Apr

When Worlds Converse

by Joyce McGreevy on April 24, 2017

A handwritten word list in Greece exemplifies how global citizens can help each other become multilingual. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

A handwritten word list in Greek is a global citizen’s treasured gift.
© Joyce McGreevy

Language Lessons for Global Citizens

When you travel, what languages do you speak? After all, every day you navigate a rich linguistic landscape—and that’s before you leave North America. As a global citizen, you’re more predisposed to becoming multilingual than you may realize.

For example, did you ever

attend kindergarten, use a thesaurus, or study algebra?
wear corduroy or khaki, moccasins or a parka?
observe graffiti or a replica?
blitz through work like a ninja, or do yoga on a patio?

Just by reading that list, you utilized German, Greek, Arabic, French, Urdu, Algonquian, Russian, Italian, Yiddish, Japanese, Sanskrit, Spanish, and more. Our everyday English speech is a mosaic of world languages.

A poem painted onto a utility box in Sofia, Bulgaria exemplifies the linguistic landscape global citizens inhabit. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

In Bulgaria, poetry on a utility box (above) and remnants of posters (below) exemplify the linguistic landscape that global citizens inhabit.
© Joyce McGreevy

Remnants of posters on a wall in Sofia, Bulgaria exemplify the linguistic landscape global citizens inhabit. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Multilingual, moi?

According to the Center for Language and Brain at New York’s Colgate University, an estimated 85 percent of the world’s population will be multilingual—fluent to varying degrees in several languages—by 2050. Currently, 7,000 living languages are spoken across 195 countries.

While some view this as a challenge, I see it as an opportunity. When I travel, I love experiencing the food, history, arts, and natural wonders of a culture. But to visit a country without also exploring its language would feel like standing on shores, but never touching the water.

A woman on a boat in Türkbükü, Turkey symbolizes how global citizens navigate culture and language. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Learning languages can take us from skimming the surface
of a culture to diving in. (Türkbükü, Turkey)
© Joyce McGreevy

Today it’s easier than ever to explore multiple languages. These easy language lessons will get you started.

Don’t buy into age barriers.

As an Italian artist wrote, Ancora imparo: “I am still learning.” At 87, Michelangelo inscribed those words onto plans for a sculpture. We, too, are sculptors, thanks to the neuroplasticity of our brains, which literally change shape and size as we learn a language.

Research from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona shows that acquiring vocabulary in other languages actually becomes easier as we get older, since our pre-existing vocabulary acts as a kind of “welcoming committee” for new words.

Another surprising advantage of age? According to a study published by Oxford University Press, even though people use the same brain regions for two languages if learned in childhood, they engage different regions of the brain if they learn new languages as adults. The latter improves executive function, or higher-order cognitive skills.

People of all ages gathered on Denmark's Tisvilde Beach exemplify global citizens' shared experiences. (Image © Christian Alsing and Visit Copenhagen)

The sun never sets on the human need to share experiences. (Tisvilde, Denmark)
© Christian Alsing/ Visit Copenhagen

Use your menu.

Many culinary terms that once were unknown outside of their countries of origin are now commonplace on menus around the world. I’ve had friends tell me they’re lousy at learning languages—and then place a word-perfect order for pappardelle con funghi porcini or umi masu sashimi.

“I’d be totally lost,” they say, even as they look up unfamiliar food terms on their smartphones or simply ask the waiter. But those same practices—familiarization, sounding out syllables, using an app, and asking a local expert for help—would also be effective for learning languages as they travel.

Ice cream, called sladoled in Zagreb, Croatia, exemplifies how global citizens use different words but have favorite things in common. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

“I scream! You scream! We all scream
for sladoled!” (Zagreb, Croatia)
© Joyce McGreevy

Why not just ask for an English menu? Many such menus omit local dishes in favor of plainer fare, based on outdated assumptions about tourists’ palates. This can make all the difference between enjoying a savory bowl of cataplana and confronting a pitiful plate of fish and chips.

By learning a few more words and phrases at every meal, you’ll learn a lot more about the unique role of food in creating cultures.

A restaurant sign in Malmö, Sweden exemplifies the linguistic landscape that global citizens inhabit. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

What you already know of one language
can help you read another. (Malmö, Sweden)
© Joyce McGreevy

Focus on friendliness.

