I was 21 years old when I moved from Philadelphia to Honolulu. I had an incredible opportunity to live with some friends & attend Chaminade University of Honolulu where I studied Psychology and Social Sciences. I was lucky enough that Chaminade was so diverse that my classmates came from all over the world, creating a true melting pot of culture. Some coming from some of the biggest countries in the world while some of the smallest Atolls in the world. An Atoll I thought???? What the heck is an Atoll? An Atoll is a ring-shape, island, or chain of islands formed of coral; sometimes enclosing a lagoon (pictured below)
It was here I became friends with Morishen. He was from a small Atoll in the Marshall Islands. He didn’t speak a lot of English, but he often sat next to me with a smile on his face and a welcoming energy. With the little English he spoke, his main language being Marshallese, we would do our best to communicate, but I quickly realized I may have to improvise a bit in order to get to know him a bit better.
What I learned from a young age is that language is our superpower and that humans are the only species on the planet that have mastered the ability to have communicative language. In this experience, I learned that when you no longer have the same language that you need to use other skills to communicate. I wasn’t going to use the language barrier as an excuse not to get to know him.
Today, I am sharing three of the ways I learned to communicate with Moreishen without speaking the same language.
1. I Learned to Read His Non-Verbal Cues
⭐️Things like facial expressions, eye contact, gestures and physical closeness can tell you a lot about a person.
Are they leaning into the conversation with their body pointed towards you or are they looking at you while they are trying to run out the door?
Do they keep looking at you while you’re speaking or do they consistently break eye-contact nonverbally saying they do not want to interact with you.
2. I Used Visual Aids As a Way to Guide Conversation
⭐️ I brought in photos of my family. I showed a map of the United States and pointed around Philadelphia where I was from. I brought my digital camera in where I showed where I was living in Hawaii and some of my favorite foods I had eaten on the island. This helped him get to know me better and not long after I started to do this, he also did the same.
3. I Developed Cultural Sensitivity
⭐️ I took the time to learn basic information about his culture that would help me understand him better. I chose to accept all the things that made us similar while still recognizing all the things that make us different.
I moved away from Hawaii in 2014 and it’s been many years since Morishen and I spoke, but the lessons I learned during that time stick with me forever. So the next time you travel somewhere with a language barrier, don’t count out connection and I challenge you to use these tips as a way to connect with others.
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