The Great Lanuage Debate

I just lost a three paragraph rant about double standards and how it's frightening to be in a foreign country and have no idea what anybody is saying. And I am sad, so very sad.

So, here's the jist:

I went to Turkey in January 2010. All I knew how to say were "Hello" and "Thank you." A couple of the people I went with bought a travel dictionary for Turkish and we were those people who walked around Ankara, Konya and Istanbul trying really hard to speak some form of Turkish. We were actually scammed a couple times.

It's really scary to be in a place and not know the language. If I'm going to move there for an extended period of time, I would do everything in my power to try and be well versed in the native language.

I had similar experiences at Cedar Point. I worked with a multitude of people from all over the world. I lived with three french girls. I worked with a handful of people from Ecquador. There were multiple people from Taiwan on my crew. And they were all great. I loved them. But I had to admit that sometimes it was hard because I had no idea how to speak their languages. And sometimes, they would include me and explain everything they had said in english. But for the people who didn't speak english as well, I couldn't explain it back to them in their own language.

Sometimes that caused miscommunication issues, which is something we could not afford in ride operations because of the potential danger that could befall the crew or guests.

I believe it's important to have one solid universal language among a business and company or whatever work place you happen to be. But at the same time in certain situations, I don't think it's right for management to bar people from foreign countries from speaking their native language. And the fact that they can only use it when it comes to training or helping a customer is a double standard.

Being able to speak your language in a foreign country is not only important to expanding and sharing your culture, but it's comforting.