I am by nature an introvert – and this instinct can really kick in when I’m around people who don’t speak English. Usually, in a place like Asia, someone will come over and try to strike up a conversation, but these women did not. At least, not at first.
I took this picture not long after arriving in the Mentawai Archipelago, in anticipation of five days of trekking through the jungles of Siberut Island. These ladies are related to Agus, my young Mentawaian trekking guide, who was in another part of the port-village buying supplies at the time.
I sat on the porch with them, feeling kind of awkward for ten or so minutes as I killed time reading on my Kindle. But that seemed faintly rude – and one of the gifts of travel (for me, at least) is that it forces me to come to terms with my introversion and talk to people I might otherwise never have met. So I put my Kindle down and tried to make small-talk.
My conversational strategy – which I’ve now tried out in multiple villages on multiple continents – is to point at various objects and ask what they’re called in the local language. “What’s that in Mentawai?” I asked Mageba and Simalaje, pointing to a wall-carving of a monkey. “Do-ja,” they said.
In this way I learned that cat in Mentawai is “musi” and dog is “jigeta.” Hello is “aley-wita,” and thank you is “masura bataga.” When something tastes good, Mentawaians say “mananam.” To ask someone’s name you say, “Kasei-onim” I learned to reply to this question by saying “Oniku Rolf.”.
One bonus to breaking the conversational-ice in this manner is that you learn words and phrases that will come in handy later. I eventually discovered that I didn’t quite get some words right (turns out “booloo gogo” means “chicken feather,” not chicken), and in other moments I forgot the words entirely.
Still it was a nice to get a lighthearted peek into (and linguistic head-start on) the Mentawaian culture I would later encounter in the jungle.
Note: “Dispatches” are short vignettes, profiles, and mini-essays written and posted from the road, often in tandem with my Instagram account. For more full-formed writing, check out my book Marco Polo Didn’t Go There, or the Essays or Stories archives on this site. I don’t host a “comments” section, but I’m happy to hear your thoughts via my Contact page.
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