Communication Issues

February 24, 2008

Life here in Kazakhstan is going well, but there are definitely frustrations to overcome, such as communication issues. The biggest of these issues is still definitely the language. After six months I find myself hitting a wall when it comes to Kazak. It is harder and harder to see any progress being made with the language and I am sometimes afraid that I am getting worse, not better. I know that it is going to take awhile, and I probably just need to work at it more, but to be honest my living and working situation is not always ideal for mastering Kazak. As an English teacher it is my job to help improve my students and fellow teachers’ skills with the language, so I primarily speak English when I am at work. I do occasionally have to speak Kazak in my first year course to make sure they understand homework assignments, but I otherwise only speak English during class. Also, while I could try to get my fellow teachers to speak Kazak with me, helping teachers with their English is even more important than helping the students. After all, I am only going to be here two years, but if I can help my fellow teachers significantly improve their own language skills than I will be making an important sustainable impact on the community. My house is not the greatest language lab either. We talk a bit during dinner, but they spend most of the evening watching Russian soap operas that I would not be interested even if I could understand them and I usually have to spend my evenings preparing for my lessons. All that said, my Kazak does not totally suck, I can definitely get around and survive, but it is hard to learn anything new because I tend to have the same sorts of conversations everyday.

Another communication issue is that I have not quite learned how to say no. People are always asking me to come to their school for a presentation or their practice, and I have a really hard time saying no because so often in Kazakhstan is actually a demand. For example, this week my supervisor relayed a request from the director that I privately tutor her two nephews. I had already started a Kid’s Club for the faculty’s children at the director’s behest earlier this term and her nephews came to it for awhile before they decided they were to embarrassed to work with the smaller kids in the club. I am already busy with stuff for my other classes, but while Kazak has “zhok” and “emec”, which both mean no or negative, it is a rare thing for someone to actually say they cannot or will not do something. What usually happens if you do not want to do something is say, “Ya, Kasir,” which means yes, in a minute, and then you proceed to put it off or procrastinate until the person that asked forgets all about it. One of the other volunteers here in Kyzylorda has already used this strategy successfully in a similar situation and I am hoping that it will work for me. If not though, I am thinking of arranging the tutoring to take place at six on Tuesdays. I may not be able to accept money, but I can definitely accept dinner, and I plan on being fully compensated for my labor.