Knowing how to fluently speak English, and only living in America, I do not have to worry very often about being misunderstood, or humiliated when shopping. Though, I do understand what non-English people go through. I was ordering food from an Indian restaurant not long ago, and I was trying to pronounce the dishes I wanted to order. I was mispronouncing the vowels, and the server did not understand what it was I wanted. Flushed and feeling slightly foolish, I pointed to the dish on the menu. The waiter just nodded while pronouncing the corrected name, and then he turned to the next customer. I can image the trouble people have if they go through that everyday. Though, a lot of people would get annoyed, some people would not mined taking a bit of time to understand what someone was trying to say. If non-English speakers have a handbook like the author’s mother in “Mute in and English-Only World,” and if English speakers lend a little help, we can all have a general form of communication.
