I spent the last 10 days in Greece and arrived home yesterday. I was in Athens and on a beautiful little island called Agistri which was an hour from the city by boat. It was my second time in Greece. When I went last year I started to learn a few words and this time I had a little vocabulary, maybe 100 words or more? and I could say a few sentences and pick up the general theme of some of the conversations people were having. The pressure of having to make conversation is released when you cannot fully speak a language and you can could enjoy a lot of listening and the pleasure of small moments of understanding.
I was also able by the last 10 days to read most of the words on the signs and shops we passed by. ταβέρνα... φαρμακείο.... Not to say that I could always translate those words but some. Learning the written Cyrillic was so exciting to me, it is deciphering code. I feel that kind of joy of fresh understanding when I practice reading music. It feels like having a magical power. Music being a universal language makes it all the more special.
Many of the people in Greece seemed sad or a little closed but as soon as I said my few words of Greek, even just Ευχαριστώ πολύ they would always smile and laugh a little, I don't think it was because my accent was so terrible but because they were happy somewhere cared to learn a little of their language. It's odd having this privileged position of being an English speaker but how boring it seems in a way too and I do also wonder how long that privilege will last as economic powers shift.
Today, I'm back at work at the reception job where I have a few shifts a week and I just had an interesting experience though one which did leave me feeling a little sad. A woman came in and could only speak a few words in English, mostly she could say that she could't speak English but she wanted to come to attend a class here and wondered if she could without the language, at first we were using gestures and I pointed to my eyes and said it's ok because you can use your eyes, she was very happy.
The woman had a lot of other questions but we couldn't understand any of the fine details. She said she was from Libya and so spoke Arabic. I realised I could use google translate to communicate with her, when I brought up the page and the computer started to translate my English words into Arabic it felt again like magic and she laughed and hugged me and was so relieved that she had some kind of voice again.
I am quite technology resistant but in that moment I started to see the great wonder of this aid to understanding. I could see the highest use of the internet in action, to bring people together. I felt really hopefully and excited about this communication we were having. I didn't want to assume her position, I wondered if she was a refugee or perhaps she was a student or was working here but her lack of English made the first option perhaps most likely? After my asking many questions and translating them into Arabic I think she realised how expensive the classes were and she squeezed my hands and she said ok thank you, goodbye. I was really sad that I couldn't really help her after all. She was gone in a second and I felt regretful that I didn't know her story or find out if there was anything else I could do.
Perhaps she is absolutely ok but maybe she really needed help or a friend here. I think it felt so significant because of the state and history of a country like Libya and it seemed so far for her to come and surely she has so many stories but I won't know them now. And I'm thinking of all the places she will go here and try to communicate and how ahrd it will be for her. A friend of mine used to volunteer here at a welcome centre for people who have come as refugees from other countries. I think I might like to do something like that actually.
I was thinking that if I could go back to university it would be wonderful to study languages. Each language one learns opens the world up by millions of people, experiences and ideas. But it is also amazing what we can communicate without words, using gesture or expression and I think back to my work in the hospital with people who had either lost or altered power of speech through stroke or dementia but still how much we could say. When I worked in the stroke ward some people had expressive or receptive dysphasia or both but with patience and all these wonderful tools, like pictures, language, gesture we could work things out.
The last while I have had an odd feeling that words are just like the chattering of the birds, not to dismiss those little birds, there is a great deal going on there.... here is danger, this is my branch, i love you, here is food! ...but I haven't been feeling like I am communicating much through my words much of the time, there is always too much small talk, time filling, talking about the weather, that great British past time.
The contrast of being in Greece and realising that I cannot understand if I don't have this specific language, or that this woman and I couldn't understand each other without the secret code made me realise that there is of course a great deal of meaning in speech and I found that quite reassuring and like I found my feet again in our human conversations. So back to the Tower of Babel and this splintering of people and their means of communication, perhaps it can actually be restored through technology if we stay awake and use it wisely?
Μία γλώσσα δεν είναι ποτέ αρκετή
(Mía glóssa then íne poté arketí - One language is never enough)
Hope all are well x
