The co-master, the head master's wife, barely speaks enough English to survive. She must only know about 80 English words; but she amazingly stretches these words over all her areas of English conversations, limited to teaching class and speaking to me. She avoids ALL other English conversational contact when at all possible.
My interactions with her therefor consist of 2-4 word exchanges that are mutually understood methods of communication tools that took us quite a bit of time to set in place. "Check it out", she will say whether she wants me to check a students contract, to see if the air conditioning is on, or to see if the call forwarding has been done.
"Saa-booh-ree-naah", she calls (Koreans annunciate EVERY syllable, even the ones that aren't there).
"Yes Ma'am", I answer.
"Air conditioning" (this means she wants to know if the air conditioning is on).
"Mul- lah- yoh" ( which means I don't know).
"Saa-booh-ree-naah, Susy due date" (this means she wants to know when Susy is due to renew her contract),
"Next Week", I answer, even though I'm sure she has this already written down in Korean letters on her calendar in at least 3 places.
"Call forwarding, check it out" (this means she wants me to make sure the studio phone has been forwarded to the head master's cell phone for closing hours).
"Yes Ma'am" I answer again, even though she should know by know that I NEVER forget to set the call forwarding.
For troubling issues that involve the best customer service and the utmost of tact, she will thankfully let me handle on my own. She must know that an angry American only gets angrier when they don't understand what a person is saying to them.
"You", she will simply say, often followed by "How's the feeling?" (this means wants me to completely handle the situation, but she also wants to know what I am going to do to handle it). Fortunately, she usually accepts my one favorite Korean phrase:
"Mul- Lah- Yo" (which means I don't know).
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