This episode’s vocabulary
Impromptu
adj. — done or said without earlier planning or preparation.
At (your) ease
phrase — relaxed.
To drill
verb — to make someone practice a skill by repeating the same thing several times.
Wander
verb — (to walk around slowly in a relaxed way or without any clear purpose or direction.
Merrily
adverb — showing happiness or enjoyment.
Accustomed
adj. — familiar with something.
Awe
noun — a feeling of great respect sometimes mixed with fear or surprise.
Utterly
adverb — completely or extremely.
To pull something off
phrasal verb — to succeed in doing something difficult or unexpected.
Contrary
adj. — opposite.
Questions and answers
It's ironic, I suppose, since being a teacher as my job you'd imagine, I'd have taught someone in my family something at some point. But it's actually quite hard to think of something off the top of my head. Well, I think a while back, I gave my mother an impromptu Russian lesson when she was visiting me in Moscow. I did explain that being a relatively more closed society compared to the one we have in Scotland, it would be a good idea to at least try and use a few local words and phrases to make people feel more at ease, more comfortable. And we were having dinner at a restaurant and she wanted to place the order with the waiter who clearly spoke next to no English, so lots of help was needed. So I demonstrated how to order food and say the names of the different dishes and how to say thank you in Russian. Making sure to stress not to touch anyone at all, since it's strange for people to make body contact with those completely unknown to them. And moreover, that men do not shake hands with women, generally speaking. We did a lot of drilling of pronunciation and practicing of the different phrases. And then I sent her on her way. Only to watch as she wandered up to the guy, pointed at the menu, speaking English the whole time with a massive smile on her face and putting her arm around his shoulders before giving him a hug to say thank you. It was as if my mouth hadn't been on, or I'd been talking entirely to myself for the past several minutes. Regardless, she got the job done and our food arrived. But I couldn't help but wonder how on earth the catering staff felt about the experience of this strange, tiny Scottish woman appearing before them, and proceeding to merrily violate all the social norms that they'd become accustomed to. Despite feeling a bit useless and almost a sense of awe at how utterly useless I had been. I was still quite impressed that mum had been able to pull it off contrary to all my expectations. If I hadn't done that, well, nothing would have been any different. She leads a life of her own.
Have you tried teaching your friends the same skill?
I'm afraid not. They're either more proficient than I am or don't have the interest.
Hey, thank you, Rory, for your story! -