Having a go

It's easy!

As seasoned travellers, Dave and Simon know a thing or two about managing language differences.

In this clip they explain just how easy communication can be once you decide to give it a go.

Video transcript

Dave: It's a lot of fun. I mean I learned French at school and I had typical school French, and I can get by with my Franglaise, you know, but that was because I worked in Luxembourg for the best part of a year and had French crew around me. But once you actually start having a go its amazing how quickly you can learn.

Dave: Na tomto poschodi, dámska modá - that would be ladies fashion, per una, dámska obuv, this is all dámskas. So it makes sense that mens-kas is downstairs-skas.

Simon: You know, we communicate on lots of different levels, it’s not just verbal. Verbal is probably the most overt portion of our communicative skills. But we do it in body language, with facial expressions, so there’s numerous levels of communication that we all interface on and interact with.

Dave: Well lángos in Hungary, going up to order one, you know, we pretty soon got the crack that you went up and went like that, that was sour cream, and that was cheese, so you’d just go up there and go hi, and you’d get a lángos with sour cream and cheese and a smile.

Foreigner talk

Having a go not only means trying to get your message across, it also involves listening and actively trying to figure out what other people are saying to you.

The captions used throughout this clip show the wide range of strategies that speakers and listeners both deploy in order to ensure that communication is successful.

This process is often referred to as meaning negotiation.

Video transcript

Dave: Honey?    Simon: Honey.    Chef: No, sucre.    Dave: Sugar... syrup.    Simon: Ah!    Chef: Sucre, eau.     Dave: Sugar and water.     Chef: Water and one hundred and fifty, one hundred and twenty centigrade, cent cinquante et cent vingt degrés...     Simon: Right.     Dave: Very hot.     Chef: Et en le verse, là-bas.     Dave: That goes in there with the glucose and the honey.    Chef: Dedans, deux. On verse là-bas.     Simon: Ah! OK.     Chef: Ça tourne, une heure et demie, one hundred… une heure.     Dave: For an hour and a half.     Chef: Ça au fond du poelon.    Simon: Yeah. Chef: Couleur 'honey', couleur miel, pas 'white'.    Si & Dave: So the colour of honey.     Dave: Yeah, [speaks Spanish] si, [speaks French] oui.     Chef: Apres, on monte des blancs d’oeufs en neige.      Dave: Egg whites.     Simon: Egg white.     Chef: C’est ce qui donne la couleur blanche au nougât.    Dave: Yeah.    Dave: Oh!    Dave: So that's like ...    Simon: White nougat.     Dave: Nougat, without the nuts.     Chef: Donc on fait du nougât dur et tendre 'soft', 'hard'. Si & Dave: Mmm hmm.     Chef: Les ingrédients sont les mêmes: sucre, 'honey'...     Simon: All the same, aha!    Chef: Mais, le 'hard': un, deux, trois, quatre heures.    Simon: Four hours, four hours in the... So to make hard, so to make hard nougat you cook it for four hours as opposed to three - three makes soft, four makes hard - is that right?     Chef: Et le sucre - pour le 'hard', les sucres cent cinquante, one hundred and fifty degrees.    Simon: One hundred and fifty degrees.     Dave: Ah, it's hotter!     Simon: Hotter!     Dave: Yeah.     Chef: Que pour le 'soft'...     Simon: Oui...     Chef: l'hiver, Christmas, one hundred and fifty.     Dave: So basically for the soft nougat you're producing the sugar into caramel; anymore beyond that you get like a toffee, like a brittle.     Simon: Yeah, so, ah.     Dave: Temperatures!

Let go a little bit

Many people are afraid of making fools of themselves when they try to communicate with speakers of other languages. Dave and Si give us some valuable advice.

