language: the barrier between two people.

working at a location that is accustomed to having many foreign visitors, i have had to talk to and assist many foreigners. i have come to realize that no matter which part of the world you are in, language will always be a barrier amongst people especially if they're not from where you are. while working line today, i was approached by so many people who either had accents or could not speak the language at all. it was frustrating to have to repeat myself 3 or 4 times in order to have a smidge of being understood. i then took the time to realize that i too, would have a difficult time speaking to a person in another country too, so i took it upon myself to become more patient with everyone, mainly because i was at work. i attempted to explain to them to stay in the area to wait for their name to be called at least 3 times. i then had to resort to using hand gestures, anything to get my point across i suppose.
i have been blessed to understand and speak 3 languages. not many people are able to do so, so i take the time to try and comprehend what they're saying and try to the best of my ability to specify what is needed to them. i think these are the times when the quote "take a walk in their shoes" come into play.
having come from a family that has members that still cannot speak english well, i understand that its hard to converse. i also find it hard to converse with people who don't understand what you write either. for example, i talked to this guy from romania and he still had a hard time understanding what i was writing. i tried my best to tell him what i meant and it worked out, but sometimes that may not be the case. as for now, i guess i'm just going to suck it up and converse with them as best as i can.