Communication Through a Language Barrier

While I was in Amman, Jordan I lived with a host family. I had a host mom, host dad, three host brothers, and a host sister. My host brother who was in the middle age-wise, host sister, and host dad all spoke English, whereas my eldest host brother and host mom only spoke Arabic. Going into this study abroad, the host family experience was one I was most excited about. However, making a connection with my host mom and eldest host brother was difficult, at first. If you are planning on studying abroad in a country whose primary language is different than your own, even if not required by your academic program, I recommend learning as much of the host country’s language as possible. Not only is this a sign of respect, but it also allows you to connect with the people you meet on a different level. Unfortunately, I did not put a lot of effort into learning Arabic before my trip and was subsequently unable to communicate very well with my host mom and eldest host brother. However, overtime, I learned ways to communicate and connect with them without using language. My favorite example of this is one night my host sister and older two host brothers were out with friends, my host dad was working, and my youngest host brother (3 months old) was asleep. My host mom knew enough English to tell me she was bored. While it would have been impossible for us to have a conversation, I decided to try to teach her how to play a few different card games. She understands English numbers because all of the phones in Jordan use English numbers, so through a few times of me demonstrating how to play and through trial and error, her and I were able to have an entire night of just card games. In the end, she beat me almost every time and we had a great night together just playing cards and laughing without even having to talk.