No the title is not about me. :P
This past week my (ex)college has been hosting exchange students from Japan. It's been a lot of fun making new friends, eating free food, and practicing communicating with people who understand only a little english.
However some people aren't so great at communicating with the students. And the problem isn't so much the language barrier, it's these people's inability to sense how the students are reacting or if they're even understanding them. One kid in particular, and by "kid" I mean 25-year-old who acts like an awkward 8th grader, was getting on my nerves. For the purpose of this rant, lets call him Mitch.
It's really easy for me to be able to tell what another person is feeling or thinking, just by paying a little attention to their reactions or expressions. I can adjust what I'm saying, or pause to translate words accordingly. Mitch however can't seem to tell when any of this is needed.
He starts by butting into your conversation and changing the subject to whatever he feels the need to talk about. Oh you were having a nice conversation about your favorite movies with the exchange students? Too bad, Mitch wants to talk about his life. And talk. And talk. and talk. And when the students show obvious expressions of confusion? Well just keep on talking of course!
And while he's on a role, he'll probably throw in a few bad jokes that native english speakers don't even fully understand or find funny. You think you should butt in and try to help save the obviously uncomfortable exchange students? Good luck with that because he most likely wont let you speak for more than a few seconds. The poor students are just going have to keep awkwardly nodding while he laughs to himself and the english speakers around him roll their eyes.
So after telling us about his life and how he wants to teach english, and how he has a friend in Japan who he teaches online, and after giving me a lesson that I didn't ask for on something I already knew, he did something that I didn't expect. He stopped talking. Haha no but seriously he gave all the students around us his business card. His BUSINESS CARD!
YOU DON'T HAVE A BUSINESS! YOU TALK WITH PEOPLE ON SKYPE FOR FREE AND LIVE WITH YOUR PARENTS. Your only "business" is making people feel uncomfortable and awkward. And if you were to charge for that you'd be rich.
And when I thought he would be the worst of my troubles I was wrong. Today we had a BBQ with the Japanese students at a local park. Who did Mitch bring? His dad. Mitch Sr, who happens to be EVEN WORSE AND MORE UNAWARE OF PEOPLE'S DISCOMFORT!!!!
After probably 30 minutes of some of my favorite exchange students standing there nodding their heads, I decided to try and go rescue them. They were noticeably distressed and wanted to leave, but he was too busy making jokes about wigwams to see that.
At one point he decided he needed to help my best exchange friend with her english. He pointed to her water bottle and asked "what is this?" She confidently answered "water!" because for the first time in the conversation he said something she could understand. Um okay normal enough I guess. But he proceeded to ask her "Is it water? or is it way-ter" which confused her and made her think she answered wrong. He asked her again "why is it pronounced wah-ter and not way-ter?"
I'm sorry, but HOW is asking things like that supposed to help someone learn english? If anything he was overwhelming them.
And since I know most people will see this giant block of text and run the other way, here's a completely unrelated picture:
This past week my (ex)college has been hosting exchange students from Japan. It's been a lot of fun making new friends, eating free food, and practicing communicating with people who understand only a little english.
However some people aren't so great at communicating with the students. And the problem isn't so much the language barrier, it's these people's inability to sense how the students are reacting or if they're even understanding them. One kid in particular, and by "kid" I mean 25-year-old who acts like an awkward 8th grader, was getting on my nerves. For the purpose of this rant, lets call him Mitch.
It's really easy for me to be able to tell what another person is feeling or thinking, just by paying a little attention to their reactions or expressions. I can adjust what I'm saying, or pause to translate words accordingly. Mitch however can't seem to tell when any of this is needed.
He starts by butting into your conversation and changing the subject to whatever he feels the need to talk about. Oh you were having a nice conversation about your favorite movies with the exchange students? Too bad, Mitch wants to talk about his life. And talk. And talk. and talk. And when the students show obvious expressions of confusion? Well just keep on talking of course!
And while he's on a role, he'll probably throw in a few bad jokes that native english speakers don't even fully understand or find funny. You think you should butt in and try to help save the obviously uncomfortable exchange students? Good luck with that because he most likely wont let you speak for more than a few seconds. The poor students are just going have to keep awkwardly nodding while he laughs to himself and the english speakers around him roll their eyes.
So after telling us about his life and how he wants to teach english, and how he has a friend in Japan who he teaches online, and after giving me a lesson that I didn't ask for on something I already knew, he did something that I didn't expect. He stopped talking. Haha no but seriously he gave all the students around us his business card. His BUSINESS CARD!
YOU DON'T HAVE A BUSINESS! YOU TALK WITH PEOPLE ON SKYPE FOR FREE AND LIVE WITH YOUR PARENTS. Your only "business" is making people feel uncomfortable and awkward. And if you were to charge for that you'd be rich.
And when I thought he would be the worst of my troubles I was wrong. Today we had a BBQ with the Japanese students at a local park. Who did Mitch bring? His dad. Mitch Sr, who happens to be EVEN WORSE AND MORE UNAWARE OF PEOPLE'S DISCOMFORT!!!!
After probably 30 minutes of some of my favorite exchange students standing there nodding their heads, I decided to try and go rescue them. They were noticeably distressed and wanted to leave, but he was too busy making jokes about wigwams to see that.
At one point he decided he needed to help my best exchange friend with her english. He pointed to her water bottle and asked "what is this?" She confidently answered "water!" because for the first time in the conversation he said something she could understand. Um okay normal enough I guess. But he proceeded to ask her "Is it water? or is it way-ter" which confused her and made her think she answered wrong. He asked her again "why is it pronounced wah-ter and not way-ter?"
I'm sorry, but HOW is asking things like that supposed to help someone learn english? If anything he was overwhelming them.
And since I know most people will see this giant block of text and run the other way, here's a completely unrelated picture:
