Misunderstandings

In Turkey it's quite normal for a foreigner to misunderstand or be misunderstood. After all there's the language barrier, right? Well, I'm beginning to think it goes deeper than that...

Recently I've noticed that it's not just me they manage to misunderstand. It's other Turkish people too. How can that be? Is it the accents? Maybe. There are plenty of weird and wonderful ways to speak Turkish.

But I think it's (more often than not) just the simple fact that PEOPLE DON'T LISTEN!

This may sound like a very intolerant thing for an English teacher to say, but I really believe it. It's not just my students. It's almost everyone....

Let me give you an example that really happened to me. I heard one man talking to his friends
in a café. He would ask a question, and the other would invariably answer a different question. Either that or he was just talking about whatever came into his head... Roughly translated....

Ahmet: Where were you?
Mehmet: I'm fine. You?
Ahmet: Drink some tea.
Mehmet: ....How's work?

It's not just words that can be misunderstood. It's actions too. And behaviour. Let me give you another example...

I was in a shop, trying to get served, when a guy came up behind me and said "sigarayı ver sene" ( "gimme the fags"). Notice the style - the panache! I was dumbfounded! For a while I thought maybe I was invisible...Then I realised; I was inaudible. That's much worse. I was standing there - looking like a blond blue eyed basketball player (to them), but I didn't register on the shopkeeper's sensory customer-detector because I WASN'T LOUD OR PUSHY ENOUGH.

So, what do you think happened the next time I was ignored in a shop? You guessed it - I gave him what for! I said to him in Turkish, "Am I invisible? Am I standing here as a hobby?" He was so shocked that I could speak Turkish that he forgot to be offended at my outburst, and he served me as if nothing had happened. Although I felt quite proud of myself for finally piping up, I couldn't help feeling a little angry for being forced to behave in such a boorish way. Then I thought, what the hell! Why should I be the only polite person in a city of a million or ten million pushy yobos?

I know, I know, they're not all rude, uneducated, self-centered, get-rich-quick types. Most Turkish people are still hospitable, friendly and honest. But I can't help getting the feeling that they are rapidly becoming the minority. What do you think?