It might be a nightmare for those new Chinese cadets to join a mixed crew ship for the first time. Some times even those experienced mariners might suffer from that totally different environment.
As a Chinese seaman , language barrier is the major problem for us to melt into the huge family , as a Chinese , we lack the good environment to practice English , especially spoken English , which is the most direct and effective way to communicate with each other. Some Chinese may have good reading English and speaking skills. But poor in expressing his ideas orally. How to upgrade our spoken English so that our Chinese seafarers could go further in the world maritime transportation stage?
First of all , we should have the basic confidence of speaking good English , as far as I know, almost all the other country’s seafarers working on ships don’t speak English as their mother language. The Pilipino, Indonesian, Indian, Korean, Japanese, and even those eastern European seafarer. They also learned English as second language, if they can speak fluent English, why we can not? We are no less smarter!!! So just speak out. Don’t care about making mistakes at first, no body is perfect, you should know that you actually require not much vocabulary to communicate with your foreign colleagues. Even a few hundreds words plus some professional vocabulary in our field might be enough for normal daily life. a few hundred English words are really not a big deal , even a primary school student might scorn over them .however ,if you intend to be an excellent officer , you might need still a long way to polish your English skill, Improving your spoken English have so many ways , you can listen to English news ,songs, watch English movies, but don’t forget about our final goal : speak it out . the short cut for improving English is speaking as much as possible , Talking to some one who don’t have the faintest idea about our mandarin absolutely drives your brain works faster, try whatever way to make you understood and understand your partner. If you don’t know something’s English name, you can still describe it in other words in a periphrastic way. Chat with your colleagues in your spare time on those topics both are interested, DON’T forget to look up in the dictionary for those word which you got stuck during your conversation. Vocabulary learned in this way will be the deepest. Always remember practice makes perfect. You will surely make fast progress through your long term effect,. As for my own experience it might take about three to four months for a normal cadet to pass the language barrier.. When you first join ship, you might be astonished to found the way your colleagues speaking English. It is totally different from what you learned in the college. You might think they were speaking another foreign language. So why? As I mentioned before, they are also speaking their mother language, they also speak English with a strong accent, .what is more, what we learned in the college is standard British English, while actually American English is more widely used. But that is not your fault, you just need sometime to get used to it , don’t be panic but calm down , you will overcome it soon, when you first join ship , do speak as slowly as possible to make yourself understood. And use more polite words and smiles to make you more acceptable, such as sir, good morning, thanks; you are welcome, please, could you? And so on, never use dirty words to show your anger and English skills, which will be an offence to your colleagues. .Keeping low profile and being friendly is always the best policy.
As soon as you passed the language barrier. You should pay attention to the culture and religion difference. Most of foreign seafarers have their religion, which is holy and bears no offence so never give bad comments on their religion; just respect them in their way, if you offend them unconsciously, do apologize sincerely in time. Some Muslims never eat pork. Some are reluctant to eat dogs culturally. As for a Chinese chief cook joining ships, it might be a good idea to ask the previous cook about the eating habits of the ships crew clearly so that he won’t offend any colleagues. Privacy is much better protected in mixed crew ships. So due attention should be paid to your daily activity, don’t go to others’ carbine without invitation even your subordinate, if really necessary, knock the door before you go inside.
As for working on ships. The essence is to get the job done, some times pure language is in such a poor position that body language might be a good help. For example, it is almost useless to talk to some one in the noisy engine space. A single gesture will be a good practice, saving a lot of time and power; however these privities could only be built on long time partnership. Misunderstanding might mean disaster some times. So make sure you fully understand the instruction before you act, always remember: more haste, less speed. It is better to waste some time than get the wrong thing done, the communication between you and your subordinate is as important as that between you and your senior. You get the instruction from your senior and then you tell your subordinate. During this time, you should discuss the job with your subordinator, whether your communication is successful will have huge effect on the following job, As the rating normally have very limited language skill , he might have difficulties to understand the job , especially those complicated jobs. So you should be patient and speak slowly, combining spot explanation, safety and precautions always need to be stressed.
Ship is a small society; work is only part of your daily life. As mixed crews have their own culture background, so it might not be easy for them to get together for some games or activities. So how to pass your spare time might become a headache problem, so form some hobby you can enjoy alone, such as reading, painting, video games. In a word , working on a mixed crew ship you should know how to adjust yourself and enjoy yourself , otherwise you will feel more boring than on a Chinese crew ship , don’t forget to download as may books and games as possible in your computer ,
Working on mixed crew is not as hard as you imagined, once you step in, you will get used to it gradually, just remember: respect each other, effectively communicate, and work diligently. Then you will survive in that new environment. Actually not only survive but also flourish successfully.
Mixed crew ships are not hell for you but heaven for you to grow up healthily, so don’t hesitate for it, strive and step up for it, you will surely make it. Passing through the shallow water, you will be the seagull flying over the wide ocean, a really international mariner traveling all over the world.
