I’ve never answered one of these writing prompts before but when I read this I thought, oh hey!
I am the only child from my family that was actually born in the US after my parents/siblings came to this country as refugees in the 80’s to get away from Communist Romania, ooh boy is THAT a story.
I grew up speaking English and Romanian. How did this impact my life? When you grow up in a bilingual family you find yourself doing things that seem totally normal to you but is completely different to other people. Like translating what teachers or doctors say so that your mother can understand. Imagine getting in trouble at school and then having to translate what your teacher is saying to your parents. Or helping you parents put together invoices for clients or respondings to text messages and emails on their behalf. Not to mention those awkward moments when they have to call a utility company and then randomly hand you the phone to speak for them.
Some key things I find this experience has shaped in my life:
- I’ve found that it is often much easier for me to understand foreign clients with thick accents than some of my colleagues and I have to avoid offending the client by repeating what they say so my colleagues can also understand.
- Got me used to talking to strangers/utility companies on the phone (I’m used to it. But I still try to avoid it.)
- Taught me how to build out invoices. (I wonder if I should include this on my resume, just kidding.)
- ACTIVE LISTENING – You have to actively listen to someone to be able to translate for them.
It also taught me that there are different levels of fluency of a language. Sure I might consider myself fluent in Romanian, I can carry a conversation, can read and write, etc. But when I had to deal with a Romanian customer using technical IT terms I realized very quickly that I do NOT in fact speak technical Romanian. It’s like a lawyer speaking ‘legalese’.
Little Piece of Quiet 