My Multilingual Morning

"If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart." Nelson Mandela

It was morning in Vientiane, Laos and it was still raining relatively hard. I hadn't planned for such weather, so I decided not to get soaked walking down the street to Le Banneton, Vientiane's premier boulangerie, and instead take my laptop to the lobby, where the wifi signal is strong and time could be wasted while I waited for the deluge to break. I chose a seat next to a pair of West African gents deep in conversation.

Pluie, or rain, caught my ear and was the first thing that I understood without intentionally eavesdropping. I admit that after that I did challenge myself to decipher what I could as a test for what still remains in my memory after years without use. My French is really bad, so I couldn't help myself to avoid this personal challenge.

Not long into this peripheral exchange, one of the men got me involved with the obligatory travel conversation initiator. "Where are you from?" he asked in English, to which I replied, "Je suis Américain." This got him excited, and he continued on in French for a moment until I slowed him down and used what little else I can remember in French to assure him that I couldn't have a conversation but was happy to use what I know. I felt good, and so did the two men, even if our chat was phatic and brief. I got to knock the dust off of a rarely used skill and they didn't have to switch to English (completely).

A few moments later, still into my Internet activities, I observed an exchange between one of the Laotian guest house workers and a western looking guest with limited English ability sitting across from me. She was trying to explain which of the three included breakfast options she wanted and he kept misunderstanding. After he brought the wrong order, I spoke Thai to communicate with the worker what she was requesting, because Thai and Lao are similar enough that I knew he would understand me. Within a minute the correct order showed up, and I felt good again, especially after receiving thanks from both parties.

Once the woman had finished eating, she began talking to her boyfriend and I realized that they were speaking Portuguese. "Voces são brasileiros?" I said. "Sim," the boyfriend responded with surprise. We continued on in as much Portuguese as possible for five to ten minutes. We discussed where we come from and why each of us were in Vientiane. He asked why I was studying Portuguese and had I been to Brazil yet. I learned that he is a footballer (or soccer player) that was there to play in the Laos premier league and will live in Laos until September. When I told him that my girlfriend is Brazilian and lives in the state of Santa Catarina, he and his girlfriend lit up like spotlights, exclaiming that they too are from Santa Catarina, and are only about a half hour drive from my girlfriend's city. All three of us were beside ourselves with the joy of this random meeting.

After we had said our goodbyes, I began reflecting on the three exchanges that had just occurred. I may not be natively fluent in any of these languages, but this one hour period in which I was able to communicate and understand others in their native language really gave me a deep sense of pride and accomplishment, while also increasing my thirst for a higher level of proficiency. This series of events left me with the words of Mandela ringing in my head. As they resonated, and I'm hoping I did speak to their hearts, I felt as though words have never been more true. Though, the feeling only lasted a few moments before I was sucked into a collection of "this week's funniest photos" on Facebook, or something equally as trite.

Before I knew it, the morning was gone. Time to head off to the Thai consulate to get my passport back, and then keep on moving toward Chiang Mai.

Update: An early version of this article stated that the two francophones were Nigerian. The change has been made due to the lack of verification on the claim. My apologies for the assumption, I made it on minor evidence.