Past Wartime Survival Of A Translator
In WW2 a woman captured by her enemies survived by being an interpreter. She was multilingual.
Wartime Survival Recently
In 2023 another women, an Israeli, whose home language was Hebrew, saved many of her community from attackers because she knew how to speak Arabic fluently.
Japanese Speakers And American Slang
In between these two events, some time ago in the USA, a Japanese man was shot in the USA. It was Halloween and he'd been told to dress up for a party.
He went to the wrong house, the neighbour's.
The neighbour told him to 'freeze'.
He ignored the command and marched up and banged on the door. Getting no answer, he banged harder.
The householder shot him dead.
They say every event has a silver lining. The only silver lining was for teachers of English in Japan, because the Japanese started urgently learning American slang.
I have found myself in everyday predicaments several times when travelling.
Lost At Lunchtime In France
In France, where I speak the language well, I stopped to take a photo. My group disappeared into a nearby restaurant. I raced downhill but could not find them. Eventually I found a local person who showed me where they were. An upstairs restaurant back uphill, above where I had stopped.
On that occasion, speaking the language was vital.
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