I never thought language would be much of a problem here in India. Even though I can't speak or understand any of the South Indian languages most people in Bangalore can speak either Hindi or English, so we had a pretty good chance of being able to communicate. However every place has their colloquial sayings, you see it from state to state in Australia. So we have found quite often with a combination of slang, words that just don't mean what we were taught and the heavy Indian accent, we often find ourselves lost in translation.
In the beginning, before we got our car we borrowed a car with a driver and needed to go somewhere, around 40 minutes away. We ask the driver how long it would take to get to Ulsoor. He said Ulsoor is very far and seemed hesitant to take us. However with Bangalore traffic even 10 kms can take an hour and well people are always hesitant to do anything at first.
We rely on Google maps like oxygen (It is seriously phenomenal here in India). However the driver said the directions we were giving him are wrong, and who were we to argue with some who has lived in this city his whole life. Some point during the traffic as the sun hit my face, I fell asleep and woke up while we at the toll booth. I found it strange that we had to pay a toll and it was about double what we usually pay.
We try to find the exact place but was noone knew where it was. We decided to call the guy we were meeting but as we look at our phones and neither of us have signal. My phone not having signal was nothing new, however my husbands? That was strange, we turned our phones on and off whatever we could but it was no use. We borrowed the drivers phone and tried to get to the place we were meant to do, after about a half an hour of driving around, numerous phone calls we decided to call it quits, we had no google maps and the driver had no idea where to go. Turns out we had crossed the border, entered Tamil Nadu as there is also a town called Ulsoor. We supposedly pronounced it wrong and ended up in another state. As for vodafone (Another post in itself), thought it would be perfect timing to cut our phones off. So note to self, before you end up in a different state, just use Google maps.
However despite this, I think phone calls have to be the hardest to decipher. I have noticed here in Bangalore people have a habit of speaking ridiculously fast and adding sounds of "aaa, and ennaa" to the end of most words. Now I have been accused of speaking as fast as a cast member of the Gilmore girls when I talk to my friends, this is just on a whole different level. Trying to decipher a sentence spoken in fast forward and with random sounds in the middle makes in an act in the comedy festival.
I had a conversation where about 7 minutes were spent on me understanding pmntlenaaa.
Lady on the phone: So yur hr pmnentlenaaa
Me: huh
Lady on the phone: So yur hr pmnentlenaaa
Me:....I'm sorry, could you repeat that
Lady on the phone: So yur hr pmnentlenaaa
Me......What?
About 3 more times I think she is asking if I stay here permanently now
Me: Permanently?
Lady on the phone: Pmnentlenaaa
It was only once I looked over and see my husband in hysterics telling me to just say yes, I realised that great we have been saying the same thing. Often it gets to a point of frustration where I just hand the phone over to my husband. Although many times as soon as I handed it to him and he said the words "Hindi or English" I realised I had been speaking in English while the person on the other end was speaking in Kannada.
Having a maid that speaks no Hindi and very very little English has proven to have its difficulties. I have tried to use all the years of playing charades to use. To be honest I think it does more damage than good and in her eyes I'm just making odd actions. So our communication is a combination of my mediocre acting, the use of single words to describe things and a lot of blank stares between the two of us while my husband chortles away. I honestly could speak in minion language and have her understand just as much as she does now. Actually according to her I do speak in minion language since I'm always singing this around the house.
.JPG)
Frayil Fragile
Milakennaaa Milk
Plitoo Plateau
Peeordee Plastic pouch
PFA Please find Attached
CCD Cafe Coffee Day
In the beginning, before we got our car we borrowed a car with a driver and needed to go somewhere, around 40 minutes away. We ask the driver how long it would take to get to Ulsoor. He said Ulsoor is very far and seemed hesitant to take us. However with Bangalore traffic even 10 kms can take an hour and well people are always hesitant to do anything at first.
We rely on Google maps like oxygen (It is seriously phenomenal here in India). However the driver said the directions we were giving him are wrong, and who were we to argue with some who has lived in this city his whole life. Some point during the traffic as the sun hit my face, I fell asleep and woke up while we at the toll booth. I found it strange that we had to pay a toll and it was about double what we usually pay.
We try to find the exact place but was noone knew where it was. We decided to call the guy we were meeting but as we look at our phones and neither of us have signal. My phone not having signal was nothing new, however my husbands? That was strange, we turned our phones on and off whatever we could but it was no use. We borrowed the drivers phone and tried to get to the place we were meant to do, after about a half an hour of driving around, numerous phone calls we decided to call it quits, we had no google maps and the driver had no idea where to go. Turns out we had crossed the border, entered Tamil Nadu as there is also a town called Ulsoor. We supposedly pronounced it wrong and ended up in another state. As for vodafone (Another post in itself), thought it would be perfect timing to cut our phones off. So note to self, before you end up in a different state, just use Google maps.
However despite this, I think phone calls have to be the hardest to decipher. I have noticed here in Bangalore people have a habit of speaking ridiculously fast and adding sounds of "aaa, and ennaa" to the end of most words. Now I have been accused of speaking as fast as a cast member of the Gilmore girls when I talk to my friends, this is just on a whole different level. Trying to decipher a sentence spoken in fast forward and with random sounds in the middle makes in an act in the comedy festival.
I had a conversation where about 7 minutes were spent on me understanding pmntlenaaa.
Lady on the phone: So yur hr pmnentlenaaa
Me: huh
Lady on the phone: So yur hr pmnentlenaaa
Me:....I'm sorry, could you repeat that
Lady on the phone: So yur hr pmnentlenaaa
Me......What?
About 3 more times I think she is asking if I stay here permanently now
Me: Permanently?
Lady on the phone: Pmnentlenaaa
It was only once I looked over and see my husband in hysterics telling me to just say yes, I realised that great we have been saying the same thing. Often it gets to a point of frustration where I just hand the phone over to my husband. Although many times as soon as I handed it to him and he said the words "Hindi or English" I realised I had been speaking in English while the person on the other end was speaking in Kannada.
Having a maid that speaks no Hindi and very very little English has proven to have its difficulties. I have tried to use all the years of playing charades to use. To be honest I think it does more damage than good and in her eyes I'm just making odd actions. So our communication is a combination of my mediocre acting, the use of single words to describe things and a lot of blank stares between the two of us while my husband chortles away. I honestly could speak in minion language and have her understand just as much as she does now. Actually according to her I do speak in minion language since I'm always singing this around the house.
Issues I have had recently are the pronunciation on tomato vs toe-mo-too, ok so when you read it it just looks like a typo- trust me I spent about 5 minutes trying to decipher what she was saying and concluding that yes we were both talking about tomatoes. Or asking for Milk and being asked if I mean Milakenaa and yes she is saying that in English.
Or the best so far, me asking the maid to buy some mushrooms from the grocer. Her giving me blank looks. Me trying to act out mushrooms and explaining that she's chopped them up for us numerous times. And my maid coming back from the grocer with this:
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I clearly do not have an acting career in the future.
I'm sure the list will grow, but here are a few words that I have struggled with, and what they actually mean:
In Bangalore English
Cover Plastic Bag
Aaa/ enaaa Punctuation: ./,/?Frayil Fragile
Milakennaaa Milk
Plitoo Plateau
Peeordee Plastic pouch
PFA Please find Attached
CCD Cafe Coffee Day
