At the Czech Hairdresser

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Czech hairdresser for the last time. While in the Netherlands it is usually a challenge to keep the conversation going after the small talk about my education, the weather and my holiday plans, in the Czech Republic it is a challenge to have a conversation at all. The level of English of the hairdressers is very basic, so I usually state some Czech words about my hair while pointing at an old picture and thank her in Czech after the job is done. 

This is how all my visits to the hairdresser in the Czech republic went, but my last visit changed everything. I had heard before that the level of German in the Czech Republic is higher than the level of English. I never tested it, but after the usual start in Czech and English the word 'Deutsch?' escaped from my lips. The hairdresser smiled and with new energy we started the small talk phase in German. Why didn't I try this before? I realised that I missed a lot of opportunities for small talk with Czechs. 

The interesting thing is that when I switched back to English, I immediately faced the consequences of miscommunication. The Czech hairdresser asked if I wanted some wax or hair gel to style my freshly cut hair. I usually prefer to do this myself, so I answered with 'It's ok'. Between two native English speakers this would be understood as 'no', but for the hairdresser this was an affirmative answer. It is OK? Then I'll style your hair. With my waxed hair I walked out of the hair salon with a grin on my phase. I improved our communication by switching to another language, but then used an English expression which she would have never understood. 

The message of this story is that, although English is the lingua franca in our globalising world, it is worth trying to switch to other well-known languages such as German. Moreover, if you speak to a non-native speaker, be careful with expressions, as they can lead to miscommunication.