Today I’m in Florianopolis, Santa Catarina Brazil. I have been living is São Paulo for 6 months practicing my Portuguese and in the southern part of the Brazil is close to the border of Uruguay and Argentina where Spanish is mixed into Brazilian culture. It reminded me of the southern part of the United States a lot of border towns speak Spanish and that’s where cultures collide.

Another observation is that humans adapt their world to their environment generally so if you live in a coastal city you deal with the ocean which provide such activities as fishing, tourism, import and export. That made me think about where I’m from and what kind of environment I was raised in. For me the majority of my lifetime I’ve lived in the border city of El Paso Texas where two cultures collide. That made me realize why it was such natural work for me to become an interpreter. Border cities help bring cultures together and language facilitates the avenue for trade.

Another observation about my travel in Brazil is that human’s can communicate almost anywhere with their body and hand movements, it’s incredible! But languages is also human and to understand a culture in deeper sense or just to understand a menu you need to have basic knowledge of the local language. Some of the food I order in restaurants are surprises because of the language of the menu. Most of the food surprises end up being good but it’s just an example of how critical and simple language use plays in our world.

What is a simple action I can do today to help me achieve my goals? That post from Jim Kwik motivated me to write this post today. I’m writing this post to help me get me closer in to completing a book and class on What we all learn about communication from interpreters. Especially if you are doing business over the phone.