Page 121 - Perfect Phrases ESL Everyday Business

Stress at Work

eign Language (EFL) in Germany for years before coming to the United
States. She was a fast learner and was among the best students in her
EFL classes. She felt tremendous stress when she realized how differ-
ent it is to use a foreign language with native speakers in a foreign
country. People had trouble understanding her accent and regularly
misunderstood her. She had difficulty understanding native English
speakers as well. She found that they spoke too fast for her, but she
felt embarrassed about constantly asking people to slow down.
Marta could not wait to go back to Germany and leave this dif-
ficult trip behind. If she would have stayed longer than a month, she
would have adjusted to her surroundings and would have learned to
use American English. It can be quite stressful to a person to be in a
foreign country even if he or she knows the language. It takes time to
acclimate to new people, new circumstances, and a different culture.
With time, when one gets accustomed to the culture and the lan-
guage, it can become an exciting adventure to be in a foreign country.
Instead, misunderstandings and communication difficulties as well as
change caused Marta a great deal of stress.

False Expectations

An executive from Japan was in the United States for an extended
period of time. Although he had a rented car for travel to his office,
which was close by, and for other short trips, he needed to take public
transportation for other travel. He asked me for the book that included
the schedules of all transportation in the area. I was stunned, to say
the least. I told him that there was no book. I could get him train
schedules, bus schedules, air travel information, and, probably, ferry
information. I asked him where he heard about this “book.” He said
that there was such a book in his country and that it was very helpful.
I thought to myself, “If there were this type of book here, we would
have to edit it frequently.” He took public transportation often, caus-
ing himself—and us—a great deal of stress. Additionally, when buses
or trains were late, he had very little patience for the lack of adher-
ence to the “schedule of the day.”

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