Thursday, 03 August 2006
It doesn’t matter where you are, people are all still the same…. You’re talking to someone, but they don’t let you know when they don’t understand the message you’re trying to convey to them…. You even ask them, “is there anything you don’t understand?”, and they’ll just nod their heads and say no everything is fine….. and at the next instant, as proven by the way they answer your question, or by their subsequent actions to your instructions, you know your message didn’t get through…..
That explains why the waiter didnt bring me the food I ordered.... or why something was not done the way I wanted it...... or why I was brought to the wrong place…. It would also explain why I get the wrong documents when speaking to clients, or in Bangladesh, to my fellow auditors from Bangladesh….. I ask one question, it gets translated to Bengali and delivered to the villagers, the answer is given by the villagers to the bangladeshi auditors, translated back into English and delivered to me….. gee, that answer didn’t make sense..... sigh…. now, let’s try again…. That’s how it goes, over and over again in a day, for every working day I’m at the villages….
Many things make it difficult when working in the villages…. The working conditions are hard, it’s a lot dirtier, filthier and dustier and I’m accustomed to, its also a lot hotter than I would like it to be (the cold is the only thing I miss from my days in the UK), the amount of work facing us in the short time-span that we have at each branch is overwhelming….. But communicating with people here is definitely the biggest challenge facing us Malaysians here in Bangladesh…..
So what is required during our time in Bangladesh is a huge amount of patience, something that I’m told I have an abundance of, but even I have my limitations…. You explain again, you use illustrations, make comparisons…. Basically you use your imagination on how to deliver your message across effectively to the people here.…. All the aggravation I go through cant be good for my health, not to mention the heat, dirt and dust…..
But sometimes, its not because they are not able to understand….. instead, its due to the lack of effort made on their part…. What really irritates me is when the people don’t listen…. They’re too busy talking, they do not do enough listening, because they think they know what you’re going to say…. So they switch off, and in the end, the message is lost….. what’s even more annoying is when these same people get impatient and angry, and blame you for not relaying the message more clearly….
No, its not easy working with people, regardless of where you are….. more so when you have to work with people who don’t share the same language as you do…. It has been a long 3 weeks, and it will be another long 4 weeks till I go home….. I guess I’ll just have to persevere on when dealing with people…. As they say, when at first you don’t succeed, try, try, and try again!!!
It doesn’t matter where you are, people are all still the same…. You’re talking to someone, but they don’t let you know when they don’t understand the message you’re trying to convey to them…. You even ask them, “is there anything you don’t understand?”, and they’ll just nod their heads and say no everything is fine….. and at the next instant, as proven by the way they answer your question, or by their subsequent actions to your instructions, you know your message didn’t get through…..
That explains why the waiter didnt bring me the food I ordered.... or why something was not done the way I wanted it...... or why I was brought to the wrong place…. It would also explain why I get the wrong documents when speaking to clients, or in Bangladesh, to my fellow auditors from Bangladesh….. I ask one question, it gets translated to Bengali and delivered to the villagers, the answer is given by the villagers to the bangladeshi auditors, translated back into English and delivered to me….. gee, that answer didn’t make sense..... sigh…. now, let’s try again…. That’s how it goes, over and over again in a day, for every working day I’m at the villages….
Many things make it difficult when working in the villages…. The working conditions are hard, it’s a lot dirtier, filthier and dustier and I’m accustomed to, its also a lot hotter than I would like it to be (the cold is the only thing I miss from my days in the UK), the amount of work facing us in the short time-span that we have at each branch is overwhelming….. But communicating with people here is definitely the biggest challenge facing us Malaysians here in Bangladesh…..
So what is required during our time in Bangladesh is a huge amount of patience, something that I’m told I have an abundance of, but even I have my limitations…. You explain again, you use illustrations, make comparisons…. Basically you use your imagination on how to deliver your message across effectively to the people here.…. All the aggravation I go through cant be good for my health, not to mention the heat, dirt and dust…..
But sometimes, its not because they are not able to understand….. instead, its due to the lack of effort made on their part…. What really irritates me is when the people don’t listen…. They’re too busy talking, they do not do enough listening, because they think they know what you’re going to say…. So they switch off, and in the end, the message is lost….. what’s even more annoying is when these same people get impatient and angry, and blame you for not relaying the message more clearly….
No, its not easy working with people, regardless of where you are….. more so when you have to work with people who don’t share the same language as you do…. It has been a long 3 weeks, and it will be another long 4 weeks till I go home….. I guess I’ll just have to persevere on when dealing with people…. As they say, when at first you don’t succeed, try, try, and try again!!!
posted by zufar | 3:13 AM
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