The art of becoming an Israeli

 

[Jaffa beads: luck, love, life]

Visiting and living in a country are two different matters as so many have discovered. For example, it is next to impossible to find any visitor to Israel, regardless of home country or religion, that did not feel that this place was special. On the other hand, historically, a majority of immigrants coming from North America (Canada, US and Mexico) do not make Israel their permanent home, ultimately returning to their previous place of residence within a few years. The reasons for the difficulty in adjusting sometimes involves economics but more often involve culture. Specifically, while it is possible to learn how to find a job and housing as well as function in Hebrew within a short time, it takes far longer to come to terms with Israels or, more accurately, the many different “Israels” that make up this country. To demonstrate, North Americans struggle with the directness of Jewish Israelis, the understanding of the unspoken messages in standard phrases and the adjustment to the different communication patterns of the various communities that comprise Israel. However, as an immigrant that has lived here some 35 years, I can attest that it is both possible and beneficial to go partially native.

As wrote in a previous post, most Israelis do not significantly filter their speech or emotions at least compared to more formal countries such as the US and UK. To be fair, Arabs living in villages can be as polite and formally non-critical are Anglo-Saxons as they live in a closed society where the price of speaking the truth can be very high. This may explain the love affair that some Brits have had with Arabs. However, in the cities, people are direct and honest, sometimes brutal, and respect others that are the same. Consumers do not mince words when criticizing products or complaining about poor service. I personally have left a one cent tip for a waitress that ghosted us. In Hebrew, there is a concept called a “kit pack question”, which means that if you ask someone’s opinion, you will  receive it, uncensored. Unmarried men and women past a certain age have to put up with a never-ending series of questions from both family, friends and even strangers regarding why and openness to blind dates.  On the other hand, people are generally sincerely warm and friendly, do not hesitate to help a person in need, from an infant to a senior citizen, and are willing to lend an ear to a sad story if they cannot directly help. People are friendly to you because they like you, not because they are supposed to be. Thus, Israeli speech is direct for better or worse.

While immigrants quickly grow thicker skin, it takes longer to understand the subtext. For example, if a neighbor asks how much you paid for a given purchase, the comment is not intended to invade your privacy but to check whether s/he paid more or less, a matter of personal shame or pride as applicable. When a salesperson at a store states that a given item does not exist, it means that the store does not have the item and you should look elsewhere. When a service person makes the comment “trust me” or “don’t worry”, the person should be on alert that it will be necessary to inspect the final product extremely carefully. On a humorous note, maybe, a young’s man invitation to a female for coffee at his flat may or may not involve  a cup of joe. On the other hand, if the vendor manages to satisfies the picky customer in terms of price and/or quality, that customer will recommend that person freely. This list of actual meanings of everyday phrases is infinite (and reminds of an old Mad Magazine feature). Over time, the immigrant leans to read between the lines.

Finally, Israel is a family-oriented place, as is the whole Middle East, but is comprised of countless different subcultures, each with its own rules of behavior. Even within the same religious group, ethnic and religious background is an important factor in the Middle East as intermarriage, however defined, is sometimes frowned on, depending on the generation and sector. Thus, joining a family in marriage or friendship can be a learning experience. Many Sephardic Jews are warm but loud, with food serving a key role in social relations, i.e., the more, the merrier. Tunisian and Moroccan Jews tend to love and argue with the same style, ie., openly and in quantity. Ashkanazi groups tend to be more formal and eat less and different foods. They tend to be more moderate and “colder” (everything is relative of course). Russians have their own culture and way of doing things, including a higher intake of alcohol and "culture". Persian and Yemenite Jews are known to value being money-wise. Whereas most people do the personal accounting of the wedding gifts in private after the event, one ethnic group traditionally announces the amount of each gift and the name of the giver during the wedding. Of course, the level of religiosity of the family affects the topics and nature of conversation, not to mention the way of life. Certain subjects and words are taboo in polite conversation in religious families. Even Arabs of the same religion have varying rules of behavior. The Druze, a minority group in Israel, of Isifiya, which is located near Haifa, are far less traditional than those in Horfesh, an isolated village father north near Lebanon. Any immigrant marrying into an Israel family should regularly consult their partner or friend to try to navigate this path. In any case, this variety enriches people and helps them to communicate with everybody.

Thus, my tips for learning to love not only Israel but also Israelis is to emphasize learning and flexibility. First, when, (not if) you misunderstood or were misunderstood, try to analyze the conversation and be aware of the words, applying the lessons for the next time or the one after that. Secondly, develop a thick skin. Most of the apparent sharpness is not intended to be sharp at all or not directed at the listener. It may seem shocking that a cab driver would yell at a passenger, the issue may be that the tone of voice is not actually yelling (for that person) or that the cab driver had a fight with his wife in the morning. Third, it helps to learn to act like the natives. If something is wrong, say it directly, not “okay”, which listeners actually think means “okay”. British understatement is not effective here. Keep in mind that politeness is relative. Even if you are rude by Ango-Saxon standards, the listener may actually consider you restrained and appreciate it. That has happened to me many times. Ultimately, it is vital to remember that every place, every group of people and every social situation have their own code. It is impractical and even harmful to insist that others act as you did in your childhood. If you keep that in mind, Israel is an amazing, entertaining, amusing and wonderful place to live, not just to visit.

The words behind the speech – English terms for oration

 

[silver frame]

Speech is silver, as it is said, and is as malleable as the metal. Humans shape words to express a variety of meanings and purposes. English, as do all languages, reflects this complexity by having specific terms for a verbal compositon, each one reflecting a locale, purpose and/or organization.

