Terry Marshall:
Helping Individuals Learn Language, Understand Cultures

Hi, I'm Terry Marshall. My wife Ann and I spent seven years with the U.S. Peace Corps, two as Volunteers in the Philippines and three as Country Directors in the Solomon Islands, Kiribati (Gilbert Islands), and Tuvalu (Ellice Islands). I also worked two years in the Washington, DC headquarters.

The Philippines Opens Our Eyes to Language Learning

Ann and I studied Tagalog feverishly in Peace Corps training prior to departure for the Philippines. When we arrived, I gave a short speech – in Tagalog – at the welcoming ceremony in Tacloban City. After my speech, people clapped, complimented me on my ability…then told me politely that in Tacloban, they spoke Waray-Waray, not Tagalog.

After 10 weeks of exhausting study, bam, we started all over again - this time with no trained language teacher, written materials, or any how-to knowledge.

We quickly realized we had to show native speakers how to teach us their language if we were to communicate with local folks. We also learned we had to master not only language, but a vast, complicated, unwritten set of cultural values if we were to get along without offending people.

And guess what? The rewards came. Our new friends exclaimed over our progress. We began to put the culture-puzzle pieces together. And we came to understand ourselves and our own heritage at a much deeper level.

The Solomons Presents New Challenges

As Peace Corps Country Directors in the Solomons, once again we had to guide our own language learning – no trained teachers or written materials existed in the local language. More importantly, as Ann mentions, we had to develop a program to teach our Volunteers how to learn not one but two languages: Pijin and the language spoken in their village.

After I returned to the U.S., I expanded on the principles and wrote The Whole World Guide to Language Learning. Our daughter Leslie, was the first "guinea pig" in testing the expanded principles: she carried the final manuscript with her as an exchange student to Sweden. And now she has agreed to be the webmastress for this site.

New Horizons: Tackling Language Learning at Home

Today, we’re caught up (again!) in what seems a life-long quest to improve our Spanish. This time, we are using the same techniques we share on this website to explore how we can tap the rich Spanish- language environment around us.

Our aim is to take language beyond the classroom and into the community; call it “Spanish for the neighborhood.” We are also working on ways to maximize language and cultural learning in travels to other countries, whether for business, education, or vacation.

Besides these interests, I write full time about the personal growth (and heartache) that can occur through cross-cultural interaction. Beginning in 2008, you will find some of my short stories and essays on this site. Watch for Terry Marshall fiction and essays.

Oh, and about that ice-cold Coke...

on the uninhabited island? Two hours after I made my goofy joke, a trio of young men (who had slipped away unnoticed by me) rowed back into sight with Cokes for all. Warm, of course.

The lesson learned in the Terry Marshall School of (Cultural) Hard Knocks? Think carefully about jokes that might be funny in your own culture. Humor doesn't always translate directly - what is clever in one culture may be troublesome or downright offensive in another.


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