Nelson Mandela said, “If you talk to a person in a language they understand, it goes to their head. If you talk to them in their language, it goes to their heart.”
We were given the challenge to learn a couple phrases in 5 different languages, and we not only did that, but we connected with a bunch of cool people as well.
When you are in a country and you don’t speak that language, yes, you can look something up on the internet, or get someone who does speak that language to do things for you, but at least for me, that doesn’t give as much gratification as I would get actually talking to people.
Now, I love talking to strangers, and it can be kind of fun to make a fool out of yourself, so being able to connect with people in their own language, even on a basic level is something that I want to be able to do, and that is why this kind of challenge excited me.
I am by no means a pro at languages, but I’ve started building a foundation for the ability to talk to people in all cultures, who speak every language.
Here are some of the phrases we learned today I like the best.
Houssa
Zo metche – come to eat
Sinhala
Oyate pesue – you’re crazy
Swedish
Jag vill zinna – I want to win
German
Abenessen – dinner
Persian
Shmaa doost daram – I love you