When my siblings and I traveled as kids, our parents had a rule: Say please, thank you, hello, and goodbye in the local vernacular. One word led to another, and soon we’d be eavesdropping on conversations, spending our holiday coins on local comic books, deciphering cereal boxes, and brainstorming translations of billboards.

Today, I still begin with greetings. Yes, you can walk into many businesses around the world and be assisted by an English speaker. But just as a greeting expresses good will toward an individual, the greeting’s language expresses good will toward a culture.

A barista in Plovdiv, Bulgaria exemplifies how global citizens interact in linguistic landscapes. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Sharing even a few words in each other’s language can
help us connect as human beings. (Plovdiv, Bulgaria)
© Joyce McGreevy

Invite teachable moments.

New to the language? In the rare event you’re mistaken for a native speaker, transition politely to English. You might say, in the local language, that you’re a beginner at that language.

Because this wording signals interest in learning more, it usually leads to insightful conversation and invaluable advice. In bakeries and bookstores, on public transportation and at popular attractions, so many kind people have taken the time to teach me something of their language, and thus their culture.

Get out of your “komfortzone.”

Learning includes making mistakes. In one Breton village, an American wanted a five-kilogram roast for Easter, but ordered cinq kilomètres de jambon. That works out at 3.1 miles of ham laid end-to-end.

But humor can be bonding. Mark’s gaffe and his ability to laugh about it dissolved the usual social barriers and got people chatting. Voila! More practice for Mark.

Oh, I see: From boosting brainpower to broadening the global conversation, exploring multiple languages offers multiple benefits.

A theatre ticket in Zagreb, Croatia exemplifies ways that global citizens can explore linguistic landscapes. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

See a familiar play in an unfamiliar language. Even the ticket offers language lessons.
(Can you spot the Croatian for comedy and seat?)
© Joyce McGreevy

Meet your neighbors.

You don’t need a grammar book to find language lessons these days. Simply begin by exploring the linguistic landscape wherever you go. Now and then, hold a conversation in a language other than your first, even if it’s halting or brief. Because in this multilingual world, discovering what connects us may prove the most adventurous journey of all.

To see how a woman considered “bad at languages” became one of the world’s first simultaneous interpreters, fluent in 17 languages, read this.

University of Glasgow’s free online course in multilingual learning starts today. Learn more here.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Joyce McGreevy Comments

Becoming Bilingual/Crossing Cultures/Discoveries/Worldwide Sites

Apr

Kathputli: Traditions of Fire, Puppets, and Magic

by Meredith Mullins on April 17, 2017

A handmade puppet dances for her puppeteer inside a Kathputli Colony jhuggi.
© Meredith Mullins

Cultural Encounters in the Slums of India

The labyrinthine streets lead from one palette of wild color to another—from carnival reds and yellows to candy pinks and lavenders to soothing blue and green pastels.

The stripes and flowers and polka dots of the freshly washed clothes that hang in every possible open space make the colors of the buildings even more festive.

Colorful buildings and hanging wash in the Kathputli Colony of Delhi, showing cultural encounters in the slums of India. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

The Kathputli Colony in living color
© Meredith Mullins

Smells of curry and turmeric drift in the dusty air. And sounds of daily life and laughter create an uninterrupted soundtrack.

Cultural encounters in the Kathputli Colony in the Shadipur Depot area of west Delhi are filled with “Oh, I see” moments.

Girls of the Kathputli Colony in Delhi, showing cultural encounters in the slums of India. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

A community filled with smiles
© Meredith Mullins

The Slum Truth

I thought I had a hint of what life is like in the slums of India—Delhi, Kolkata, and Mumbai. After all, I’ve seen films like Slumdog Millionaire and Lion and read books such as Behind the Beautiful Forevers and Midnight’s Children.

But, it was not until I had walked through the cramped alleys of Kathputli; shared tea in a puppeteer family’s one-room, dirt-and-concrete floor home; stepped gingerly over the rivulets of sewage and tangles of electrical wires; and played with the local children that I began to understand.

Colorful alley in the Kathputli Colony in Delhi, showing cultural encounters in the slums of India. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Electrical wires abound, but electricity is sporadic.
© Meredith Mullins

Oh I see. This is home . . . although it is not an easy existence. Electricity is sporadic, water must be carried from a distance, and the streets are littered with more trash than they should be.

