DukeEngage | Duke Center for Civic Engagement

Mistranslation gets frustrating; miscommunication could be dangerous; misunderstanding might be fatal; but Google Translate? definitely suicidal.

I noticed that Salma, my in-country coordinator, often used Google Translate to decipher the emails from United Planet. Her English was not near fluency, but she was certainly able to read and understand straightforward written messages. So besides all the convenience issue, why was Google Translate so very necessary?

Well, I am probably the queen of convoluted run-on sentences—a title that I’m not very proud of—, but I know well enough not to write them in an email to a foreigner who doesn’t speak fluent English. So United Planet should have know better and not given Salma a sentence like “so, it does seem that it is not necessary for you to show up at the airport at the time that was specified in the previous email.”

Now, this is what Google Translate told Salma.
حتى انه يبدو انه ليس من الضروري لك ان تظهر في المطار في الوقت المحدد وهذا هو البريد الالكتروني في السابق.

Let’s see what this is again in English by Google Translate.
He even seems that it is not necessary for you to show at the airport on time and this is the e-mail in the past.

Thus it was always a little extra complicated for United Planet and Salma to work together. After my arrival, I found out that my work placement, which had already been confirmed by United Planet several times, was in fact not available at all. It was pretty nerve-wracking. All my job expectations, which I did my best to keep at a minimum, were instantly shattered, and I was suddenly not sure what I would be doing for the next two months. Other workplaces were available, but the kind of jobs offered there were really not of my interest. I tried working at one of those places for two disastrous days; then, tossing aside my initial determination to be an easygoing volunteer, I turned into a demanding foreigner and started aggressively looking for new jobs.

One of the new options was working with Save the Children. Salma was not a big fan of this idea due to the complicated start-up process. United Planet and Save the Children had to sign some agreement forms, and the workplace was too far for Salma to provide transportation. On the other hand, people from Save the Children were quite enthusiastic about the prospect of having foreign volunteers. So after going through two interviews, I was overjoyed to hear that Save the Children agreed to provide my transportation and confirmed my placement.

I immensely loved my new job. In many ways, it was even better than my initial job that turned out to be not available. I didn’t get in touch with United Planet office much after that; I was very shaken from the shock of being unemployed for a few days and United Planet clearly had a very vague idea of what was going on in Jordan. Moreover, they were not very skilled with handling problems that newly arise in other countries. When another volunteer sent a direct complaint to United Planet, they ended up simply forwarding the message to Salma, for whom the complaint was not even meant. (and of course, Salma had to use Google Translate again.)

Miscommunication was always a natural and understandable part of my life in Jordan. But personally, misunderstanding without language barriers seems more unsettling; to my relief, that did not occur very often after this rough beginning.

I just got back from a two and half hour rehearsal with the girls from the children's home ISHRAQ in Sale, Morocco and I feel excited, anxious, frantic and happy. We have a performance this Saturday at a local cultural center (which graciously allowed me to rent their theater space for free!) and I still have to finish the girls' costumes, build the set, hang and focus the lights in the auditorium and make sure we have an audience! As a theater major I am used to this last minute scramble and yet the ever present confusion of language adds an extra element to the anxiety of organizing a performance. The girls are doing great though and we just finished polishing the choreography to "Habibi Ya Nour el Ayn" a song by Amr Diab that they like (which I incidentally just learned this past year in Arabic at Duke).  Every day as I work to communicate "get into two concentric circles that move in opposite directions to each other while moving your feet in the three count of the music" (or some variation of that) in Arabic, I grow to love these girls more and more.

I have to go shopping for a bird costume now.

I arrived in Morocco mid-May and this is my first blog-post. I have been working with two separate havens for girls in my city. One is called "ISHRAQ" and is in the middle of the old walled city of Sale (pronounced Salay). The girl's home is an old Arab riyadh with an atrium in the middle and it houses thirty girls (ages 8-18) who have no family. The first time I went to the home I have to admit I was overwhelmed by the language barrier that I did not anticipate. Even with fluent French and just coming out of a year of classical arabic, the speed and multilingual quality of these girls dialect left me a bit at a loss. Fortunately for me, what they needed the most help with was their French exam the next week so we reviewed French grammar and I had them read a few French theater scenes out loud to work on pronunciation. After that we all had Moroccan tea (made with mint leaves, tea and a LOT of sugar). The second half of that first visit was just beautiful to me. I went through a bunch of the theater exercises that I have done in the past in various acting and improv classes and the girls caught on so quickly and had such an amazing eagerness and uninhibited quality to them. The contrast between them and the people that I have been in acting classes with was staggering. Here were these girls who could barely understand my butchered Arabic who were diving in headfirst to relatively difficult improv games and vocal work without pretense and without fear. It was the first of many exciting classes with those girls. Tomorrow the association that I am working with here (American International Women's Association) is hosting a barbeque for the girls and they will perform a group piece and then a short scene.

The other home that I am working with is called "Dar Taliba" (House of Students) and houses thirty girls from very rural families who want their daughters to be educated. I just got back this morning from an impromptu sleep over at Dar Taliba where we ate cous-cous, played cards, took turns singing, walked through their vegetable garden, ironed one girl's hair, listened to the radio (as I translated for them the songs in English) and danced to music that never gets turned off. I can honestly say I have never laughed as hard as I did last night. I am so honoured to be working with these talented, kind and generous young women.

In early July right before I leave  I have reserved a space in a local cultural center for the girls to perform a show that I have called "Legends of the Arab World" (they will be presenting five scenes in French of Arab legends that I have adapted for the stage). I created a facebook group to invite my friends who live in Morocco and I am passing out flyers to everyone I see! I am so excited to showcase the work that my girls are doing and the strides they have taken in the French language and in their personal confidence through the amazing medium of theater.