Can you please repeat?

 “Language is power, life and the instrument of culture, the instrument of domination and liberation” (Angela Carter)

I was born and raised in a Muslim family in Pakistan. My native language is Urdu but my education medium was always English, all the courses and classes and the mode of communication in my school was English. Even though it’s like that we still talk in Urdu at home and among friends or even if we do speak English, it’s not like the “Standard English” that I observed here in States. This idea of standard English was introduced to me when I moved to states and started my first job.

My first job in USA was as a Cashier in a Convenience Store by the Gulf Station. This job was pretty easy but was totally new for a person who had never done this type of job. I was trained longer than normal training period because everything was totally different than what we have back in my home country, including the names of common over the counter medicines. The main problem I faced was not learning the names of products with changed names but what the customer is asking for and it was because of my bad English listening. To put it more precisely, should I say I was unfamiliar with the dialects of English people used in States.

I still remember the first day of my job. It was in the mid-November. I go this store that someone told me about and I introduced myself to the manager by saying, “Hello. Good morning” followed by “My name is Maham and I am here for the job. I saw the poster that you are hiring.” Then the manager replied, “I am Ray and I am the manager here. By the way how good is your English? It sounds pretty good so far.” It was a first that someone talked about how I speak English though it wasn’t anything bad. It was the first time I actually felt conscious of my English speaking but at the same time he didn’t particularly say anything wrong. He was supposed to make sure that an Asian can speak good English to communicate well with the customers. I didn’t pay that much mind to it.

I started my training and my training goes longer than others due to the very reason that I was unfamiliar with the system of States. I remember it was my first week after training and it was the time around Christmas. It was super cold that week and store was not busy because of Christmas holidays unlike the regular days. There was this man that entered the store and came up to me and said, “You got uhu?”. I was confused because the week before that I had already familiarized myself enough with every product in the store, but of course I am human and I sure am capable forgetting something. Now at the same time I remembered a glue named as “uhu” which is pronounced as “yu hu”, something that this customer was asking me about but I still didn’t want to jump to conclusion and embarrass myself so I asked, “Is it a glue that you are looking for?” and all of a sudden, his body language changed and his face turned into a deep frown and then he goes off like, “Are you deaf? Didn’t you hear me saying that I need a pack of 12 cans?”

I highly doubted that he asked for 12 cans instead of just saying the brand name he wanted. But I didn’t say anything. Firstly, because I had heard a people or two wrong the week before due to new dialects of English that I wasn’t familiar with and I didn’t want a repeat of that. Secondly, because nobody ever talked to me like that so I was surprised and embarrassed. At that moment my manager came out and told him that we don’t sell that brand. Later my manager told me that he was in the back and the customer just said that he needs “uhu” when he actually meant “yoo hoo” which is a chocolate milk brand and since I wasn’t familiar with all the brands of drinks in US, I didn’t know that and I should call for him whenever I am confused. This experience with the customer stuck with me for a while. I soon realized that people who don’t speak standard English still doesn’t have tolerance for those that have a different dialect than them. Here I would like to refer to this video link which I think totally relates to my experience with that customer. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBT6u0FyKnc).

In states there is huge diversity. People of different colors, races, cultures, religions, and languages coexist. Language is a big part of this diversity. There are more than 7,100 languages in this world but we interact with fewer of these languages in day-to-day life. It surprises me how a language can be so powerful. How big of an impact it can have on someone’s life and how it holds the power to change and develop new perspectives.