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• Many languages

  Sunday, Oct 28, 2007 2:41AM / Information / Studies / Members only
  3 comments

  ok, so I work at a doctor's office in Missouri. Most of the people I talk to from around the world think that Missouri is filled with a bunch of white country folk who are set in the ways of the confederates. I have to sadly admitt that there are some people like that here, but the majority of people in Missouri are not at all what people expect. For instance, in the town I live in there is a large population of asians, (americans and immigrants), hispanics, (americans and immigrants), germans, (i have only met immigrants so far but I am sure there are americans too), etc. The list goes on. At the doctor's office we get all of them. I enjoy talking and spending time with the patients that dont necassarily speak English. You may wonder how am I able to talk to these people if they don't speak English.  I myself am not sure but we always figure out a way to understand each other. If you have read a little about me in my about me section you will see that I love languages. I currently know English and a moderate amount of Spanish. I have also started lessons in Mandarin from a lady I use to work with, ( I love you Shue Yi!), one lesson in Japanese from a computer program, Korean from an ex boyfriend...but I only learned how to write numbers, and Vietnamese from a doctor I work with, (Dr. Tran is a super patience woman). With the start of all of these languages I have to say that Vietnamese is the hardest to learn. I tried learning how to say good morning, and I soon found out that there are numerous ways to say good morning depending on who you are talking to, such as age.

      What worries me is not learning all of these different phrases but the possibility that I might misjudge someone's age and offend them by saying good morning as I would to someone that is way older than me...and they are not.

      The dilemma is that is my goal to learn as many languages fluently before I die. Oh and find a job that allows me to learn about different cultures, translate perhaps, travel around the world and receive a worth while pay check.  A translator would seem like a good choice...but I don't want to be stuck in one language in one region.  Any ideas?

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