As an interpreter of Spanish and
German, and as a native speaker of English, the worldwide language of
business and travel, I am called upon daily, both professionally,
and in my private life, to be the bridge in the communication gap
between people who do not have a common language. Therefore, I use my
communication skills to perform jobs, help tourists or newly-arrived
immigrants, and to enrich my personal life by developing
relationships with people from around the world. However, I have
found that one can speak a dozen languages or none at all, but if one
doesn't possess the singular most important communication tool, all
subsequent words and phrases are meaningless. Our smile is the most
important global communication tool of all. I teach my young students
that there are four elements to successful communication, which we
can all master, regardless of our facility for speaking languages. If
you start off each and every interaction with a smile, then you have
automatically broken the barriers that words, grammar, and
pronunciation create. Then, while never losing your smile, you must
learn “please”, “thank you”, and “have a nice day” in as
many languages as you can. I can personally attest to the fact that
this “protocol of politeness” has allowed me to successfully
travel and interact with all people, including those whose language
consists of a non-Latin alphabet. Therefore, before one opens
his/her mouth to speak in any language, he/she must take care of the
pearly whites, and make sure that they are shining bright, so that
when it is time to (employ) words and phrases, and in spite of any
grammatical errors that may be made, he/she will achieve the desired
outcome.