Lost in Translation

[ValentineIllusion]

A small smile came to Athene's face, as she sat down and took a cookie. The smile was hard to manage, just because she was tired and still a bit overwhelmed by everything, but she needed to adapt to the culture and show him she was doing alright. This wasn't going to go anywhere productive if she was being whiny and miserable the whole time.


"Th-Thanks," she said, not sure if she was supposed to pour it herself or let him pour it. She decided to simply give him a nod in agreement and wait for him to do something with it, "I slept alright, yeah. So...what's up with all the books?"

 

[lafeae]

"Some basic grammar, the alphabet, phonetics," Van mentioned, not really sure how to describe it since she needed everything. How to read and write, how to speak and understand. It sounded like despite knowing that this was going to happen, she hadn't prepared herself. Maybe she had just decided that it wasn't going to happen. Or more, that everyone knew English and there was no need to care about her eventual husband's country or culture. Seemed like such an American mentality.


"A few things to start before dinner. It'll be just you, me, and house staff for about two or three days. Then mother will be back from her holiday.By then I hope that you can carry the most basic of conversation." Said Van, and he reached over for the teapot, pouring it into her cup and moving the sugar over. He wasn't sure how she took it, but he wasn't going to force her into their culture completely. It would be gently, at first. "I figured for dinner we could start with something you've probably heard of: pad thai."

 

[ValentineIllusion]

Athene nodded, picking up her tea cup and taking a small sip. Of course anyone would be worried about meeting their future husband's mother, but for some reason, she had a feeling she was going to be a lot more strict. Possibly even more strict than her own. That was pretty scary.


"S-Sorry about...not knowing..." Athene apologized again, setting her cup down, "Really, I'm really, really sorry. I just...don't want this to make us miserable and we end up hating each other."

 

[lafeae]

"We won't end up being miserable as long as this gets learned soon," said Van. It seemed like such a simple idea to him, really. Getting this done. But there was a lot more too it, and he remembered reading, somewhere, that adults brains weren't as elastic as children's, and picking up a new language was bound to be difficult. Especially one like Thai. "We can't help what wasn't done."


Opening up her book, mirroring it in his, he showed her the basic greeting on the first page. "Sawatdee kaa," said Van. "It's 'hello'. But it's aimed at the female. "Sawatdee krab would be for a male. A lot of languages use a gender difference in how they speak. Like in Spanish, items themselves have a gender." He explained. "You can use 'sawatdee' for a number of things. 'Hello' 'Good afternoon' 'good evening'. There are more phrases for that, but sometimes it's easy just to go with what everyone uses. So try it."


Van had heard her say it before, but he wanted to make sure she understood. He hated being so straightforward about things, but it let him simmer down instead of simply getting angry.

 

[ValentineIllusion]

"Sawatdee Kaa," Athene repeated, trying her best to say it right as she did. The fact that she didn't have the same accent and didn't quite know how to pull it off made it sound a little off, but she was trying. At least he was helping her out instead of turning her away and insisting the whole thing be called off. God knows what her mother would do.


"So...do I always say it because I'm a girl, or do I switch between the two depending on if it's a boy or a girl?" she asked, flipping through a few of the pages to see was as ahead of her, but then flipping back to the original page, "Is there any really important, like, exceptions to any rule I should know?"

 

[lafeae]

"It's depending on who you're speaking to. So if you said it to me, you would be saying 'krab' instead of 'kaa'." Van answered first. He reached out his own teacup, sipping somewhat loudly, before setting it back down. Mulling over her question momentarily, wondering if there was a situation where it was unneeded, he shook his head. "Not that I'm aware of. Sawatdee is the formal use, and you can just say 'waddee, it's mostly just a shortening that people use when they're more familiar with one another."


For some reason, Van thought this would be easy on her. Coming from him, it made plenty of sense how these things worked, but the intricacies of it, he knew, were the pitfalls. The formal versus informal. The normal, versus the textbook things. "Sometimes all it comes down to is it depends on who you're speaking to. If you're familiar with them, if you're aware of status with them. Obviously you wouldn't go to the King and say 'waddee. It'd be about if I went to your president go 'Sup'."


