Signs

It's interesting that depending on where you live, the English mistakes differ in their style.

For example, I don't think this kind of mistake would be made in Costa Rica, or any Spanish-speaking country. But, for some odd reason, this totally made sense to the (I'm assuming) Arabic-speaking person who made this.

I remember when I first started traveling that the English mistakes I found often made me laugh. I think the real reason is that deep down, it gives you a sense of superiority. Not that most people will admit that, but I think it's something that's ingrained in us: lower ability levels in our native language are, from a young age, associated with lower levels of intellect.

For example, it's honestly hard to speak with someone who can't speak English well, and readily assume that maybe they're smarter, or funnier, or more fun to be around than me. It sounds egotistical, but I don't think it's just me.

It reminds me of when I was living in Busan. I was hanging out with my friend Taeho, and all his friends were around. They loved having me with them, but the catch was that none of them spoke any English, which was fine with me, because I was really set on learning Korean.

I can clearly remember that one girl was taking up most of the talking space, and the whole group was paying close attention to her. I was drifting in and out of the conversation (it's really hard to pay attention to something you can't understand), when Taeho turned to me and said, "So, she said that her boyfriend just broke up with her, and now she doesn't know what to do. She's really sad."

It hit me then that this girl has an actual life. She has the same kind of ups and downs that I face, and the same cares and concerns that I think I summed up (or stole from someone) long ago: She wants to know and be known, and love and be loved.

Somehow, the language barrier had relegated that knowledge to the surface of my thoughts, and the idea that she and everybody else in the room was the exact same as me, despite my inability to experience it through the use of language, had evaded me up until that point.