Carragee Consulting

Respect for the multi-lingual

Since returning to MN we re-enrolled my daughter in Spanish immersion daycare.

This morning she woke up and worked herself into hysterics because she was nervous to go back and not understand her teachers.

On Friday when I picked her up she had held her bladder all day because she didn’t know how to ask to go to the bathroom.

Combined with all the other life changes she is facing adding Spanish feels overwhelming to her.

Meanwhile, I hired a contractor to replace some rotted trim on our house. His written proposal was extremely brief and lacked the details of what we spoke through and he pantomimed as we walked the property. His entire demeanor showed confidence and competence and built my trust though.

He’s got a formal business truck, sleek business cards and he answers his phone and responds to emails in a timely fashion.

I know about 200 total words in Spanish, but this morning I walked the property with the contractor as he gave instructions to his crew on the work and I could tell her was relaying the materials details and specific instructions we discussed on the walkthrough.

I worked very briefly in Japan through a translator and I’ve worked a lot on software requirements with internal teams.

I wanted so badly to communicate to my 4 year old that it’s okay that she doesn’t understand yet. It’s okay that she will make mistakes (frankly her English grammar needs a lot of improvement).

All I could do was hug her so tightly and tell her to be brave, tell her I’m proud of her for trying, tell her it will be okay.

On some level we all judge each other by how we talk but we communicate in so many more ways than just verbally.

To everyone who is working across languages and cultures today I salute your efforts and the work you’ve put in to achieve the proficiency you have so far.