Impossible Situations

Communication - Tuesday was my first presentation in front of the entire HCI team. Naturally, I felt pressure to do well but it was so very challenging! Challenging of course, because I am presenting in front of a group of people who are intellectually inspiring and define themselves by this - but also, because I had to constantly filter four things simultaneously. Imagine - I had just been switched to a new project that was in its infancy. My mentor and I had very basic ideas about where we saw this project going so we ended up completing the PowerPoint late the night before the actual presentation. I had only a few hours to decipher what in the world my mentor had in mind for me to say. Then, I was speaking to a large group of people all of whom are NOT Media Arts & Science people but HCI people and anyone who knows these two groups know the style of communication between them is as different as black is from white. Also, I was speaking to a group of people whom English is their second language and all the metaphors, euphemisms, analogies etc. that are American based are completely irrelevant! So ALL my points and jokes completely flop! I had to speak to the group using terms and words in their simplest form and speak extremely clearly because not all the people could speak English well. All the while – reading their faces and body language and trying to make the main points concerning our project (that I had very little knowledge about) make sense. Needless to say, I flopped - hard. It was brutal. My mentor was encouraging and supportive but there is a part of me that is truly upset about this. I know that I really did the best I could with what I had in the time I had – of that I have no doubt. But I wish I was not put in that position in the first place – like I was placed there as some initiation ritual or worse that because I seem confident and self-assured that it was okay to dump me in an impossible situation. Ah well – don’t mind my ramblings.

I am the only American - yet everyone speaks English - but to everyone else English is a second language. I find that intensely disconcerting. And as I said before, Americans don’t have the best reputation here. I hear jokes like,

“What do you call someone who speaks two languages?”
Answer, “Bi-lingual.”
“And what do you call someone who speaks three languages?”
Answer, “Tri-lingual.”
“Great. Now what do you call someone who speaks one language?”
Answer, “An American.”  

I suppose that is why I am upset and wish to avoid such impossible situations that add to their view of Americans. But – like I said – I absolutely did my best, whatever the result.