Communication is frequently very difficult between people. ---Changing this to"peoples" makes it even more difficult and challenging. The exact same words mean different things to different individuals, even in the same basic communities. We each have different backgrounds, therefore different connotations may exist! Differing languages brings the problem(s) to an unimanagined peak, at times. A rather quaint and, on introspection, amusing happening occurred in Amsterdam to some of our family many years ago. Ruth, son John and I had been visiting son David in Germany. We took the Eurail to Amsterdam to "broaden our scope". The evening after our first Amsterdam exploration we returned, tired and hungry to our current room. After a brief toilet and deposit of the minimal souvenirs, we talked over the prospects for the evening meal. We had spotted a neat appearing place a short distance away which our hosts said was good so we decided that was the place!
Linguistically, John had studied German for 2 yrs., Ruth had had Latin for 3 yrs., and French for 2 years, I had had German for 4 yrs., French for a year and Latin for 3 years. We had been living in South Texas for, -John his whole life and Ruth and myself for 15+ years, talking practical oral Spanish.
So we walked confidently to the restaurant, ready to face the probable Indonesian-Chinese menu. Fine. but the Menu was in 4 languages, none of them French, German, English, or Latin! So a series of noises, grunts and gestures was on the program next! (We were not going to leave!)
After our satisfactory meal we discussed the procedure next on the program. We decided the next thing was to help them learn English, as being potentially very useful in those days.
So John drew a shrimp as being the one thing we really wanted, but were unable to get across to the waiter . After a few pointings, gestures and sibilant sounds, etc, ,we were pleased to hear the successful(?) sound of "Shlimp!" Knowing the problems of Orientals with the "r" and "w" sounds we nodded pleasantly and decided that was our accomplishment for "Today's English"!
So we paid our check, left a tip and some smiles and departed to the sounds of "shlimp", "shlimp", "shlimp!" in the environs of the dining room and passageways , in various tones- tenor, soprano, baritone and a few squawks in the far background. Needless to say, after our departure there was an explosion of mirth , which has periodically helped us through the years!
