Crossing Language Barriers: Heartwarming Connections

Welcome back to Love in Focus: building community with an only child with Foa. The podcast that celebrates the unique journey of raising an only child in a new location or season in your life.  In this heartwarming episode, I dive into the universal challenge of connecting with parents who speak a different language. Join me as I share a delightful encounter at an indoor playground where language barriers couldn't hinder the magic of human connection. I'll reveal the simple yet powerful ways I bridged the gap through smiles and friendly gestures, leading to unexpected "hi buddy" moments that brightened my day. Tune in to discover the beauty of building connections beyond words, and gain insights on fostering meaningful interactions with others, no matter the language. Let's embrace the joy of unity in diversity together!

Transcript

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Hi, my name is Four and welcome to The Love and Focus, the podcast for minds where we explore, discover, build community with our only child. Let's get going. Okay, you know what I mean. Let's start with the program. Oh my goodness. Well done. Now you are exploring and discovering the different locations in your community with you and your child. What do you do if you come across a situation where the person that you want to communicate with, you see a parent, but they don't speak the same language as you? Well, I'm gonna tell you this is what I did and how I made a new friend. So there's this local indoor park not too far from where we live, and I really enjoy taking Livia to this place. Well, one time while we were there, and I'm sitting down on the bench, and there's not um a lot of parents beside me where I'm sitting, right? It's empty chairs, quite a few empty benches, space, and this uh beautiful grandmother comes by and she stands beside me with her two boys, and I smile at her and she smiles back. See how that's always good? Smile people, smile moms, and I smile first and she smiled, and then I said, Oh, hello, my name is four, and she smiled back and she nods her head, gives me this big smile, and then I pointed to her two boys as they were taking their shoes off and getting ready to go in the indoor playground area. I said, Oh, you're and she said, Grandson, two and she goes, Two grandsons, and then uh by then she could see Olivia running to me and then going back in the playground area, you know, in and out as they do run, run, run. They just want to come and check on you to see if you're still there. So she looks at Olivia and she points to Olivia, and I and I said, Oh yeah, my my daughter, my daughter. And then she said, Uh, she looks her eyebrows are like because uh I said I'm looking at her and she said, Oh, she goes, No, no English. And I said, Oh, that's okay, and then I said, um, and I pointed thumbs up, like that's okay. Let indicate her that's you know, we're still gonna have a conversation one way or the other, and then we started laughing, and um, so that was the first interaction, just because her and I could not uh have a flow conversation of words because she told me in her way that she didn't know she didn't speak a lot of English, and I obviously did not speak the same language. I I figured out that I could that um I did not know how to speak Spanish. Um so uh the next time we met, we met again, and we're she we're we weren't standing too far from each other, and I waved and she waved too, and she pointed to her two boys because they were like had a lot of energy, and and she went, Oh, like oh, like they they run around a lot, uh just the way her body language she's using her hands, and I looked at Olivia and pointed to her as well, and I went, mm-hmm, and I said, and I pointed to Livia and I said she runs too, and I'm doing the action of run, run, run on the spot. And what was so awesome about this interaction with this grandmother is by the third time we met, see we only had short pockets of just communicating with each other with our hands, with our voices, and smiling. By the third time we see each other, now we hug each other. I see when I see her, I'm like, hi, and we hug, and it was so beautiful to have that because it I it just shows that if you want to be, if you want to have a friend and meet people, you gotta be a friend. You got to just like just take your time and just use that time to interact in a in a positive way, you know, you're being kind, you're smiling, and she wanted to interact. I can tell because she, when she saw me, she was smiling, she didn't walk away, she stood and she's pointing to Olivia, and then um now when we see each other, we hug each other. And another friend of mine goes, Do you know that lady? And here's the funny thing we don't uh we she doesn't remember my name, and obviously I don't remember hers because I would have said her name. But when we see each other, we we smile, we hug, we hi hi, and uh she looks at Olivia, she puts her thumbs up, like yeah, yeah, yeah, and I and I tell oh, and I say point to her boys and like oh, they're growing up. Like, I'll put my hand up, like up to my head, and it's so beautiful because I wanted to encourage you, mom. You're listening, right? So there are gonna be moments where or you might live in a town where they don't speak the same language as me, and I haven't really learned how to speak, you know, that the native tongue, or I haven't I don't know their um the language that they're they're speaking. That's okay. All you do is just take little steps and be consistent. Now, what I can tell you is when you're speaking to someone and you don't understand their language or you don't know how to speak their language yet, or they don't know how to speak your language, they don't know, um, do not yell. Uh, because there are other stories where growing up, right? Uh, so I am I was born and raised in New Zealand, but my parents are from Samoa, it's a Pacific Island country. So I would tell people, hey Samoa, and they're