¡Buenos días! ??(N?h?o)! ????? (Konnichiwa)! Bonjour! Xin Chào! ????? (annyeonghaseyo)! ? káàsán!
And there you have it! A simple, multilingual glossary to help bridge the language gap lets not call it a barrier when you take your seat and greet the server at, respectively, a Latinx, Chinese, Japanese, Haitian, Vietnamese, Korean, or Nigerian restaurant.
Assuming they aren't born and raised in America, theres nothing quite like greeting a person in their own language to get your encounter off on the right foot, even if you dont have much of a common language.
Indeed, for some of us, its exciting and fun to head for a taqueria out Preston Highway or an out-of-the-way South End Vietnamese eatery to order wonderful food from friendly people who may share only bits and pieces of a common language. For others, the idea of trying to communicate about unfamiliar food in an unknown language can be scary. And, lets be honest: For most of us its a little bit of both: exciting fun and scary.
Im actually really intimidated by this, a Facebook friend said during a conversation on this topic. There are some spots that interest me but I feel like I may be intruding and slowing the process for others.
For some, language-based misunderstandings arent just embarrassing but serious. Im allergic to dairy foods, another friend explained. I periodically learn the hard way that the person who took my order and told me something was dairy-free instead either misunderstood me or didnt want to miss a sale.
If you think thats a challenge, take a peek into the kitchen of just about any local restaurant these days: Thanks to the growing Latinx diaspora, Spanglish is becoming a necessary form of communication for chefs and kitchen staff. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 25.9% of restaurant industry workers in the U.S. were Hispanic or Latino in 2018, and the number continues to grow.
Working in back of house doesnt require fluent English. So as long as you can take directions and cook or clean, you can make a living and build a career as you rise through the ranks, reported the Toast restaurant point-of-sale company. In some cities, its also perfectly possible to work front of house without speaking much English, but for obvious reasons, it presents more of a challenge.
Think about that, the next time your servers seeming lack of comprehension strikes you as a personal slight. Its not. And these, our hard-working neighbors, are working as hard as they can to master English as fast as they can.But still. Its only human nature to feel, well, stupid, embarrassed, or even incompetent in a one-on-one setting if you cant express yourself or understand what the other person is saying.
As our welcoming community becomes more and more multicultural, though, this is going to come up. Its completely normal to struggle to communicate with someone who speaks a different language. Remember, again, that your server is probably working hard to learn the English language. Be patient, be generous, and bear in mind that the goal here is not only to learn and connect, but to get a really good meal on your table.
Got it? Good. Wait! What? Youre still a little nervous about actually heading for the nearest Spanish-speaking taqueria for a great meal? Yeah, I get that. Let me share a few specific suggestions that, in my experience, work as well for coping with a language gap at local restaurants as they do for getting by in foreign travels.
- The Internet search engine is your friend. Find the restaurants menu, have the system translate it if that helps, and set your sights on a couple of dishes that appeal to you.
- Dont put away your device just yet! Say you find something on the menu that looks good, but youre not sure what it is. Google it, bubeleh! The picture of a tlacoyo looks tasty, but you dont know whats in it? It takes only seconds to learn that its a treat from Oaxaca: A thick tortilla folded around meat, cheese or other goodies, and topped with more treats such as cactus nopales. Dinner in a dish!
- When you get to the restaurant, be just as polite and friendly as you would at a place that speaks your language. Use a greeting word in the staffs language if you wish a little buenos dias can go a long way but dont push it if its not in your comfort zone.
- Bear in mind that just about all the servers at any Louisville restaurant are learning English and eager to communicate with you. Be as patient with them as they are with you, and dont be shy about pointing to the dish you like on the menu if youre wary of trying to pronounce it. Whats more, I cant think of any local eatery that doesnt have English translations on the menu.
- If things get desperate, your smartphone has an efficient language translator built in. Talk to it in English, and it will pop up your words in the target language. When they respond, it translates back. I wouldnt use it for a deep philosophical conversation, but it could save the day if you get stuck, or at least your lunch.
- Be patient and open-minded. Everyone has the same goal here, and thats for you to have an excellent dining experience.
Wrapping it up, my friend Carla on the HotBytes forum beautifully expressed the idea of sharing culture through food: By being open to trying foods unfamiliar to us, we open ourselves to new ideas in a relatively safe and non-threatening way.
We open ourselves to the idea of inclusion. If we can eat, celebrate, and grieve with our neighbors surely we can live peacefully with them as them and they become less scary.