Even with this backdrop of poverty, families are relatively happy here. There are plenty of smiles and laughter. There is artistry through almost every open door.

This is life. There is pride of place . . . and a spirit of family and community.

A home in the Kathputli Colony, with mother, son, and dog, showing cultural encounters in the slums of India. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Colorful, open-air homes
© Meredith Mullins

A Community of Street Artists

Two things make the Kathputli Colony unique—the past and the future.

This particular neighborhood has a long tradition as a home for street performers. Started in the 1950s by puppeteers from Rajasthan, the colony now has more than 3,000 families of magicians, fire breathers, snake charmers, musicians, acrobats, singers, dancers, rope walkers, and jugglers.

Men play cards in the street of the Kathputli Colony, showing cultural encounters in the slums of India. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Life in the streets
© Meredith Mullins

Outdoor life is common in India. At Kathputli, the residents work and play in the open courtyards and wider alleys, as well as and in their makeshift homes pieced together with wood, tin, tarp, mud, and brick.

They go out to perform, by day or by night, and return to the camaraderie of their families and friends and their colorful home life.

Fire breather in the Kathputli Colony, showing cultural encounters in the slums of India. (Image © Chester Ng.)

A fire breather at the colony
© Chester Ng 2016 (stylishpix@yahoo.com)

The community is friendly and welcoming. Even the children have a wonderful theatrical quality—in their poses, their colorful American brand-name hand-me-downs, their trendy hair styles, and their connection to visitors.

The time I spent wandering the Kathputli alleys was a traveler’s treasure (and a photographer’s dream).

Three children of the Kathputli Colony in the street, showing cultural encounters in the slums of India. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Setting trends in many ways
© Meredith Mullins

An Uncertain Future

This spirit of community made it even sadder to learn that the Kathputli families are being displaced from this colony.

As “progress” would have it, the land they have lived on for the past 60 years is now becoming prime real estate. At the same time, the government has pledged to eliminate slums.

A group of Kathputli Colony dwellers, showing cultural encounters in the slums of India. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

The evolution of a camp
© Meredith Mullins

The original residents built a community out of a jungle on the edge of the city. They started with a camp and slowly made improvements to produce the village of jhuggis (makeshift dwellings) today.

However, as Delhi expanded, Kathputli became more central and is now even on a major metro line.

The government has given a contract to developers to develop the land, including commercial buildings as well as new homes in apartment blocks for the colony families.

The families will be relocated—first to a transit camp while new homes are constructed in multi-story buildings and ultimately to these new living units.

Two rows of transit camp units for the Kathputli Colony, showing how cultural encounters in the slums of India have led to displacement. (Image © Sanjuko Basu.)

The transit camp does not lend itself to the spirit of the Kathputli Colony.
© Sanjukta Basu

The colony is rightfully skeptical. Some have refused to leave their homes until they are promised the new homes via a court contract and are given some specific timelines for the new development.

Currently, it is unclear how long they must live in the transit camp, which seems more like a military camp than the colorful community of Kathputli.

The developers can’t begin the new construction until all the families have relocated to the transit camp. But those holding out have no faith that they will get a new house, and they want to be sure that the new housing works with their artistic lifestyle—with places to store their materials and performance areas to practice and share their arts.

Two girls hold hands at the Kathputli Colony in Delhi, showing cultural encounters in the slums of India. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

A nostalgia for the ancestral homes
© Meredith Mullins

A Nostalgia for Traditions

While the redevelopment plan may be a good start to solving the issue of slum dwelling, there will be a lingering nostalgia when the colorful alleys and cultural encounters of Kathputli have become a sea of high-rise apartment buildings, and when the puppeteers and fire breathers are no longer gathering spontaneously in the streets to share their proud history of artistry.

Sometimes the path to “progress” leaves much to be desired.

