This is essentially a transcript of a conversation I had with someone today while I was working on the bar…
Guy: Excuse me, but do you think you could call me a taxi?
Me: Sure, where are you headed?
Guy: Up to Windermere.
Me: For how many people?
Guy: It’s for five of us.
Me: No problem, just a second.
[calls taxi]
Me: Sorry, he says that for five people, it’ll have to be two separate taxis, as the big ones are all busy. Is that okay?
Guy: Yeah, that’s fine. Will it park out front?
Me: Yeah, in about ten minutes.
Guy: Thanks very much.
Me: You’re welcome!
Now… That would be a totally uninteresting conversation, had it not been for the fact that the man talking to me was completely deaf.
I don’t know sign language at all, and he couldn’t say anything out loud, so this whole back and forth was just a series of pointing and nodding and other bizarre hand movements and gestures. It’s quite incredible how well humans can communicate with one another without so much as word. We can be directed to the toilets in Spain, ask for a drink in Russia, say “good morning” in Africa, all with a few simple gestures.
Having said that, it really makes you appreciate how incredible languages really are.
Huh. Tell that to dickhead I had the joy of communicating with yesterday… (http://stephyness.wordpress.com/2012/08/25/sticks-and-stones/) It’s like you had the heartwarming polar opposite experience to mine.
Incredible! For sucessful communication all you need are two things. Someone willing to say and another one willing to listen.
Heh! I’ll teach you a thing. I got tricked by my aunt into believing that the proper way to greet a deaf person was to hold one hand parallel to the ground and then make a sweeping motion with the other hand – touching them in the process and bringing the working hand in a slight upwards motion at the end of the gesture.
I was ecstatic. I could not wait to practice it! I went with her on a volunteer weekend down at the deaf school canteen and for every person I served, I did the gesture. She was laughing, they were frowning. I caught on and asked one of the other ladies what did the gesture mean?
It meant “Fuck off!” and I did it to about 30 people in one day…. I could not look them in the eyes anymore…
It’s okay if you’ve got the aptitude I guess. I asked for the toilets in Barcelona and ended up in a taxi to Windemere…….. that Catalan, it doesnt quite mean the same in Spanish……
This is a good read! :D