Blog series 1- Words: The friend who translates

As a traveller, I know that knowing the right words to say in another language can often make traveling a lot easier.  The problem that most travellers have is not the lack of words; but the lack of knowledge of how to express their words in the local language of the country they’re in. 

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Thus, body language becomes important in this aspect. Travellers either rely on their past knowledge of the language, an app that can translate the language for them (also known as a language dictionary- if you believe in books), or of the local’s ability to converse in another language, of which both parties are familiar with. Here in South East Asia, this familiar language is English.

Many travellers, who come to Phuket, find that many locals know how to speak English. I have met people who have come here to stay for at least 6 months and then leave and still retain the same amount of Thai vocabulary - zero. In a tourist destination like Phuket, a foreigner can easily surround his or herself with other foreigners who only speak English. Or, they can have friends who speak both English and Thai and can translate for them. These two groups are often times the only community that a traveller has in such a place like Phuket. Thus, one never really learns Thai. You can get away with speaking in English all the time.

But I am not here to write about these types of travellers. I am here to write about the traveller’s friend who translates for them.  In fact, I’m really going to write about translating in general. There are pros and cons to being the friend who knows both English and the local language (in this case- Thai). I will attempt to explore these pros and cons as I draw purely from my own experience of translating for my friends. 

The local greeting for a woman in Thai -*picture mine*

Pros

• 1.     You make friends easily

Knowing the local language among a group of people who don’t, is like having a bag of candy to give away during recess time in elementary school; people flock to you and all of a sudden become “your friend”.

• 2.     Translating breaks the ice 

I have made friends and started good conversations from simply stopping and helping out a struggling traveller by translating for them.

• 3.     You become the centre of attention and your value increases

As I mentioned in the previous point, people flock to you and become your friend; people who didn’t pay attention to you before all of a sudden are so interested because they need your help. Your contribution is all of a sudden valuable. It’s funny how that works.

• 5.     You impress people

Sometimes I feel like people see me as “smarter” just because I know another language. But really, learning a new language is like learning anything – if you don’t study it, you don’t learn it.  

• 6.     You avoid or resolve conflicts more quickly

If someone in your foreign friend group has a problem with an order at a restaurant, or if your group gets lost, you can easily communicate with the locals to resolve the problem or find directions to where you need to go.

• 7.     You can become the head of the discussion

Because you’re really the one that knows all the information being communicated, you’d have to initiate the group discussions and make all the announcements. This is sometimes a pros to some people because it makes them feel important.

 Cons

• 1.     You are taken for granted 

people maybe impressed but that’s usually just at the start. Just like with anything in life, new things become routine and routine is taken for granted. And even at the start, I have sometimes found that I am not thanked for my effort in translating for someone. I can count on one hand the number of people who have turned to me and said “Thank you” to me after I have translated a complicated order of food for them.

• 2.     You are expected to translate 

So at the start, you may have impressed people, but pretty soon they expect you to translate. The shift happens from “Oh good! You can translate for me” to “Why aren’t you saying anything? This would be a lot easier if you could just tell her this order in *insert local language”. Trust me it happens, I am writing from experience.

• 3.     You don’t get paid

 I did a little research on how much money it would cost to learn a new language. I chose to research the Thai language, since I am in Thailand and that is the local language. One school listed their 12 weeks intensive Thai language course to be at 73,000 baht, about $ 2,281 dollars, per person. At the end of this program students are expected to be able to converse, read and write in simple Thai. Some private language teachers may charge about 500 baht ($15 dollars) per hour for a beginner’s course where they teach simple vocabulary, grammar, and letter tracing of the Thai alphabet. If you calculated the time and money that goes into learning Thai fluently - it’s a lot of money. Unless you are actually working as a translator, you don’t get paid whenever you translate your friend’s request. I never took an intensive course in Thai; I lived and immersed myself in the Thai language. If you take the time and money I have spent in flying here and living here, I am sure it would cost more than the estimated price I listed.  

• 4.     You’re always at the front lines 

You are always at the front of the group conversing with the receptionist about your hotel room booking, or you are always the one trying to get everyone else’s attention to tell them an announcement that your bus schedule got moved to a different time, or you’re the one translating food orders for the waitress at a restaurant. This makes traveling a little bit more stressful if you don’t like being in these situations all the time.  

Pronounced: "Jai Yen"- a popular local saying in Thailand to say "Chill out". *art mine*

• 5.     People get annoyed if you don’t translate 

If you do get tired of always talking and translating, it leaves others to fend for themselves and converse with the locals using their own knowledge of the language. This can actually be a pro, because it can be quite comical – but only for you. Your friends may be struggling, and if they have gotten used to you always helping them out with the language, they will all of a sudden be outside of their comfort zone. This may change their view of you sometimes, before you were their friend, now you’re just a selfish and unhelpful person.

• 6.     You have to witness people be rude to the locals  

Some people who can’t speak the local language can get annoyed at their incompetence in communicating with the locals. They may express this annoyance by making fun of the locals or talking bad about the fact that the locals cannot understand them, despite the fact that they are not in an English speaking country.

• 7.     YOU BECOME A CRUTCH to your friend’s cultural experience 

Sometimes, struggling with communication is part of the cultural travel experience. The most growth we often experience are outside of our comfort zone, this applies even to languages. And with language being so interwoven into a country’s culture, the traveller can miss something if he or she never has an opportunity to practice conversing in it.

Despite all of these cons, I do not mind translating for my friends. Although a good balance between the two is still needed. As a friend, I do want to help my other foreign friends who travel to Thailand, but I do it as a favor, I don’t want the expectation to have to do it all the time. It’s nice to avoid problems that come with miscommunication in traveling, but at the same time you also want room for your friends to grow in their interaction with the culture.  And with the money, if I really cared that much about being reimbursed for my efforts in translating, I would look for an actual job in translating. Language is valuable, but those who learn the language and care enough to help others who do not, are also valuable. They are people taking the time to help another person; a simple “Thank you for translating that” would be enough.