The Universal Language

Giggling my way through life.

One of my biggest fears regarding travel is language barriers. For some reason, I find it very intimidating to try to communicate with someone who doesn’t speak English very well or at all (I actually have a hard enough time speaking English). Part of it is feeling guilty that I don’t know their language, and the other part is figuring out when to jump ship after a few minutes of using hand signals and bird noises. I think a majority of it is feeling like an inconvenience to the people that inhabit the place I’m in. I don’t want to be a bother.

On the flip side, I actually love it when people who don’t speak English very well (or at all) come up to me and try to communicate the best they can. Whether it be here in the States or abroad. It makes me feel honored and excited to see if we can find an understanding using a common language or not.

I believe there is a universal language. One that you and I know well.

Laughter.

Arusha Tanzania

In February of 2024, I helped lead a trip of people to Tanzania to see the incredible work Convoy of Hope is doing over there. We were there to visit the children’s feeding sites, the women in our women’s empowerment programs, and the farmers in our agricultural initiatives. It’s an incredible experience to play with the kids, sit and hear the stories of the women, and see the harvests of the farmers.

Imagine this:

Upon arrival, you’re met with the smell of cut grass and smoke from burn piles or small cook stoves scattered throughout the foothills of Kilimanjaro. You step off the plane and into a crowded waiting room, looking for any resemblance of a lineup to the customs agent. After waiting for what seems like forever, you’re up next in the queue.

“Jambo”, you say to the agent, hoping the internet hasn’t let you down on the common Swahili greetings of Tanzania. You don’t want to look like an idiot.

“Jambo,” says the agent.

You hand her your passport and wait for the questions to start flowing.

She doesn’t seem like the friendliest person, but you also can’t imagine shuffling people into your country like cattle day in and day out. Being greeted by weary and grumpy travelers from all over the world. Dreading their interaction with you.

She looks up at you and motions you to take your hat off. Normally, you remember to do that anyway, but it’s been a long adventure. You take your hat off and immediately think about your sweaty, smelly, flat hat hair that’s been baking under your favorite cap for the past 24 hours. The stench is potent. To hopefully win over this emotionally neutral customs agent, you lick your palm and start to brush your hair in an attempt to clean yourself up. She’s looking up at you curiously. You then lick your pointer finger and pinky at the same time and put your hand up to your eyebrows like you're holding a “rock on” sign (or “sign of the horns”) and in one brief move, you brush your eyebrows and give her a grin, waiting for her response, only hoping it’s a good one.

She just stares at you, and then all of a sudden she lets out a deep belly laugh, and you realize you’ve made a friend.

In a thick accent, she says, “Haha, you are too funny, Mr. Noonan!” As she continues to laugh.

That’s a win. The universal language of laughter has made you a friend. You thank her for her time, tell her good day, and head out to meet up with the rest of your group.

The next day, you are picked up from your hotel by the local driver. He knows as much English as you do Swahili. How will I connect? Since you’re the photographer for the trip, you choose to sit up front for the best photos.

I’ve found that offering a small gift usually gets you in the door even if you can't verbally communicate.

“Would you like a slice of gum?”

You know that calling a stick of gum a “slice” is a weird thing, but you’ve become accustomed to it, and your soon-to-be friend can’t understand you anyway. He’s just going off the gesture of you holding out a “slice” for him to take.

He says thank you and takes the slice while holding a thumbs up and smiling.

On the outer edges of town, the people are getting more and more scarce. You see Maasai shepherds tending to their sheep, moms holding babies and balancing various heavy items on their heads with absolute grace, and you see chickens, cows, and goats walking along the road. As you pull up to one stretch of road, it’s lined with various shops and services. The population gets denser. On your left, a man is riding a motorcycle with the flattest tire you’ve ever seen.

Just up ahead, you see a duck waddling left to right. Haphazardly moving forward. As the man on the motorcycle approaches, the duck gets startled and tries to make up its mind on which way to escape this impending death machine.

Here’s a question for you. Have you ever been in a hallway and bumped into someone, so you choose to go to the right, only for them to go right as well? So then you decide to go left, but they also go left. And then you’re feeling like an awkward school boy doing a gangly dance with a stranger. Matching their exact move. So you finally just stop, grab their shoulders, and announce you’ll go to the right.

“I will go to the right, ha.” You say with a bright red face and an awkward laugh to try and make the situation bearable.

That is what this man and the duck were doing. Except, when they finally met, the man on the motorcycle slowly ran right over the duck. He looked back with a look of shock on his face and then kept on riding.

I bet you’re thinking this is a bit more gruesome than it was. Miraculously, the duck popped right up and seemed to be completely fine.

“Did I just witness that?” You ask yourself. The jet lag is taking advantage of you, so you’re not sure what reality is.

“Maybe that was a hallucination?”

You turn slowly to look at the driver in case he witnessed this extraordinary moment as well. As you slowly turn with your red and glossy eyes, you catch him also slowly looking over to you.

For a moment, you think to yourself, “Is this a normal experience here in Africa? I’ve never seen anything like that back home.”

As your gazes meet, you both burst into laughter. Your question is answered. No, that is not a common thing here in Africa. You and your friend laugh so hard that tears are coming out of your eyes.

The rest of the group wants to be let in on the joke and asks what happened.

You attempt to explain, but because you’re laughing so hard, it comes off as a cruel thing to be laughing at. You’re only met with “Aw, how sad is that? I hope Mr. Duck is okay.”

You feel a bit judged, but you can’t really care. You and your friend are still laughing at the witnessing of a very unusual circumstance. You feel closer to your friend even though you can’t communicate with words.

So when you’re off on your adventures, in search of something new, and you come across someone who isn’t able to verbally communicate with you, lean into that and try your best to get your point across. The universal language is laughter. When in doubt (be respectful), try to make a joke without using any words. See what happens, you might just happen to make a new friend.