Foreign Patrons and Bad Pantomime

I don't know if any of you have had to work in an environment where a portion of the people you serve speak little to no English, but I do so on a daily basis. One night about a month ago I had this fantastic family visit the library with all the paperwork they needed for new library cards. Yes, that happens every night, but this night was different because not one member of the family spoke English.

What proceeded was a delightful bonding experience between a very stressed me and this fantastic Hispanic family. The entire application went without a hitch, but was a challenge because I had to pantomime or do monosyllabic communication.

For example when explaining how many movies they could check out I pantomimed a video camera and help up 10 fingers and when I wanted their address I pointed to the line and said, "casa." This stressed what little Spanish I do know, and prompted me do a little more studying and ask that we translate our applications and handouts into both Spanish and Bosnian.

It was certainly a learning experience if nothing else.