Lost In Translation

How do you feel when someone looks at you like an alien because you did something not known in their culture? What would you do if someone tried to shake your hand, to push his buttons with no reason, or to eat a food that you have never imagined? Asking these questions for myself, I was thinking about my customs. These specific customs have been hard to explain and always get lost in the translation.

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The first aspect of my culture that is hard to explain is hand shaking, sounds simple right? However, it contains deep meaning. In my country, Mongolia, if we touch other person’s feet by our feet we have to shake hands even if we did not mean to do it. Touching another person’s feet by our feet means that in the future we will fight for something or we will quarrel. Shaking hands is asking forgiveness from another person which can avoid the fighting thing that I mentioned before. Consider that I touched your feet with mine and give my hand to you to shake. What would you think? Or what would you do? Every time, after I shake a hand whom I hit his or her feet, I have to explain why. For the first time it was fun for me because I thought that I introduced one part of my culture to another person. Few times after, it made me feel very annoying. Therefore, when this happen to me, I just prefer to ignore it.

Food is the second aspect that is really hard to explain. Food is the most important aspect in their country, which can show you the real face of the country. The food, you have never imagined to eat. Every country has its own food but unlike the other countries, we have some special foods. Do not think that we are cannibal or something like this because it is descended by our ancestor. In the winter, we eat a lot of meat which is a meat of lamb and cow including its part of an abdomen. In the summer, we eat some vegetarian food to relax our stomach because of the winter’s meal, but it is not a vegetable. It is all made by milk including curds, yogurt, and dried milk. These foods are very nutritious and tasty. I really love my national food. My body craves these foods. Unfortunately, it is hard to find Mongolian can not give guarantee, but you will be like it. Once you come to my country, you can not avoid the food, what we eat, whether you are foreigner or not. For you, it will be like participating in the show “Fear Factor".

The last but not least aspect that is hard to explain is cat. Mongolians hate cats from their blood, but I do not know why? If you go to Mongolia, you can see it easily. Mostly people have dog or fish for pets, and few people have cats. Maybe it is because they think that cats bring them bad luck or cats are not auspicious to their owners. If they see a cat, they push some of their buttons of clothes. It means that they shoo their bud luck but it does not make sense for me. I do not believe it. Cat is just a pet like any other animals for me.

When I first came to United States of America, I met new people, and began new life, new culture. Everything was new for me, even greetings. Unlike my beautiful country Mongolia, we have to greet each other politely even though we do not know each other. Unlike America, we have some aspects such as hand shaking, pushing buttons, and eating strange foods. It will be really hard to understand unless you are not Mongolian. As a foreigner, I have to adapt America’s custom, but I can not influence the person to adapt our custom, who is never been in my country. Every time I explained all these aspects, I saw blank face as it says “What she is talking about” or “Are she lying”. Every time I met these faces, I felt as I lost in translation.