By observation of the pictures pasted on the front windows we can see that the building is a grocery store. Even without the ability to read one can see that lettuce is lettuce and bread is bread. Whether or not the bread is multigrain or if the lettuce is organic however, depends on our ability to read. Volunteering in an Adult ESL class I have seen the teachers utilizing grocery circulars to help teach food, counting and functional everyday vocabulary. After intentionally observing the literacy found in a grocery store it is easy to see why.
After traveling in other countries where my language proficiency was limited I look at something as simple as grocery shopping as a potential nightmare. From a cross culture perspective the grocery store can be a confusing and overwhelming experience. This literacy dig, and the time I have spent abroad, has helped me appreciate my ability to read. The grocery store where we observed did not account for illiterate people or for people with different cultural backgrounds.
Cultural literacy is key to being able to navigate through a grocery store. I remember standing in line at a checkout counter in Guatemala only to be turned away because I didn’t realize that I needed to weigh and price my vegetables before I came to the checkout counter. We know how to order meat, cheese and fish because we have seen our mothers, fathers and friends do it. There is not a sign indicating to the customer to “order here”. If you didn’t understand the process how would you know what to do?
Even if we are unable to read or are from a different culture we can utilize universal symbols to understand our surroundings. We see these on bathroom doors, road signs and post offices. At the Courtesy Center in the grocery store there was a lack of symbols. There were signs advertising ones ability to buy stamps, a gift certificate, bus tickets and to send a fax but without an ability to read English these words would be meaningless. Throughout the store I only found one sign translated. The signs communicating invitation, customer service or products were only in English. The sign indicating hostility, “This area is being monitored by surveillance camera”, was the only sign translated into Spanish. This message speaks volumes to potential multicultural customers.
The exciting thing about literacy is it is everywhere. There are plenty of ways to practice and make learning meaningful for everyone, no matter how old you are or where you were born.
Your observations made me think of literacy challenges I have faced while traveling in Mexico. Arts and crafts for example require bargaining skills. If you pay the first price offered you are considered foolish. Even in the meats and vegetable markets mechants expect to dicker with customers. Can you imagine going to Kroger, Auto Zone or Sams Club and making an offer. "I'll give you a buck fifty for that Big Mac." However, if you pay full sticker price for a car you probably shouldn't be driving. When in Rome, you better have brushed up on Roman customs.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading about your post! We were at the same grocery store at the same time and the spin you took on the evidence you saw was great. In my post I mentioned how an outsider might not be familiar with certain words like "cookie cake", but I didn't take into consideration the customs. Even for American, though, I think grocery store customs are changing. For example, it is extremely encouraged for shoppers to bring in their own shopping bags and it is no longer acceptable to tip the baggers who help carry your items to your car. Unlike rules of an area cultural customs are usually not posted anywhere or written down for shoppers to see. This might be one way of incorporating more literacy into a grocery store that would be helpful to foreigners.
ReplyDeleteOh man! I have had the exact same experience as you did in Guatemala when shopping at the larger chain grocery stores in China. I walked up to the check out at the local Wal-Mart in Ningbo with tons of vegetables and waited in line for about 1/2 an hour only to be sent back to the produce section to get weighed. Okay, I was escorted back and shown really. I never thought about how often that must happen to newcomers in this country. It makes me wish I'd given that information to my Chinese students who are in Arkansas now - they are in total culture shock and that may have helped. Okay, I'm going to go call them right now and make sure they know about grocery store protocol. Thanks for pointing this out!
ReplyDeleteYour note concerning the lone sign translated to Spanish is interesting, if not a little saddening. Is this something you have seen is consistent in the stores you visit locally, back home in PA, or other places you have travelled? I would be interesting in reading if you had more thoughts on that point.
ReplyDeleteAll in all, I really appreciated your writing here -- it was informative and engaging. Great opening line :).
Wow! I really enjoyed reading about your observations. I guess that I've never really thought about the potential for such confusion in an typical grocery store, but you're right. We do often learn by example (e.g. our parents), and when that example has been removed, we are much more susceptible to confusion.
ReplyDeleteMuch like Arthur, I find it sad that the only sign translated into another language involved security cameras.
Arthur, I haven't seen many signs translated in town. I think that is why the sign in Spanish surprised me. I was elated to see it but saddened by it's content. I work in a co-op and as far as I know we don't have any signs translated. Going to have to take that up with the "Big Man" or the Co-op Board. We live in such an ethnically diverse city. Why wouldn't we want to welcome others by translating different signs like: Welcome, Order Here, and Have a Nice Day? If not at a co-op then where?
ReplyDeleteI will say that traveling in Latin American only the uber touristy places had signs translated. If you got off the beaten path you were on your own. Which... I have to admit, was part of the intrigue!
Not that I have anything against translating, but how do you know how much is too much? Yes, it's sad that the only sign they bothered to translate in the store was a warning sign, and why did they state it in Spanish rather than French or Arabic? We do live in an ethinically diverse city, so how do we go about translating all signs to be understood by all present? I know that in the pharmaceutical industry, English is considered the standard language, so if you are a German speaking with a Swede at a convention, more than likely, you will speak English regardless of where in the world the event is taking place. Hopefully, when you visit another country, you try to figure out their language somewhat beforehand. The social customs aspect is a whole different thing, though. Which one of us walked into the OUT door first, with the rest of us right behind? Not that it matters, other than to say we all followed suit because we fully expected to enter through the door on the right. Goes to show the world can be confusing, even if you do "speak the language."
ReplyDeleteAmy, what great experiences you bring to the table here! While I studied abroad in London for a semester, I was lucky enough to speak the same language (in all honesty, that's part of the reason I went there, because I was limited in my language abilities!), so I did not experience much confusion or strife at the grocery stores. However, I never realized how much goes into shopping for groceries...reading the prices, what items actually are, sometimes nutrition facts, if they are posted, and I can see how you would be at a loss in another country! That doesn't even begin to address check-out procedure or anything along those lines. Your post helped me to realize how lucky we are to live in a country where we speak the language, that when we walk into the grocery store we don't have to have anxiety attacks about what we will buy or how we pay for it.
ReplyDeleteI did notice when we did our literacy dig that the restaurants at the mall food court had pictures of many of the food items on the menu. ALthough there are still certain customs and social norms that go along with ordering the food, the pictures definitely seemed beneficial in helping customers who didn't speak the language figure out what to order :)
The observation of only the video survielance warning being translated was quite wonderful. Whether or not the owner realizes what he has done is another issue entirely but it shows our societies position on people who do not speak English quite well.
ReplyDeleteAnd I would have to agree with the importance of pictures to illustrate where words fail. I can't count how many times I have failed to follow proceedure in a place because of a miscommunication due to a language barrier.