A boy poses amidst the rubble of the Kathputli Colony, showing cultural encounters in the slums of India. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Kathputli style
© Meredith Mullins

For more information about the current Kathputli Colony relocation issues, read this article by independent journalist Sanjukta Basu in The First Post. OIC also thanks Ms. Basu for permission to use her photograph of the transit camp. Please also visit her website.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Meredith Mullins 4 Comments

Cultural Encounters/India

Apr

Idyllic, Yet Never Idle

by Joyce McGreevy on April 3, 2017

The Chora, the original capital of Serifos inspires wanderlust to visit this tiny Greek island in the Cyclades. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Parts of the original Chora, the hilltop capital of Serifos, date back to 3 BCE.
© Joyce McGreevy

When Wanderlust Leads to Serifos

I’m on Serifos—and the side effects are wonderful. What sounds like a lyrical Big-Pharma trade name is actually a tiny Greek island, part of the Cyclades southeast of mainland Greece. Wanderlust has led me here. Around 225 of Greece’s 6,000 islands are inhabited. Their populations quadruple with tourists every summer.

But I’m traveling in January to the bafflement of friends. Why Serifos? Why now? One high-powered chum tells me, “Wait till summer, go to Hydra, Mykonos, or Santorini. There’s a fantastic party scene and I’ll introduce you to a TON of contacts.”

And there’s your answer, folks. Because I don’t want to do “the scene,” exchange business cards over cocktails, sign up for “kick-ass Pilates classes,” have my aura read, my spine realigned, or my roots touched up.

I want to just be.

A boat in the harbor at Serifos symbolizes the author's wanderlust to visit this tiny Greek island in the Cyclades. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

“The Journey Is the Thing”—Homer’s Odyssey

A crewman on the ferry at Serifos makes work into art on a tiny Greek island in the Cyclades. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

I make the five-hour journey by ferry from Piraeus, Athens’ main port, to the Cyclades with laptop in tow. The plan is to divide my time between meeting deadlines and exploring the 30-mile square island.

As the ferry nudges the shore, crewmen stride the descending ramp, nimbly riding its metal edge to the pier and tossing the ropes. Inky night and the Aegean Sea surround us. The darkness is deep, the stars spectacular.

Christos, my host, is there to greet me. His family has traveled from Thessaloniki to make ready what will be my home for the next month.

The house is newly built but traditionally designed, gleaming white with blue trim. Inside, stone walls have been sculpted into counters, shelves, and bedside tables.

On a rain-swept winter’s night, this is heaven. As I unpack, there’s a knock at the door: Athina, Christos’ mother, brings supper on a tray. It’s a good omen when the namesake of the Goddess of Wisdom visits.

A house on the tiny Greek island of Serifos in the Cyclades evokes both wanderlust and a sense of home. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

In tiny Serifos, Christos’ Seaview Modern needs no address, its road no name.
Mail sent to “American lady who talks to cats” would have reached me.
© Joyce McGreevy

Mythology and the Everyday Epic

I settle into pleasant routine, dividing my day between work, walks, and classes. The classes are online: Greek history, language, mythology. According to myth, wing-footed Perseus washed up on Serifos as a baby locked in a wooden chest. Years later, the island’s king sent him on a suicide mission to slay the Medusa. But Perseus returned, using Medusa’s head to turn the king—and Serifos—into stone.

As I gaze up at the commanding heights of stone peaks, the presence of Perseus and other immortals seems completely plausible. In this setting, it’s thrilling to read Homer’s Odyssey, as the hero’s longing for home plays tug-of-war with wanderlust. I read, then head off on rambles of my own.

Hikers on a stone path in Serifos understand the wanderlust to visit this tiny Greek island in the Cyclades. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Oh, I see: On an island, everyday moments become epic:

Skirting seasonal ponds by navigating through neighbors’ gardens, a delightful workaround
Savoring the only sound at night, the whispering of the sea
Witnessing the gradual approach of spring, like a ship on the horizon, as tender grasses and wildflowers re-emerge and trees become “birdful” again.

A garden on the tiny Greek island of Serifos in the Cyclades invites those with wanderlust to wander through. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Low-tech in Paradise

When Homer’s Odyssey takes our hero to Scheria, he finds a magical land with self-steering ships and self-harvesting crops, yet women still do laundry by hand. On Serifos in the off-season, I have superfast wifi, but my washing machine is a bucket. When I ask a local what time the town’s laundromat opens, she replies Aprílios—“April.”

