worry? Will I wake up tomorrow morning with two penises where my feet should be? That could get a little awkward.... I don't know how they'd fit in my shoes... I think my boyfriend might have a problem with it too.... and I have such nice shoes...
I wanted to scream at her, how the hell could she use something when she doesn't know what it is. Isn't that like the basic rule? I mean when we were young, the older kids would always try to trick us into saying things that we didn't know the meaning of, like swear words, which of course ended up as soap in our mouths. Did that teach us nothing?
And does that mean that from now on everyone has to know more than one language? Why isn't their mother tongue enough? And what happens, when slowly, you replace the foreign language, be it English, French, or Spanish, to your mother tongue, so that you speak the foreign language better? What happens then? Is your identity tied to your language?
Well, I am grateful I speak more than one language and I'm grateful for perfectly painted nails, even if it took penis cream to get them that way.
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