It was distasteful in Van's mouth. He'd learned English long enough ago, and had his own troubles with formality and informality. They didn't expect Athene to be fluent. Not without having suddenly experienced the language in it's context. "A lot of people simply say 'how are you doing' or 'how are you' as a greeting here, too. Sabaidee rue kaa?" he asked, poising his hand at her. "Again, with the 'kaa' at the end since I am speaking to a female."

 

[ValentineIllusion]

"So, I would say Sabaidee rue krab?" she asked, practicing her pronunciation as she did. She didn't think she sounded too bad- but she was sure he was holding back some sort of comment. At least she was trying. Just not quite yet succeeding.


"And how do I reply?" was her next question, flipping through the pages and trying to find the answer. Though, she wanted his help pronouncing it before she even tried and failed miserably.

 

[lafeae]

If there was anything he could tell, just like with anyone who was learning a new language, there was always the barrier of hearing it the way they said it, and the way they tried to say it as though the words were from their own. Like she was trying to find the English equivalent. "Sabaidee kaa, at least for 'I'm fine'. Which is just mostly a general response since, like many Westerners, people don't tend to divulge if they're bad. They're genuinely just polite and moving on. Same thing applies for the male and the female. But, if you're not fine 'Mai koi sabai kaa."


Looking back, he saw as a woman walked out with a small tray, setting one plate in front of Van and then other in front of Athene, and she bowed before she walked out. It was mainly a plate of yellow noodles, little bits of chicken, and fried vegetables scattered about it. Van pushed the book aside. Food came first, at least for him.

 

[ValentineIllusion]

Athene looked up at the woman serving them their food, and before she thought about eating, she came up with a little idea. More of just a random thought, but she thought it'd be meaningful. Flipping through the pages, she found what she was looking for before looking back up, "Kob kun kaa," she said, a bit slowly as she tried to say it right, but Hell, she still said it. Little victories. Either way, there was no harm in trying to thank someone, was there?


Taking a deep breath, she set the book aside as she poked at the food, eating it in little bites at first. She was always wary about eating at other people's houses, and she was really trying to avoid the vegetables. She figured there wasn't much point in trying to act absolutely perfect around him- if they were going to get married, whether they liked it or not, she figured he'd find out eventually, anyways.

 

[lafeae]

Though he'd been raised to have table manners, Van never did. He tendered to slurp down the noodles in large gobs, filling his mouth. The woman had briefly nodded to Athene, giving her a little smile for the try, and coming back out with two small bowls of rice to set to the side. Van quickly took it, and after a few moments looked up to his soon-to-be wife and then to the page that she had turned to. Well, she was taking a bit of initiative, albeit on the wrong person.


"The help is the help," he said, finally swallowing. There was no way he could have spoke with what he had put in his mouth. "They get paid for their work, there's no need to thank them. But nice enough. With a little work you'll have it down."

 

[ValentineIllusion]

"Hey, I've always thanked them. If they're helping, paid or not, they're still helping and I thank them for that," she said, continuing on with her small bites. It was a mix of vegetable phobia and a tense feeling she had that wasn't going away. She hoped she'd be able to relax soon enough.


"So, uh...what's your family like? I haven't heard much about them, other than the fact they thought I should marry you..." she said, looking down at her meal and avoiding eye contact again, "Should I, uh...be worried about meeting them later?"

 

[lafeae]

"You won't meet too many of them," said Van. Though they had a large family, the nuclear part of it was fairly insular. To an extent, at least. "They're alright for people. They're about as good as any in-laws might be. Mother is controlling and bitter, father is quiet and distant. He's often not even home, just elsewhere on business." Van explained. It had probably been a good three or four weeks since he'd seen his father, not that it was much of a deal to him. The only one he really wished would never come back was his mother...but she always managed to drag to the doorstep.


"I have a younger brother and sister, both of whom decided that New York was better than here. He's a doctor, she's a fashion designer." Van said simply. He didn't care about them much more than that. "We don't speak about the brother, however. If you want to keep yourself safe. It's more just between you and me. What about your family? What are they like?"


Although he was haughty in feeling like this was his idea, really, he knew about as much about her as she did him. Maybe a few things he could research more than she likely did.

 

[ValentineIllusion]

Athene made sure she was taking mental notes, hoping she'd be able to remember this all later. She didn't want to forget and look even worse than she probably already did. Worse, she didn't want to completely embarrass herself with she actually met them.


