2011年3月5日土曜日

Living with a foreign language

Living in a foreign country without speaking the language is often a big adventure! Even doing simple things, such as reading the instructions to make a blog and URL are a cause of stress. This is my first blog...! We often can't do even the simplest things due to language!

I remember a story my husband once told me....
I had noticed that lots of Asian people visiting Australia would often seek out restaurants selling their own country's traditional food. Not being a 'foodie' myself, I couldn't understand why they weren't trying some of the local food. When I asked Hiro about it he told me this:

1: People living overseas for a long time (missing home) want to eat familiar food because it makes them feel nostalgic. Or perhaps it is just kinder to their tummies (stomachs)!!

2: It may be very difficult and stressful for them to read an English menu! Perhaps it's safe at fast food places like McDonald's which has picture-menus. But what if you wanted to eat at an expensive place and when you sat down at the table the menu was written in fancy unfamiliar letters that were very hard to read?

I couldn't understand that feeling until I started living in Japan and couldn't read menus... or restaurant names..... or prices (even the numbers are written differently here in traditional places). So I often found myself at places like McDonald's western-looking restaurants with English menus!

So now, I get it!

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