That's me in the middle.
3Some people have asked how many languages does it take for Franck Goddio's team to function? Lets start with the basics of what languages are spoken on board.
French. At the core, it is a French Team. Dinnertime banter around the Table, Reports, and Briefings all happen in French first. Aspiring divers better study-up.
English. Almost every one has some capacity to communicate in English. (I'm pretty good at it!)
Arabic. Right now we are working in Egypt. Our excavation partners from the Supreme Council of Egyptian Antiquities do speak English and or French, but the fishermen that operate our many small felucca offer an opportunity to learn and use some basic functional sailor Arabic ( like " Throw the anchor in the water here" and "pass me a sphinx detector, please")
Spanish. Many team members speak Spanish, and this is critical when we work off the Cuban coast, and its the mother tongue of a couple of team members.
German. 3 team members,( 2 German, and 1 Swiss) can tell stories about the rest of us in complete secrecy.
Russian. The sole Russian speaks English and French fluently and can read and write in ancient Greek.
Tagalog. Frequent work in the Philippines has taught many of us a few greetings, but one of our team speaks it like a native, because she is one!
But there is so much more to communication than just the language, including actually wanting to listen and understand what the other person wants to tell you.
The last language I want to mention is Diver Sign Language, which can be very tricky. My recommedations include; If you want to tell somebody something, make sure that they aren't busy ( or distracted by the water dredge sucking the glove off their hand) Make sure they can see your hand signals ( that there is sufficient visibility and your hands are in front of their face mask, not off in the periphery) and keep it short, ( like " I go up say Abdou stop pump now")
Let me know if you want to hear more about the languages spoken during an Underwater Archaeological Mission on Sunken Egyptian Cities.
French. At the core, it is a French Team. Dinnertime banter around the Table, Reports, and Briefings all happen in French first. Aspiring divers better study-up.
English. Almost every one has some capacity to communicate in English. (I'm pretty good at it!)
Arabic. Right now we are working in Egypt. Our excavation partners from the Supreme Council of Egyptian Antiquities do speak English and or French, but the fishermen that operate our many small felucca offer an opportunity to learn and use some basic functional sailor Arabic ( like " Throw the anchor in the water here" and "pass me a sphinx detector, please")
Spanish. Many team members speak Spanish, and this is critical when we work off the Cuban coast, and its the mother tongue of a couple of team members.
German. 3 team members,( 2 German, and 1 Swiss) can tell stories about the rest of us in complete secrecy.
Russian. The sole Russian speaks English and French fluently and can read and write in ancient Greek.
Tagalog. Frequent work in the Philippines has taught many of us a few greetings, but one of our team speaks it like a native, because she is one!
But there is so much more to communication than just the language, including actually wanting to listen and understand what the other person wants to tell you.
The last language I want to mention is Diver Sign Language, which can be very tricky. My recommedations include; If you want to tell somebody something, make sure that they aren't busy ( or distracted by the water dredge sucking the glove off their hand) Make sure they can see your hand signals ( that there is sufficient visibility and your hands are in front of their face mask, not off in the periphery) and keep it short, ( like " I go up say Abdou stop pump now")
Let me know if you want to hear more about the languages spoken during an Underwater Archaeological Mission on Sunken Egyptian Cities.
RSS Feed
