First, let's imagine that now you're living abroad and you've just experienced this common situation.
"I recently cut my finger out of sheer stupidity while making a handbag. I had to go to the Emergency Room for stitches (happily I’m ok!), and since none of my closest friends/family were nearby, I had to get there by myself. Luckily, I was able to joke around with the doctors, which took some of the edge of my fear off, but the experience got me thinking about those of you who are in another country, where a different language is spoken.
I’ve mentioned before that there simply is no way around the need for learning the language of your host country if you want to fit in. Medical experiences are one of the things that can really make or break a stay in another country. Imagine you injure yourself, or are in pain, or have some other ailment. All your friends are the same nationality as you because you haven’t felt comfortable enough with your language skills to try and meet local people, so you have to go the hospital or doctor by yourself, or with another person who also doesn’t speak the local language. Once you get there, you are at a complete loss of words – so now your body is suffering, and you can’t even explain what’s wrong. Or, you manage to explain it, and then the doctor tells you something, and you have no idea what he/she said.
One of my good friends had this happen to her in Germany – her husband was fortunately able to take her (he is German) – but he took control of the conversation for her, relaying everything in German with the doctor, and she felt a bit powerless having to leave it to her husband to communicate for her, and having very little comprehension of what they were discussing.
This is just one of many reasons to learn a foreign language. And, to anyone out there that says, “Sure, but I’m not good at languages,” you learned the one you’re speaking now, so you are obviously better than you think!"
This was taken from: http://survivaltipsforexpatsandspouses.com/tag/learning-a-new-language/
So, what's your language anecdote? Please tell us about it and post your comments.
