The Pizzazzy

One of the challenges of onsite assignments is the language. Our organization did train employees on soft skills like language, etiquette etc especially because as we were working for Japan Business Unit. In a way it prepares you well but the real challenges are unveiled once you land physically.

I had only cleared JLPT level 4 which gives me basic knowledge of Japanese like asking questions and understanding the responses but not of having any conversation further than “How are you, I am fine thank you”. But I was happy talking in JAVA with our technical contact.

Nothing had prepared us for what follows here…

We were working on an online application and wanted to make some look and feel changes. But being the vendors we had to first get the go-ahead from our Japanese PM for the slightest of the changes. Now Y san, as we called him, didn’t know English at all. So, along with my JLPT level 3 cleared friend who was responsible for translations to a certain extent we walked over to Y san’s desk.

It happened so that, a round bracket around some text, was required for the GUI. Now, JLPT level 3 friend who had prepared her query for 2 min, started off in Japanese. Y san, who was already familiar with her knowledge of Japanese, was ready as usual with his English to Japanese dictionary.

My friend explained how we wanted to have a round bracket, and round bracket was translated as Round Box in Japanese by her, Y san didn’t get anything as there was no relation of our application with a Round Box. So our friend changed the word box with English word Bracket.

Y san who was not sure what was the word started typing B, R … in his dictionary while trying hard at understanding her.

The fun part was that the dictionary he used was a real smart dictionary and started generating results with the first letter itself. Till it was only B and R it generated some irrelevant result but when he added ‘A’ it did list down Japanese synonyms explaining the word…

Y san was shocked and looked at her, she was busy emphasizing on Round using both her hands dramatically.

Since unlike my friend I wasn’t busy in blabbering in Japanese I did get a look at the window of results and at my friend also.

Y san immediately closed his window and was finding it difficult to suppress the chuckle just like me. My friend was saved further embarrassment when our translator rescued us.

Some of my fond memories of Japan are those of the potluck dinners. We were around 10-12 Indians staying in studio apartments of the same hotel.

Some weekends we would get hold of any Hindi movie CDs and organize a Movie viewing session where everyone would bring a dish to create a multi-cuisine dinner, a welcome break from the Japanese food.

In one such movie-viewing-potluck-dinner session we gathered for watching the movie Saathiya at one of our friend’s apt on 11th floor. By the time we said goodbye to all our friends it was past 2 in the morning.

After coming out of our friends apt I pressed the button to call the lift. Suddenly my friend said run, and she started for the stairs. And without realizing, I also ran behind her. We ran all the way down from 11th floor to 2nd floor.

During the flight I realized my folly; I had mistakenly, in the drowsy state of slumber, pressed the calling button of the opposite flat. But the lift went only up to 10th floor and the 11th floor had an apt where the lift should have been.

I was so used to coming out of my apt and pressing the lift button that subconsciously I pressed the door bell of apt just opposite to our friends.

Both of reached our apt exhausted and panting, and thanks to the digital locking, went inside within seconds. So, still gasping for air I asked my friend “Okay! I know I pressed the door bell but why did you make me run like a thief.”

My friend replied in her equally breathless state “And, who would have done the explaining to some angry Japanese at 2:30 in the morning”

So this was the whole point, unbeknown to everyone the responsibility of all translations had fallen on her shoulders and she had panicked given the situation at hand.

And we both could have died that day laughing and visualizing her trying to explain to some Japanese guy in her JLPT-level-3-cleared-Japanese-that-had-consistently-given-not-so-acceptable-results-in-the-past, about why we pressed his door bell at 2:30 in the morning.