Welcome to my new weekly series, The Wayfarer, where I share anything from random thoughts to stories of borders being crossed and lives being touched….
Her name was Bernadette. Since I had been a subscriber of the cable TV service she worked for for years, I knew that their customer service call center was in the Philippines. Or at least their primary one. Perhaps one time out of dozens of calls I remember getting an American on the line.
Since I've been around a while I also usually recognize the Filipino accent. Since so many of them have Spanish names, I used to mistakenly think I could just launch into a Spanish conversation with them. Not so, usually. Although the influence of Spain looms large in Philippino history, the majority of them, I've found, are not too keen on learning the Spanish language. They would much rather speak English.
And so Bernadette was using her excellent English to try to solve my issue, which she did. At the end of the call, I said to her, "Salamat po," meaning "thank you" in Tagalog, the primary language of the Philippines. I heard a gasp on the other end of the line, followed by an effusive "Why...you're so welcome...and how do you know that?"
I have to admit, I get such a kick out of brightening someone's day just by uttering a single word or phrase in their mother tongue. The less they expect it, the more fun. Whether Uber or Lyft drivers, restaurant servers, cashiers, it really can make someone's day who assumes you don't know a thing about them or where they came from. Just today I ordered [amazing] burgers from a drive-thru I had heard was run by Kurds. Sure enough, when I thanked the guy in Kurdish, he lit up like a Christmas tree.
Mind you, "thank you" is about all the Tagalog I know, and I only know a few more Kurdish words; but here, that's entirely beside the point. You don't have to be a linguistic genius to learn a single word or phrase in any number of languages. It's even OK to keep a cheat sheet in the notes app on your phone. (Better that than looking it up on the spur of the moment and butchering the pronunciation.)
Chances are, you already know at least a handful of people in your city for whom English is their second (or third) language.
Why not make their day some time?