Facilitating, Understanding

aka: Lost in Translation

Language is a funny thing. We used to be more uptight about it, and would get irritated at the pervasive misspellings and random punctuation found on signs and public displays all over the US. Living in a country where you don’t have fluency changes your perspective though. Language is supposed to be a tool right? The point is to convey ideas, not to perform some rigid set of grammar and syntax equations. Here, we use language more basically and have been reminded of the purpose. Also, we have a generally high degree of linguistic representation going on in the house- we speak English, Bangla and Spanish intermixed, and Atticus throws in some French here and there. On top of that, half the TV channels are in Hindi and the commercials on the English channels are often in Hindi so we hear that too. The style of English spoken in Bangladesh is also not our usual English - it is British English, for one, and for two, it has been mixed (in many funny and creative ways) with bangla and various other influences. We’ve had to reconsider our notions of what is “proper” English.

In fact, language is usually the most beautiful when we relax the rules and let the words flow freely. Sam and Jon frequently make use of their poetic license, although stuffy academia continually tries to keep us down.

So, having said that – it is one thing to be creative, but it is another thing to just have a mistranslation. Yesterday, Sam was standing in line at the little grocery store by our house and she was reading a sign that was in Bangla and English. The English sign said, “Buy textiles here and facilitate local weavers.” The bangla sign said “If you buy textiles here it will help local weavers.” Just as Sam was reading the sign and thinking about how facilitate just wasn’t really a good translation, one of her many friends that works in the store came up and started chatting- as many workers there always do.

“How are you?” he asked.
“I’m good,” Sam said, “but that sign has the wrong English word actually. It should say ‘support’ not ‘facilitate.’”
He replied with much more concern than expected. “What? Really? Please, stay here one minute” he said and ran off to get the manager.

Meanwhile Sam began checking her groceries out and chatting with the cashier (also a friend…). A minute or two later half the store’s employees and possibly all of the senior management are mobilized around the sign (did we mention it is just a typed printout on a piece of paper taped to the wall?) asking Sam about it.

“What is the problem with the sign?” asked some important looking man.
Slightly sorry that she mentioned it, Sam explained again that the word facilitate doesn’t really work here. You could use support or help and it makes sense. [It is an understandable mistake actually - the bangla word was one which usually translates as help, and facilitate is a synonym for help, kind of…].

The cashier then chimes in, in a tone that is very in-the-know, “You know, she’s a professor at IUB.”
“Really? You are a teacher at IUB?”“ he asked incredulously, now seeming even more upset about the sign.

Finally, once the error has been identified (and undoubtedly someone has been blamed) and there is the usual chit chat about where Sam is from, how she learned bangla, etc..., and Sam has been profusely thanked, she gets to go on her way.

On one hand, she is glad that she was able to help them fix the sign- it is, after all, a good cause to facilitate local weavers. On the other hand, it was quite a fiasco, and she isn’t sure it was really such a big deal as it was made into. Did the entire force of the store need to be involved in correcting the sign?

For the record though, whenever Sam has pointed out spelling and grammar mistakes on sign in the US, people have not been so friendly and, if you can believe it, have even been hostile or annoyed. Just another cultural difference, we guess…