Language barrier - where does it bother you the most??

When dealing with anyone, anywhere, who is incompetent in their job to begin with.

fruitsofyoga wrote:

.....all aspect of your daily life, job, shopping, hobby etc. Please send me your experiences!! I would appreciate it a lot! Thanks. Nat

Just about everything except shopping where you can just take it off the shelves/rack yourself. 

Sometimes you can find surprises like car parts stores, banks, garages and medical personnel where people do speak (and I mean really speak) English. Once you know they speak English, you can keep it in mind for other needs.   Networking basically.

I would cite businesses like Vodafone (mobiles), T-Com (phone), Tigaz (gas company) and Elmu (electricity) as being quite bad in English.  Vodafone has a terrible web site in English.  And the others are hardly competent.  T-Com does print information in English on the bills though.

Mrs Fluffy has had to step in to help foreigners speaking English in shops. Even my Fluffyette daughter has had to minorly interpret for some English speaking teacher visitors in her school. I was amused to hear how surprised they were and of course my daughter was very pleased with herself too!   Score one for the Fluffy family.

In terms of what bothers me the most I would say communicating with people in my village. It is not always important to be able to ask or answer questions but it makes me feel more of an outsider that I can't converse with them. In terms of challenges, the hardest thing I've attempted so far is buying a motorcycle from a private individual, getting a neighbour to take me in their pickup truck to collect it, filling in the required forms, arranging insurance and then going through the process to get the registration put in my name.

I feel bad when somebody with a lovely, warm smile speaks to me in public and I can merely mutter a couple of lines of Hungarian and then scuttle off. I'm a confident and friendly person normally but the language barrier doesn't always allow it. It makes me feel rude..

In terms of day to day stuff. The biggest challenge was probably opening a bank account in the Kiraly Street branch of OTP. One member of staff could speak English but barely. I'm not complaining however as we are in Hungary after all.

@CarolinInce OTP? You didn't do a big research then. They are the finance equivalent of the old Postal Telco staff rebranded to Matav and then T-Kom. Probably you don't need a huge vocab to get what T-Kom rhymes with.
Also, not complaining in Hungary is huge misfit towards the thousand years old culture we have cultivated in our shiny basin.

The OTP at Oktogon has a handful of English speaking tellers who are more than wonderful and helpful. Good luck!

"When dealing with anyone, anywhere, who is incompetent in their job to begin with."
Last edited by klsallee (08 February 2014 20:59:28)

so, everywhere, then ??!!?? :-)

But seriously, when I am unable to properly thank the most excellent staff at Szombathely Hospital for their timely saving of my eyesight

Angolhapsi wrote:

"When dealing with anyone, anywhere, who is incompetent in their job to begin with."
Last edited by klsallee (08 February 2014 20:59:28)

so, everywhere, then ??!!?? :-)

According to the Peter Principle, if there is a hierarchy involved, pretty much. 

Which is why I prefer to deal with small businesses. If they are incompetent, they don't last long (unless of course they "know someone" in some *cough* government *cough* hierarchy).

I feel my lack of the language when I am with a group and they speak Hungarian...I just have not been able to master the language.I could give my octegenarian age as an excuse . At the beginning 7 years ago Hungarian was a strange, foreign language ....Now it is not strange at all but it is still a barrier to enjoying and understaning as much as I should...That is my fault...
Shopping in local shops where English is not spoken..Also in my apartment block during our monthly 'House Meetings' ....that is difficult but I have a neighbour who is usually with me ...
Local beaurocracy can be a problem when it crops up...
One does feel somewhat isolated but I am in Hungary...and perhaps should have made more of an effort..However,I love every moment of living here and smile a lot and say 'Sorry' (in Hungarian) a lot too although I cannot spell it...Sorry !!!!!
I worked in the film industry and came here on a movie for 5 months .I loved the culture ,the atmosphere , the local transport.,museums ,small concerts,art events ..I was won over in those months...
When people do get to know you they are really friendly ...but one must win their friendship.
I now have a small dog and that has helped tremendously . Local people talk to little Sophie and again I smile  a lot..

It bothers me if I must do business such as deal with the utility companies or other business like finding out information.
All issues with our flat are posted in Hungarian and if I was on my own it would be difficult to know what was going on.
My husband is bi-lingual so he takes care of all business issues for now.