All of a sudden, my lack of Spanish was quite a relevant and important part of my day-to-day life. I am working in an American setting here and could honestly probably get by without learning much of the language, but my interactions with shop-keepers, waiters and cute boys in bars classy museums now center around my very minimal command of a foreign language.
Like every time I travel, I was immediately reminded of the other ways that exist for friendly and effective communication. Get your mind out of the gutter…I’m talking about general body language and the overall transfer of energy that happens in a conversation. So, find some secrets of effective communication (when language is a barrier or even when its not) below:
1) Send good vibes. Smile. Be polite. Laugh when it is obvious you are acting like a total idiot. People respond well to these friendly gestures. Laughter means the same thing all over the world. Don’t take everything so seriously–send out positivity and it will come back to you.
2) Gesture emphatically. Want to know where to take a right turn? Use your hands! Even more than that, use your body–mimic turning, point at things, make shapes with your arms…look like an idiot? Who cares?! Better than getting lost. (Pro-tip: Check the rest of your body language here.)
3) Learn some key phrases. Then–take a deep breath, open your mouth and actually attempt them. Be ready to repeat step 1 as necessary–you WILL sound like an idiot. I promise. But it’s okay. People will be happy that you are trying and especially happy about all your positive energy.
4) Refresh yourself. Restaurants are a wonderful place to learn language. Full or directions to ask and things to gesture at. Your waiter is literally paid to talk to you-take advantage of them. Also, very important-restaurants tend to serve drinks. Drink them. They don’t even need to be alcoholic (though that helps considerably). Loosen up.
5) Use common sense. Walk around like you know what you are doing. Research your surroundings. Don’t go places if you have a bad feeling. Don’t talk to people that GIVE you a bad feeling. Perfect a “don’t f*ck with me” look-this is universal. See? You already know how to order a drink!
