How To Have A Conversation Without Understanding A Word

Big cities are always full of people who speak some English, but in the smaller towns you will need to communicate without it. Here in Bosnia, many very kind and generous people speak only Bosnian. (and a bit of Russian they learned in school)

Here’s how to communicate when you don’t speak the same language.

1-2 Basic Words Make All The Difference

‘Good’ and ‘Thank you’ (‘Dobro’ and ‘Hvala’ in Bosnia) allow you to agree with anything and be polite in all situations.

Anyone can memorize these 2 words.

Paper, Pen, And Acting Replace Words

A picture is worth 1,000 words in your home language, but a picture may be worth 1,000,000 words in a foreign language, because without a simple illustration, you may never understand no matter how long they try to explain.

Pointing, gesturing and smiling, as if you’re an actor on stage, can help clarify your message, when you only know 2 words.

Learn The Language

They’re an expert and learning the numbers 1-10 or how to say ‘I’ ‘you’ ‘him’ and ‘her’ is a good challenge.

In addition to being useful for your stay, learning basic words is a non-touchy subject, unlike trying to discuss politics or religion. (For example, lots of people ask me what I think about Trump.) All it takes is 1 misunderstood ‘dobro’ in a conversation about global politics, and you’ll never be able to explain what you truly meant.

Always Listen Carefully

It doesn’t matter that you don’t understand a word. Listen carefully as if this person were sharing the secrets of the universe. If anything is decipherable, you want to know!

People know when they’re being listened to, and when not. This is human and goes beyond language.