Plumbing as a second language

I had an insight today.  I've really been too tired for such things lately, so it took me a while to catch it.

When speaking to someone who does not have a powerful grasp of the language you are using, they may SEEM like they are understanding, but they are probably getting only about 50% of what you are saying.  If they are smiling and nodding and agreeing, drop that figure down to 30%.  I have spent much time contemplating the language barrier today.

'Member the water in the basement?  It wasn't too much, just some yucky colored water trickling down the wall in one corner.  DH determined it was happening when the laundry room toilet was flushed and I stuck my fingers in my ears and went "LALALA that is gross I can't hear you LALALA".  We have avoided that corner and waited until every last person in Italy returned from vacation to get it fixed.

Our not-a-bit-of-English speaking landlord dropped by last night with a no-English-either plumber to see what was to be done.  I think he told me we'd have the satellite dish installed in 7-10 days, but he may have been showing me a cloud shaped like a dolphin.  Not entirely sure.  There was fruitless discussion about the lock on the gate too and finally I went to Google Translate and wrote down what I needed to explain.  Comprehension burned brightly for a moment.

He and the plumber poked around the plumbing and through my limited Italian, Google Translate, and charades, we arranged that the plumber would come by at 8 this morning to begin repairs.  Using the computer was really valuable, but the landlord types soooo slowly.

The plumber came at 7:45 this morning, egads.  Every item of information that we tried to share was done under much confusion and wrongness.  It took me nearly 5 minutes just to get that he wanted to pull his car into my driveway. 

There was a lot of noise.  SO MUCH NOISE as he drilled into the tile and the concrete basement walls.  It was deafening.  We attempted to continue with our schoolwork, but gave it up after an hour or so.  After two hours he had concluded something and wanted to tell me about the plumbing.  We walked around the house as he pointed and gestured and spoke. 

In desperation, I called our housing coordinator on post and begged for translation services.  With her on speaker phone, we were able to figure things that a drain had been blocked but is no longer and the final repairs (done by someone else?  Not clear on that.) will be finished next Thursday.  We can't use that toilet or shower till then, but with just the 3 of us here, it's really ok. 

An hour later he indicated that he would not be able to finish today and he would return tomorrow morning.  Again at 8 a.m.  Sigh.  The Italians do get going early, I will give them that. 

(UPDATE - He came this morning and was here about 30 minutes.  It didn't look to me like he did anything but he came and said there was a problem in the basement.  I have no idea what the problem was.  He took me outside and showed me that he would have to return and jackhammer up the back patio to fix everything.  He called my landlord and talked to him, but I still wasn't sure what was going on.  I dutifully called the maintenance desk number and of course no one answered.  I called a friend who has bilingual neighbors, but the neighbors were out of town.  I finally called a maid that worked at the hotel on post who very vaguely knows our landlord.  Thankfully I happened to have her phone number and she was able to translate.  The plumber will return on Monday and will be here all day making noise and hopefully fixing things.)

Then he went on about something else that I just could not grasp.  I understood the word "favor" but couldn't figure out the rest.  I asked him to type it into the computer for translation.

After his long hunt and peck session, I hit "translate".  What he was saying was that he had left his bag/purse at his daughter's house and needed to borrow 30 Euro.  That really kind of freaked me out.  30 Euro is about $45, not small change really.  I was baffled that he would ask me this.  I did something I never do and I lied.  I told him I had no Euro, only dollars, telling him I was very sorry.  He seemed sorry too and cleaned up his mess and left.

That left me very unsettled.  I emailed the housing coordinator and asked if there would be anyone I could call tomorrow for weekend translation.  Thankfully, there is a maintenance desk that will be able to help.  I told her about the strange request and she was dumbfounded, saying there must have been a misunderstanding.  Since he is the one who typed it, I doubt there was any mistake.

Needless to say, I am missing my husband being here more than ever.  I've got the heebie-jeebies about this guy.  I don't even have anyone I can call to be here tomorrow when he returns.  I will be so very glad to get this all done.

Anyway, the language barrier thing.  When I understand 2 words out of 20, I smile and nod and say "Si!"  Chances are one of the words I'm misunderstanding anyway.  But finally catching the meaning feels like successfully bench pressing a gorilla.  I am studying and learning and trying to very hard to improve my Italian, and I have.  But I'm still such a long way from being able to converse.  My neighbors continue to gift me with fresh tomatoes every time I see them.  They seem so nice and I hate that I cannot do more than exchange simple greetings.  Also, I hate tomatoes.  And that I do know how to say, but I wouldn't tell them that.

Comments

[Casey]

I wish I was fluent in German on a daily basis! One time, in a pinch, I had to call my car repairman to translate for me. Ah, the joys of living overseas.

[Melissa]

I know I'm not a big burly man, but if you are truly freaked out then I could come over so at least you have someone else there.

I can't believe he asked to borrow money. Um....creepy much?

You need anything, let me know. I'm going to email you my phone number now.

[lydee]

woah, weird.
too bad about the tomatoes.
hope it's going better today.

[tana]

When you posted about the square toilet and wondered about the plumbing, I thought, "Uh oh, she's tempting fate." I know it's not exactly so. But man, what a pain in the arse. I hope this gets fixed pronto. I can't imagine how hard it must be to have the language barrier and then to feel creeped out on top of it?