NO HABLO INGLES ( I DON'T KNOW ENGLISH )

                                         

"NO  HABLO  INGLES "( I DON'T  KNOW  ENGLISH )  . ... LANGUAGE IS ONLY A MEDIUM. OF EXPRESSIO, NOT AN INDICATOR OF KNOWLEDGE.......

 

 THE COMMUNICATION

In the US , especially in Manhattan and Jersey city where I stayed, I observed that  some workers from the Latin American countries say , 'no hablo ingles' the moment  you start conversation in English . It translates to ,’I don't know English’. The construction workers, the restaurant employees ,the drivers, the home delivery boys, dog walkers, workers in malls/ stores ,helping hands in apartments ,the food delivery workers and many more  may start  conversation in Spanish presuming your familiarity with the language. The second most common language spoken in the United States after English is Spanish. I am informed that more than 60 million (out of a total population of 330 millions approximately)Spanish speaking people live in the US. And the way the data is trending, by 2050, one in three people in the US will speak Spanish(this data includes bilingual people who also speak English).

 Language sharpens communication skills . It makes interaction simple . True, a well spoken sentence is quickly  understood. However , this doesn't imply that command over language is a prerequisite to any conversation or communication. At  99 Ranch , the well known Taiwanese vegetable and grocery store in Jersey city , a cashier knows no language other than Mandarin (Chinese) . I usually queue up in front of his  counter to pay for the  kohlrabi , collard greens and lotus stems that I buy from this store.  99 Ranch is a chain of stores in the US selling groceries, fruits , vegetables and non-vegetarian items to the Asian ( Korean and Chinese )  community .

The Latin American workers in the US  have picked up  broken English. This English is to be understood with the facial expressions, body language  and pronunciation styles. Once you know these basics, the communication becomes easy . Another lesson  that I learnt after communicating with the immigrant workers  in the US is that those who leave their homes ,well wishers and families and move to alien lands in search of food and shelter , keep their souls rooted to their native soil however far  they might have come from it .Based on their personal experience  and exposure to grim realities of existence in alien lands , all these people have interesting stories to convey . The migration gives them a greater survival instinct  . One shouldn’t underestimate their general awareness and understanding. Once one  speaks with sincerity and compassion one finds them warm and opening up to conversation.  In May 2022,  I had some conversation with a construction worker from Bolivia . He told me this:-

" I see . You India . Waalcom ( welcome) ‘. I poco Ingles(  little English ) . I  ten year Embrika( America). I Mestizo. My great great great great grandma Ayamara tribe marry white man coming Europe. We go mixing mixing peoples  call Mestizo  . Mestizo look white white but not go  tall.  In Bolivia coontri ( country) Mestizo go large nimber ( number ). Then go   Aymara, Quechua, Chiquitano, Guarani and Moxeno tribe good  number. People coming Europe and Efrika( Africa)  now   small nimber ( number ) . Native  Mestizo looking smaller size . 4 and half feet woman  . 5 feet  men they tall.  No food. No job . Peoples go other coontri (country) . Go Embrika( America)  .In my coontri baby stand on leg  need work . They go need food. All children all fimily ( family ) want work .Poor, no work go all find in my coontri Bolivia. So  fimily go other coontri  Embrika. Child go . Single go. Women go. Anybody  go Embrika. Here we go silary ( wages) 15 to 25 dooler ( dollars) one hour .  Contract  8 hour one day labour. Some pay 15 some 20 some 30 dooler one hour rate.  Embrika big big brother coontri for many coontri  peoples. Many peoples come their coontri poor poor. Here they work . Here they go happy living. They sending fimily money. We thank Embrika . Great coontri. Great peoples. My coontri law 10 year child also labour work . No police catch. It law. But no work. I soccer play  in school. No money. Many play good soccer . But no money . They go labour other coontri and  Embrika. My coontri peoples go living big big nimber( number) Washington DC. Ronaldo Rivero and Marcelo Moreno I asking  you .You get me ,sir.  They  soccer play . They Bolivia.

Anybody like Bolivia cinema. Juan Carlos Valdivia make ‘American Visa’. It say what Bolivian desire go in mind. Everybody In my coontri  dream Embrika ( America ) going. There no poor poor living. You get  me . Very good  film . It Bolivia cinema . You knowing Simon Bolivar. He die 200 year now. He give fight and liberation Columbia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and  Bolivia  all coontri  under Spanish rule. He respect all  Hispanic Embrika coontri. He fight on horse . He go fight with men and gun .He go Europe and death. My coontri name his name.Bolivar and  Olivia. You get me ,sir.

Fruit binana( banana),pine apil( pineapple), mingo( mango ).apil( apple)  orange , limon( lemon) , grapefruit, tangerine, peach, nectarine, aapricot( apricot)  green grapis ( grapes)  purple grapis, red grapis , strawberry , fig, dates, plum, cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew melon, pear, kiwi,  and many go grow in my coontri. We all but no sea no beach. Land and Land. Farmer grow  rice ,sugarcane, maize, wheat, sorghum , sunflower  big big crop soybean.

My coontri 2 capitol( capital) . La Paz and  Sucre. My coontri have popelishan ( population ) 12 million peoples. My coontri have all good good but big big nimber ( number ) peoples go poor  poor.

Yes ,you right about drug .In my coontri, many peoples engage cocaine making from coca. Coca plant grow and many  peoples making  cocaine. It bad. Not good for peoples and coontri. It bring bad name . Many go rich  do  business simagal ( smuggle )  cocaine. Very bad . Very very bad for coontri and peoples. Sir, How you go knowing Singani ? That  Bolivia drink.  Anybody like Singani . It so good. You right. Che ( Che Guevara) catch  kill Bolivia army.. He come Bolivia before he dying. He not Bolivia peoples native. "

"Thank you “

" You Waalcom "

 

                                                           ( Mestizo women )

 

   ( A cocktail of Singani, the National Drink of Bolivia) 

 

In the US, from my experience and numerous interactions with petty traders on footpaths, sweating construction workers , food delivery workers.  salesmen in stores, apartment employees, drivers,travellers in metro trains and many more, I have only heard  ' echoes of life' apart from receiving warmth and goodwill .And poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz says this:-

"Doond ujjday huvey logon main wafa ke moti,
Yeh khazane tujhe mumkin hai kharaabon mein milein.." ………..( Faiz Ahmed Faiz )

( Look for the pearls of commitment in uprooted people,
You may find these treasures in  the people considered as  'not the good ones' ..)

( Avtar Mota)

 

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