"Ah, they're a bunch of assholes. We all just tolerate each other," she said, pausing to take a bite of her noodles as she continued on, "We own this huge nicotine business and I really hate it. My dad does the numbers, my mom tries and fails at acting, and my brother's a momma's boy. He's doing some sort of research at a hospital or something like that. They told me I could either take over the company one day or get married off, so...here I am."


She shrugged, taking a sip of the tea they gave her before looking back towards him, "Are we working anymore on the language tonight? Or...should we...plan stuff?"

 

[lafeae]

Van laughed a little bit. There likely wasn't much for them to bond over other than their shitty situation, which was better than nothing. And their shitty families. That was something he would hold onto until the end, if he had nothing else to cling to for their 'relationship'.


"I think we should uh....maybe plan some of the wedding a little bit, too. Get some of the basics down first. We can practice as we go. The best way to get a good feeling for it is simply to listen to it and understand it," said Van. It was like a child learning language simply by being around it. Even if it wouldn't be the best idea, she would eventually understand something.

 

[ValentineIllusion]

"Alright, then, let's get to it. You can have the rest of my veggies if you want," she offered, having seen how fast he ate everything else. She let him have that as she hurried into her room, grabbing her laptop bag, and coming back out to the table.


"So, I've actually got a bunch of shit pinned on Pinterest, if you wanna look at any of that." she said, opening up her computer and logging on, "Just gonna need the wifi password first..."

 

[lafeae]

Van happily took what she wouldn't eat, poking at it quickly as she ran away from the table. He didn't think he'd ever see her move that fast or see her as excited about something. Then again, it was a wedding. Women always seemed to go crazy over weddings, so at least she would have something happy to focus on for a while.


But when she came back, and asked about wi-fi he gave her a dumbfounded look, as though he didn't know what it was. Though technology was pretty central to his family's operations and he found himself, often, on his phone more than anything else, he made it as genuine as he could when he said: "Wi...fi? I...I hate to break it to you...."and he merely shrugged. "You seem to forgot where you are."

 

[ValentineIllusion]

"...There's no wifi?" she asked, looking at him just as dumbfounded. Running a nicotine company didn't seem quite as bad then.


Sighing, she shut it and pulled out her phone, making sure the data was turned on before she swiped about her apps, "Well...alright. I'll probably have to find some sort of internet cafe at some point, but...we both have to make this work," she said, getting to where she could find her wedding board, "So, I was thinking of something indoors, something with some sort of giant ass fountain or something, and some sort of giant ass wedding dress? Haven't bought that yet, and I wanna get it soon..."

 

[lafeae]

The laughter was leaking out the longer that he kept it in, but he almost didn't want the joke to end. If she was so easy to fool now, he wondered what all he could actually get away with.


"Well, my family would prefer this stay fairly traditional. So I don't think you're going to have the dress that you imagine." Van mentioned. It was likely dangerous territory, but he would venture there if he could. "I think you'll like the dresses we have in mind."


He couldn't continue to be evil to her. Pulling up her laptop close to him, he punched in the password and quickly began looking for images on Google. He found the more form-fitting dress. "Something like this." Inwardly, he wondered how long it would take her to notice.

 

[ValentineIllusion]

"Oh, hey, that looks pretty nice," she said, looking over the dress he had pulled up. She wanted a big skirt, something to really catch people's attention, but that looked pretty enough to stand out pretty well, too. She'd have to try it on to have a real opinion, but she wasn't sure who'd want to be dragged along to that.


But what stood out to her was seeing her computer hooked up to wifi after he just said it couldn't be. It did take a couple seconds, but once she realized, it didn't exactly read as a joke at first, "Hey!" she said, pushing him as hard as he could- playfully, but still pretty strong, "Not funny!"

 

[lafeae]

But Van was still laughing, no longer stifling it and not minding her playful push at him. He simply pushed her back. "I couldn't resist." The man held his stomach where he was forcing everything back, swallowing down his laughter so he didn't come off as dickish for her.


When the last of it faded away, it did make him think for a moment. That was how backwater of a place she figured that she was. And that hurt some. Not that he blamed her. Before now, he wondered if Athene knew where Thailand was on a map.


"So you do like the dresses?" Van asked, moving on from the former of the conversation.