like, Samoa. And I was like, okay, so do you know um Dwayne Johnson, The Rock? They say, yeah, and you know he's Samoan and he's African-American. Okay, yeah, okay, so I'm not related to The Rock, but he's Samoan. So just think of me like The Rock, but I'm not cousins with him, but who knows? I mean, it would be awesome to be related to The Rock. So they're like, ah, okay, then. So Pacific Islands. So when I would meet people, or they would meet me, um, they for some reason would be speaking very loud, and it's hilarious. Like, um, oh my gosh, I love some people, but they're like, How are you doing? and I'm like, Okay, hey, um, I'm not, I can hear, I have good ears, and why they're speaking slowly and very loudly because I'm not deaf. So I would tell people when you are communicating or talking to a person and you don't speak the the same language, do not be yelling because that does not help. Yeah, don't go like, Hi, are you going to be okay? Is that your child? Yeah, no, uh, just talk to them in a normal tone that you would when you're talking to someone face to face, and just and also everyone knows like you can point, like use your fingers to point to say you, me, thumbs up, you know, and you can do eating that, like so. This uh grandmother and I, we kind of had our own sign language thing going on, and I wanted to encourage you that if you're in quite a few situations or you've moved to a location and no one speaks, like you do not speak the same language as the other people doing. Just take your time and maybe just learn the basics. Like me, I learn the basics now when I meet people. I say hola, and that's what I got. And como estás andiamo and you know, the Spanish language is so beautiful. I believe it's beautiful. Lots of languages are beautiful, and so this is what I'm saying. It didn't the point is it didn't stop me from making a new connection, having another, you know, a friend or a familiar face when um and to communicate with, connect with, and just have a nice time, a nice interaction where I'm there at the indoor playground area. Because I could have just said, um, I really want to talk to someone meet, but I don't know this grandmother, and no, uh oh well, I'll just look at my phone or read my book, or just be quiet, or not just be quiet, but it's only because um, you know, I I'm telling myself because uh the people around me, they don't speak the same language, so I'm pretty much stuck. You've already talked to yourself in a way that stops you from making new connections, and that's why um I say, look, if you want to make new connections, first of all, let's just change the words that you're saying to yourself, you can turn this opportunity into a fun interaction, and who knows? You don't know what's gonna happen. But if you're wanting to, you know, have meaningful connections, make new friends, and get to know the people in community, I encourage you to step out. And remember, you're going to do that in small steps, just like what I did, and you were not gonna be yelling at the other person. That's a good tip too. Do not yell uh or speak, or okay, I won't say yell, but speaking loud when you're speaking to someone. I don't know why we tend to do that, or people do that when you don't have when people they think yelling is is gonna help the person understand more, but it doesn't. And my husband can surely tell you when he doesn't understand, um, when he's not getting what I'm saying, me yelling at him is not helping at all, but that's another sidetrack altogether. So I wanted to let you know you can build friends and meet new people and have fun engaging with them, even if you both don't speak the same language, just keep it simple, be yourself because you are a wonderful, wonderful person. I mean, look at you, you're stepping out of your comfort zone, you're in a new location or you're in a new season in your life. You are a wonderful friend, and I always encourage mums: hey, if you want to have a friend, be a friend, but first be a friend to yourself, be kind to yourself, give yourself grace. I mean, you're raising an only child, um, you're holding down the fall at home while hubby or your boyfriend um is you know working, you're cooking, you're cleaning, you're an encourager to your family, and so, or maybe as well, you're um looking at um getting a part-time job or something, so there's and you know, you're you're building you, there's things that you want to pursue, you're wearing a lot of hats, so be kind and be encouraging to yourself. It is a lot, and then your child wants all your attention because there's no other child around them, you you know, and they might like to you might have an animal, like I have a friend who um had chickens and that worked for them, and some friends got a guinea pig and and a dog or whatever, but at the end your child was like, Oh, mommy, mommy, mommy, can you play with me, mommy? And sometimes, like, I just want that interaction with another adult. But just because you may you may not speak the same language as them, that doesn't mean that you cannot still have a connection, just be patient, but be courageous too, in the way of just stepping out and smiling. Like I try to repeat myself over, but I want to let you know you can do this, mom, because you are a wonderful person, and I really hope here my heart that you you take that and you hear it and let it soak into you. You are amazing, and you have stepped out into this new location and you smiled, and it just takes time to make new friends, and you might get a hug like me and this lady who we met, and if you're not a hugger, like I don't want to hug them, but I just want them to say hi or like a fist pump or just uh you know a high five in the air, whatever works for you, but just the fact that I wanted you to always know that you are a wonderful person. So, my name is Four. Thank you for listening to Love in Focus Building Community with our only child. So keep love in focus once again, one episode at a time. Bye, and you'll hear from me next time.