Tachometer
Over a month ago I was approached by a woman who was doing some post graduate work at the university across the street from me. Her English was so-so and she asked if I would tape some dialogues for their distance-learning program.
I had (and still have) no idea really who this lady is or how she heard about me, but like a good Peace Corps Volunteer, I nodded my head yes and agreed to go one evening when it was inconvenient for me, but convenient for them.
Immediately, when I arrived there I realized that this was not exactly what I thought it would be. They had me meet the director of their program, made tea for me (after I declined coffee, which I think they thought was strange) and made small talk. (How long had I been in Ukraine, where did I study, was I married, what are my degrees, do I hope to get married, there are many nice Ukrainian boys, etc). I was wondering when we'd get down to business. I smsed my tutor to tell her that this meeting would take longer than the hour I had alloted.
Finally everything got set up and I was given many dialogues and vocabulary to read as everything was recorded into the computer (ah, technology). It started off well, until I got to reading someone's name (a Russian or Ukrainian one which I often have trouble reading still) and burst out laughing. Despite this they were full of compliments, asking if I had done this before.
I was aware at how ridiculous all of this was: I am not the best pronouncer of words and here I was becoming the authority, espeically with a British text that had been adapted and was not always gramatically correct. I tried to fix what I could where I could (articles were left out, etc) but thought sometimes, "heck, just read it and get out of here." But each text got more difficult and I stumbled through parts of it, and the praise of my meter and speaking voice quickly deteriorated. While at first it was basic, "I am a teacher, let's introduce ourselves" it soon became "this is a tachometer" a word I hardly know how to pronounce, let alone exactly what it does. I made up the pronounciation of it and "ammeter" and continued for the next hour to read about motorcycles, water cooling engines, four stroke engines, cooling ribs, air engines, combustion, petrol, bonnets, boots, and spanners.
As ridiculous as I thought it was, it was depressing because I realized that I had no one that night to share the story with. Typically, I would have went home and called my sitemate and related it to him, but now that is no longer an option.
Either way, it was incredibly timesome but yet incredibly humorous at the same time. They asked if I would do more in the spring and while I said sure (again, remembering that I am a Peace Corps Volunteer 24/7 has me agree to more things than I would normally) but quickly pointed out that another volunteer will be here then and perhaps they'd prefer a male voice next time. They just looked at me blankly. At any rate, some mechanical and electrical engineers will probably believe that I'm British and I will become the voice of English in their heads. Weird.
I had (and still have) no idea really who this lady is or how she heard about me, but like a good Peace Corps Volunteer, I nodded my head yes and agreed to go one evening when it was inconvenient for me, but convenient for them.
Immediately, when I arrived there I realized that this was not exactly what I thought it would be. They had me meet the director of their program, made tea for me (after I declined coffee, which I think they thought was strange) and made small talk. (How long had I been in Ukraine, where did I study, was I married, what are my degrees, do I hope to get married, there are many nice Ukrainian boys, etc). I was wondering when we'd get down to business. I smsed my tutor to tell her that this meeting would take longer than the hour I had alloted.
Finally everything got set up and I was given many dialogues and vocabulary to read as everything was recorded into the computer (ah, technology). It started off well, until I got to reading someone's name (a Russian or Ukrainian one which I often have trouble reading still) and burst out laughing. Despite this they were full of compliments, asking if I had done this before.
I was aware at how ridiculous all of this was: I am not the best pronouncer of words and here I was becoming the authority, espeically with a British text that had been adapted and was not always gramatically correct. I tried to fix what I could where I could (articles were left out, etc) but thought sometimes, "heck, just read it and get out of here." But each text got more difficult and I stumbled through parts of it, and the praise of my meter and speaking voice quickly deteriorated. While at first it was basic, "I am a teacher, let's introduce ourselves" it soon became "this is a tachometer" a word I hardly know how to pronounce, let alone exactly what it does. I made up the pronounciation of it and "ammeter" and continued for the next hour to read about motorcycles, water cooling engines, four stroke engines, cooling ribs, air engines, combustion, petrol, bonnets, boots, and spanners.
As ridiculous as I thought it was, it was depressing because I realized that I had no one that night to share the story with. Typically, I would have went home and called my sitemate and related it to him, but now that is no longer an option.
Either way, it was incredibly timesome but yet incredibly humorous at the same time. They asked if I would do more in the spring and while I said sure (again, remembering that I am a Peace Corps Volunteer 24/7 has me agree to more things than I would normally) but quickly pointed out that another volunteer will be here then and perhaps they'd prefer a male voice next time. They just looked at me blankly. At any rate, some mechanical and electrical engineers will probably believe that I'm British and I will become the voice of English in their heads. Weird.
posted by Molly | 4:05 AM
1 Comments:
Twenty years ago, I had a job to arrange State-Dept-sponsored tours of U.S. commercial buildings for Russian engineers. It was next to impossible to find someone who could interpret technical jargon in both languages. It sounds like nothing's changed. Keep it up. You're helping to solve a real problem (as long as you're not reading things like "plutonium" or "boom").
Uncle Bud
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