Right-click, ‘Translate to English’
Partially deaf, mute and blind.
Way back in 2013, on fieldwork in Manila, I learned that the old-school way of navigating the city still worked — asking for directions. I had been relying on Google Maps to get to the nooks and crannies of the city. I found that there were occasional inaccuracies, where a building was not where it said on my little screen.
As an introvert, interacting with people is something I have had to cultivate, not an automatic impulse. Sitting in the jeepney, and desperate to get to my destination, pre-internet habits kicked in. The driver was friendly and obliging. Filipino discursive exchange is, of course, far from efficient. And before I could get the information I needed, I had to wend my way through reciprocal recognition. I see you, you see me, and on this plane, we are equals. See, getting information from the internet is easier. We don’t need to invest emotional labor in dealing with another human being. Because seeing someone, really seeing someone, means giving of oneself.
Last year, I made an attempt to learn Dutch after a moment of panic while in office. The PA system had made an announcement for people to evacuate the building. It was summer and D5.00 was deserted. The English announcement had come five minutes later than the Dutch one. A lot of things could have happened in five minutes. It could have meant the difference between being alive outside or buried in a rubble. So even though it probably wasn’t the wisest decision given my work load, I invested two evenings per week in Dutch. It isn’t a particularly difficult language to learn when you already speak English and can distinguish your verb from your adverb. Technically, you can get by in the Netherlands with only English. You have to understand though, that this will mean going through life handicapped. Not knowing Dutch means being partially deaf, mute and blind.
The cycling lanes in Amsterdam can get pretty hectic during rush hours. You pick up cycling norms as you go, an important one being that slow-pokes stay on the right. While cycling, someone put their arm against my torso to ‘gently’ prod me to get out of the way. I suppose he had said something to the effect. But being ‘deaf’, I had no idea that he was attempting to pass me.
Missing verbal cues can be hazardous to your health, sure, but even when there are no probable fatal outcomes it just makes living a bit more difficult. Sometimes it makes you feel like an idiot. For example, when an attendant at the H&M near Dam Square had apparently announced to shoppers on the floor that they could go ahead and try on clothes at the paskamer (fitting room) before she put a rack to block entry, I was, of course, oblivious. I completely missed the verbal cue, not being able to distinguish her voice from the general background noise.
Ever try to do the groceries, or any shopping for that matter, when you can’t read labels? Ever try to figure out correspondence from immigration, tax, or municipal authorities? Fear no more! There’s the Google Translate app you can download on your phone. The niftiest bit is that you can take a photo — say of the food label or the hard copy of a letter — the app will then scan, and ask you to choose which bits to translate. It’s surprising what Google can do for you too, when you’re browsing online. I can’t imagine navigating Dutch internet without Chrome’s right-click, translate to English feature. I couldn’t have applied for healthcare insurance, figured I needed DigID, or fill out various government forms. I couldn’t shop on the Dutch version of Amazon, Bol. Or other useful merchants like Cool Blue or Mediamarkt. I couldn’t understand some instructions from my bank.
In the non-digital world, I can count on my other senses to communicate when English fails. Making eye contact, a touch, or a smile can convey things words can’t. Being handicapped in this specific way reminds you how our species have had to get along to survive — with feeling, embodied cognition, tact that comes from tactile, auditory stimuli and proxemics. The kind of information this short reflection could never convey.
