Friday, May 10, 2013

Google Translate is a blessed


It was a cloudy Friday. I went down to the canteen, having lunch like usual, being alone when people were going to Bandung. I ate pecel, my favorite food that always can bring me home once i feel the bumbu kacang melt in my tounge.
It was a common Friday.

Suddenly Mr Bagus, the electricity man here, came with a native Japanese that worked for earthquake-models-of-house project near my dorm. He talked to the Japanese man but i think Mr xxxxx didn’t really understand english, so Mr Bagus was going back forth hardly explaining something. Mr Bagus asked me and Kak Ayu also Kak Ega –the owner of the canteen—to help him talking with the Japanese man. Mr Bagus said the Japanese man was sick, he had stomachace but Mr Bagus couldn’t help him because his english was really limited.

The Japanese man said with his english-japanese languange he had medicine in his room. We wanted to ask him what medicine did he use. Kak Ega even had an idea to give him an Indonesian medicine. Then finally an idea popped-up in my head : ‘Kak Ayu please turn on your laptop, we can communicate with him through Google Translate i think’
The stroy started here.

We typed some sentences then he answered them with nodding or said no, yes, and just some simple confirmation or denial like that. We offered him a bowl of porridge but he refused. He said he just wanted to drink pocari sweat because he often went to the bathroom which means he had diarrhea. He hadn’t have food today, he just ate a can of fruit coctail this morning and his sickness was getting worst. He typed in google translate that he actually brought a lot of ramen and curry but his electricity stuff for heating water was broken so he couldn’t eat. He even asked about moving to a new room.

Mr Bagus said it was not the room’s electricity nor his water heater that broken. Japanese electicity would work in 110v but here in Indonesia we used 220v, that’s why his water heater did not work. Mr Bagus promised would buy him a new water heater that made in Indonesia so he could boil water in his room. We still forced him to eat because he looked so pale. Finally he ate a small bowl of porridge and a cup of hot tea without any hesitation when he touched the bowl and the cup. I had just realize that Japanese people loved hot food, he didn’t know that he could order hot menu too because he could not communicate with others here.

He told us that it was his first time coming to Indonesia. Ah, that’s why he knew nothing about Bahasa, totally different with his 2 friends that could speak Bahasa a bit like using some simple words, ‘tolong’ , ‘pesan’, etc. He was a kind person and also a shy one. He looked young compared to his 2 friends that looked more senior than him.

He thanked us a lot by keep bowing and nodding his head and said terima kasih. He typed he felt better because the food was warm. Kak Ayu replied that if he wanted to eat, he could come here and ordered another porridge and tea. After the conversation ended, he typed he would go back to his job then he walked to the construction place again.

Today i learned something

We’re all human, no matter where we are, where we came, who we are, what colors we are, black white mongoloid or maybe have a combination of chinese and pakistan  like me hahahah. Language is separating us from communicating, but it doesn’t affect on our core destiny that human will always can communicate each other even just  with body language or the help of technology like google translate.

I feel happy because  it’s my first time interacting with people who don’t speak english. So much fun kkkk i wonder how it feels if i join a summer school or a homestay in Japan or Korea ^^




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