Video transcript

Dave: I think that’s the key really, it’s to go somewhere, open your mouth, but obviously before that it’s handy to have a bit of grounding so you know what you’re doing.
Simon: And also us Brits are a bit stiff around all that sort of thing. So just have the confidence to let go a little bit and as Dave says to open your mouth, because it’s vitally important because if you make the effort, you may think you’re making a fool of yourself but whoever you’re talking to and you’re making that effort counts for a huge amount. So the key is don’t over complicate it, go with your heart, go with your gut instinct and you’re laughing.
Dave: And smile.
Simon: Yeah.
Dave: And smile, that is the thing because then people are disarmed. People will communicate back if you smile and you’re patient. JUST DON'T SHOUT AT THEM IN ENGLISH!!!
Simon: NO, THAT'S REALLY BAD AND WE DO THAT VERY, VERY WELL IN ENGLAND, WE SHOUT AT EVERYBODY THAT CAN'T SPEAK ENGLISH BECAUSE WE ALSO THINK THEY'RE DEAF!!!
Dave: WHAT?!!! Simon:  EH?!!!!

Our job is to bridge the language barrier

What about the film crew? Dan Slee, BBC programme director, explains why it's important that the crew do not let the language barrier put them off.

Video transcript

Dan Slee: I mean we’re in the communication game, we’re there to communicate ideas and personalities and everything across on to screen, and I think it’s testament to the whole crew that we had on the production was that, you know, don’t hold back. You’ve got to get involved in any way you can. If there’s a language barrier there our job is to bridge it, to put people at ease that we’re filming with, to get the best reactions and performances out of them and really not to hold back. I think if you find yourself in a situation where people don’t speak much English don’t sit there and wait for them to come to you, they much appreciate it if you go to them and at least make an effort.

It's easy!

Dave studied French at school and worked in Luxembourg for a few months. Here he puts his French to the test to buy saucisson lyonnais.

The shopkeeper persistently replies in English, perhaps because she is trying to be helpful, or maybe she is keen to practise her English herself.

Video transcript

Shopkeeper: Bonjour Messieurs.    Dave & Si: Bonjour, bonjour Madame.    Dave: Madame, j'ai cherche la saucisson lyonnais pour fabriquer une grande saucisson brioche. [sic]    Shopkeeper: Yes. Alors. Here.    Dave: Oui.     Simon: Now, fluent. See that? What he’s just said is 'good morning missus, have you got any sausages for my brioche.'    Shopkeeper: For how many persons?      Dave: Cinq saucissons, s’il vous plait.    Shopkeeper: Yes. All right. Three with truffle.    Dave: Oh!     Shopkeeper: The best one.     Dave: This tastes of France, doesn’t it?     Simon: It does.    Dave: Merci Madame, c'est *le produit magnifique.     Shopkeeper: Thanks very much.     Simon: That means: 'thanks very much missus, your produce is fabulous'. Dave: Oui.    Shopkeeper: Thanks very much and I give you the bag.     Dave: Merci beaucoup.   Shopkeeper: You're welcome.     Dave: Oh, truffles saucisson lyonnais.      Simon: Et voilà, et voilà.     Dave: Merci beaucoup. Shopkeeper: Bye.

Ordering by gestures

Here is an example of the most basic form of communication: gestures.

Simon orders lángos in Hungary ... and gets understood!

Video transcript

Dave: Ho ho!     Simon: Hello!     Vendor: Helló, helló.    Simon: (overlaps) Hello.     Dave: Do you remember how to order lángos?     Simon: I do.    Dave: Go on then.     Vendor: Lángos.    Simon: Langos – two? What’s next?     Vendor: Kettő.    Dave: Cheese.     Vendor: Fokhagymás.     Simon: And then (kisses his hand)     Dave: Oh and garlic.    Simon: (overlaps) Garlic. Yes (laughs).     Vendor: Oké.     Dave: Look at that - sour cream sprinkled with cheese and some garlic.     Vendor: Megégettem ezt - nem baj...    Simon: Do you see that? We’re fluent. That’s what we are.