Christos offers to have someone do my laundry, but neither I nor my minimalist wardrobe warrant the fuss. Better to take a leaf from the Scherian women. Hanging laundry outside becomes my favorite ritual, a meditation on the elements—sea, sky, sun, and the mineral richness that speckles this green and rocky earth.

Laundry on a patio in Serifos, a tiny Greek island in the Cyclades, evokes the simple pleasures that come from wanderlust. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

No Stereotypes on Serifos

The winter population of Serifos hovers around 1,200, excluding small herds of friendly cats. The people are friendly, too, infinitely patient with my child’s-level Greek. I study every evening before bed, letting the words percolate into my dreams. As Homer’s Odyssey says, “There is a time for many words, there is also a time for sleep.”

A leaping cat in Serifos, a tiny Greek island in the Cyclades, shows that wanderlust isn't limited to humans. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Sigá-sigá (“step by step”), says Christina, a local shopkeeper. She, Athina, and others help me gather a living glossary from this small, rich universe—words for sky and clouds, wildflowers and windmills, honey and olive oil. At one taverna, the staff is fluent in English yet take the time to coach me in Greek. The syllables taste as satisfying in the mouth as the exquisite roast chickpea soup with garlic and oregano.

A bowl of revithia, or chickpeas soup, in the tiny Greek island of Serifos in the Cyclades, is one of the rewards of wanderlust. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Revithia sto fourno, a traditional Greek soup made with roasted
chickpeas, oregano, lemon, olive oil—and magic.
© Joyce McGreevy

If this were a movie, Hollywood would reinvent the locals as a Colorful Cast of Loveable Eccentrics. But quaint stereotypes don’t match the reality. People of Serifos travel the world, access 24-hour news, work at a range of professions. Among these thoughtful and serious-minded people, the only oddball I know of is myself.

A well-stocked shop in Serifos shows that even a tiny Greek island in the Cyclades, can satisfy any appetite, including wanderlust. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Think you can’t find gluten-free or other speciality foods in
the hilltop village of a tiny island? Guess again.
© Joyce McGreevy

McGreevy’s Odyssey

One night there’s true misadventure. Whatever gods I’ve inadvertently offended exact revenge on my laptop. Suddenly, I’m not so complacent. Up against deadline, I have two choices:

travel all the way back to Athens, hastily book a room, sort out the laptop, invest in a second one for backup (the cost of doing business while traveling full time), and meet that deadline with minutes to spare; or
curse my fate. As Homer’s Odyssey says, “These mortals are so quick to blame the gods.”

I opt for the journey.

“To Long for the Sight of Home”—Homer’s Odyssey

A ferry pulling into Serifos, a tiny Greek island in the Cyclades, symbolizes the tug-of-war between wanderlust and love of home. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

When I return to the Cyclades, my sea legs are steady but my land legs not so much. Disembarking, I walk a few paces, then stumble. Immediately, arms reach out to lift me up. There are no strangers on Serifos, only neighbors.

Next morning, as I hang the laundry, the scent of wild rosemary and the thrum of hedgerow bees deliver a message to my senses—spring has landed! Soon it will be Kathari Deftera (“Clean Monday”), a day when children fly kites, bakeries offer unleavened lagana bread, and festivities mark the eve of Lent.

Lagana, a traditional bread found on many a tiny Greek island in the Cyclades, is tasty enough to inspire wanderlust. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Lagana bread: The name, which is also the origin of the
word lasagna, comes from a Greco-Roman pastry dough.
© Joyce McGreevy

Settling into work, I switch on the new laptop. The QWERTY keyboard includes a few Cyrillic letters. Since my software is set for American English, it makes no difference on a practical level, but on a heart level it means something that fills me with joy.

Then it hits me: wanderlust has led full circle. I feel at home on a tiny Greek island in the Cyclades. As Homer said, “Even a fool learns something once it hits him.” Dear Christos, I type, I’d like to stay on Serifos for another month.

A cat, Chora steps, and a weathered urn on Serifos, a tiny Greek island in the Cyclades, create the kind of tableau that inspires wanderlust. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Access superb online courses in Greek Mythology (University of Pennsylvania) here and
Ancient Greek History (Wesleyan University) here.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Joyce McGreevy 4 Comments

Art of Travel/Crossing Cultures/Greece

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