Some speeches only occur at specific locations. For example, a person gives a keynote speech only at conferences and similar events, thus introducing the topic of the gathering. To give an address requires a crowd to whom the speaker wishes to make a point. The most famous address in American history is Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. Reporters, official or de facto, provide live reports from a disaster scene, telling listeners what happened and/or is happening. At a school assembly or cultural event, a person may give a recitation, a rendering of a famous speech or poem. Smaller children may do a show and tell, which is an opportunity for younger children to present their interests to their peers. Likewise, at schools of all levels, teacher give lectures, which parents also do, for the purpose of explaining some matter with a wide variance in the level of attention by the audience. In sports, coaches in the locker room often give a pep talk, either before the game or at half time, in order to motivate the players, e.g., Knute Rockne’s “win it for the Gipper”. Apparently, sometimes it helps. Finally, who needs an audience at least formally? A monologue is when a person, often an actor, speaks to himself/herself on stage in front, granted in the presence of an audience. Unfortunately, many matrimonial arguments sound like simultaneous monologues. Shakespeare’s “to be or not to be” from Hamlet is the most famous soliloquy, a stage word for a monologue. The proper choice of word may depend on where it is taking place.

The correct term must also reflect the purpose of the speech. When praising people, it may be a panegyric or a eulogy, if it at a funeral after the person died. By contrast, a diatribe is a short directed critical speech while a harangue tends to be a bit longer. More is not better in this case. A strange mixture of both praise and criticism is a roast, in which various people humorously and publicly discuss the personality aspects, both good and bad, of a famous person, which can be positive if you accept Oscar Wilde’s comment: “the only things worse than being talked about is not being talked about.” If the purpose of the speech is a call for action, it is called an exhortation, something that Communist leaders were rather fond of. On a more specific level, an appeal calls for some action from the heart, such as the giving of a donation, while a pitch tries to persuade people to buy a product. The “why” of the speech may determine the correct word.

Finally, the choice of word may express the level of organization of a speech. A discourse is an attempt to provide a complete picture while a presentation tries to show the important aspects in an understandable way. By contrast, a rant is an almost stream-of-consciousness, i.e., chaotic, release of ideas such that the listener has a hard time following the ideas. A tirade generally has a clear point but suffers the loss of its focus and that of the listeners due to its duration.

All speech involves the oral use of words and sounds. Yet, these words involve many other aspects of communication beyond their literal meaning, including the location, their intent and their structure or lack thereof. Thus, speech is as important and differentiable as silver.

Is 2025 a good time to become a translator – an auguring tale

 

[ruins of Greek temple]

Many linguists, young and old, are considering whether it is a good time to begin a translating career in 2025 with AI shaking the foundations of the linguistic world, among others. It is clear that nobody can see the future but in ancient Greece, there was a special group of priests, augurs, whose task was to answer vital questions about the future. The responses were often vague and sometimes not encouraging. For example,  the parents of Oedipus asked and didn’t enjoy the answer, i.e., that he would kill his father and marry his mother. (Apparently, they did occasionally get it right.) It is said that these priests would take these questions and go into a deep cave and then breath in radon gas or take a hallucinogen to sharpen their vision. As modern methods for predicting the future are no more effective than the old way, let’s imagine the answers a hesitant linguist would receive if s/he would ask the augurs whether to start a career in translating in 2025.

The first augur would enter the cave and become quite euphoric. He sees a future filled with work booked in advance for two weeks and a large positive balance in the bank account. His/her answer might be:

a.   I see endless growth in the language service sector.

b.   I see the world becoming more and more connected.

c.    I see masses of disappointed AI users seeking you.

In short, our augur with pink glasses would say: go study translation and start a business.

 

The second augur is a dourer type and had a bad morning. Upon entering the cave of seeing, his/her visions becomes dark, stating:

a.   I see AI taking over each and every sphere of translation.

b.   I see masses of translators slaving over machine-translation versions trying to justify their existence.

c.   I see translators joining the ranks of blacksmiths on the extinction list of professions in six years.

This bringer of dark omens would say: he who approaches the island of the Sirens [possibly the island of Capri] should not be surprised if his ship crashes into the rocks.

The third augur takes some natural version of Ritalin instead of the usual mushrooms and tries to analyze all of the facts. After a while (no computers at the time), a confusing set of statements would emerge:

a.   I see that AI is fundamentally shaking up the language service market, which was already being transformed by neural translation and other forms of machine translation.

b.   I cannot predict the long-term viability of AI translation, i.e., to quote a certain translator, whether people will learn to accept lower quality in exchange for lower price or return to human translators.

c.   I see that translators with the appropriate skills will find fruitful islands in the technological storm.

In short, this non-committal augur paints a foggy picture and tells the linguist: beware of the storm but listen to your heart. Prepare for but do not fear the future.

As an experienced translator and not a fortune teller, my “reading” is that the world will continue to need translators but their role and skills are changing, just as they it has in the past. What is constant is the need to attain skills beyond linguistic ones. These additional anchors include deep familiarity with a specific field of knowledge such as law or medicine, solid computer skills (including but not limited to AI), digital marketing experience and knowledge of business management. We all learn some of these skills “on the job” but just knowing two languages is not sufficient, especially now. The more skills a person has before starting, the greater chance of success there is.

As I look at the grounds of my Turkish coffee (as there are no augurs in my neck of the woods), I see a future with many shades of grey, with some intense black where the coffee grounds are thicker and off-white where the bottom of the cup  is visible. I imagine the augurs would give a similar answer with equal confidence. The one certainty is uncertainty. Physics even has a law for that. Thus, I would advise uncertain translators to follow their ambition if their heart says to become a translator but also their head by gaining expertise in some if not all of the required skills. Time will tell what will happen even if the augurs generally did not. Whatever the result, I hope the decisions of the these future translators augur well.