Have you ever communicated with someone who can't speak your language? It’s strange how traveling to a different country can make someone realize how communication does not always have to come down to speaking. For my senior trip after graduation, my father took me to Paris, France. We did everything a typical tourist would do and visited all the main sites that are musts, but during this trip I also became very intrigued by the people who live there. I understand all over the world there is diversity and people are unique, but I was more interested in how to communicate to those who did not have a language in common with me.
One night at dinner, my dad and I were in a French restaurant and learned very quickly that neither our waiter nor the customers around us spoke any English. This was a new experience for me. I was born and raised a Georgia peach and never had been to a land where those around me did not understand the language I was taught growing up. Despite our lack of French education, my dad and I were able to order our food and go through the whole meal with little to no language being used between us and the waiter. We sat together and ate while watching all the customers around us do the same, while having their own private conversations. We couldn’t have eavesdropped if we wanted to because of the language barrier. In the reverse, our conversation felt private and tucked away after we realized that no one around us knew what we were saying, either.
Later in the trip, my dad and I were on the metro together when he decided to take his phone out and take a selfie of himself on the train (yes, for those of you that know him, he did this a good bit on our trip). As my father was doing this, I started to laugh and make fun of him and eventually made eye contact with a girl across the train. She couldn’t help herself, and we both ended up giggling at my dad together. This girl understood how I felt and she shared in the humor of the situation without anyone having to say a word. Come to find out, she didn’t speak any English, yet we were able to have this exchange and become acquainted through our eye contact and the actions around us. Our mannerisms did all the communicating we needed, and this realization was very intriguing to me.
This experience taught me a couple of very important lessons. First, eye contact can be a huge form of communication. In someone’s eyes, one can see love, hate, happiness, or sadness. Eyes meeting can relay all sorts of messages and have depth that even words can lack. Secondly, this trip really helped me see the importance in the way we behave. The saying still holds true that “actions speak louder than words.” Up until this point in my life, I always applied that quote towards those who did not show that they care when their words claimed they did, but now I see so much more depth to this. Sometimes we don’t necessarily need words in order to convey a message. Sometimes the best way to keep a conversation or to relay information can be silence. Everyone is always talking so much, but not many listen. Listening constitutes more than hearing words. Listen to the way people act and the body language they display. Sometimes this body language is much more honest than any words you could hear. I want to spare my words, yet grow my interactions with others. Is it possible to do both? France says yes.
