Thank you, Ursel, for your idea how do we communicate! When we planned this project we thought we are well prepared with fluent german and english, basic french, russian what might be re-activated and spanish which I am willing to learn for the last 1.5 years.
We also have planned to learn 15 most important words of the language spoken in the country we are entering.
It is very different. In each country of the 12 we have visited so far, people have their own language, very different from the people who live next to them. This is very different to the situation in North America and the Australian continent. It is also very different to a country like India where because of all the different languages the people speak one common one: english.
So in reality we did not learn each time 15 words for the country we just entered, some only for a couple of days. We have had some challenges, developed creativity, talked with hands and feed. We made the voice of a cow to get the meat we want. Hard to explain that we do not want three kilo porc chops, but only three pieces. We bought yoghurt instead of milk, margarine instead of butter, bread which was not eatable – probably it was made for animals. I had shower in the sanitary for males. And sometimes we did not found what we are looking for. Overall it works. Sometimes it is a pity, because you cannot really talk with people and we are not able to express our emotions.
Praying for your communication needs.