Monolingualism and Taxes
Taxes Update
Congratulations to all you dutiful Americans who turned your taxes in on time. As it turns out, the Gestapo doesn’t show up at 12:01 a.m. to haul you away if you don’t pay up. But the guilt is just as bad. Being late on taxes for a self-imposed OCD overachiever is like locking a claustrophobic person in a shoebox. I'm taking a minor comfort in the rumor that if you have a rebate coming, there's no penalty for being late. I don't know anything about it, but this news is slight relief, though all so mystical and scary to me. Anyways, let's just hope I am due a rebate when it's all said and done. For that matter, let’s just hope I can ever contact my CPA and get my records back so I don’t go to jail when it’s all said and done.
Confessions of a Hopeless Monolingual
Can monolingual be used as a noun? Is it even a word? Well, it is now.
This week at our youth prayer meeting, a Latino man arrived who couldn’t speak English. He tried to communicate with one of our young men but couldn’t. I was asked to help and was once again reminded of how horribly I need to pick up Spanish. (My intermediate French skills weren’t doing the job.) One of our girls knew enough Spanish to pick up the words “sick”, “pray”, and “Guatemala.” Fortunately prayer picks up where our human communication abilities stop. I’m trusting that God is going to help this man and meet his need. But I’m still left feeling a little helpless and frustrated that all we could do was nod stupidly and make over-exaggerated charade motions.
Congratulations to all you dutiful Americans who turned your taxes in on time. As it turns out, the Gestapo doesn’t show up at 12:01 a.m. to haul you away if you don’t pay up. But the guilt is just as bad. Being late on taxes for a self-imposed OCD overachiever is like locking a claustrophobic person in a shoebox. I'm taking a minor comfort in the rumor that if you have a rebate coming, there's no penalty for being late. I don't know anything about it, but this news is slight relief, though all so mystical and scary to me. Anyways, let's just hope I am due a rebate when it's all said and done. For that matter, let’s just hope I can ever contact my CPA and get my records back so I don’t go to jail when it’s all said and done.
Confessions of a Hopeless Monolingual
Can monolingual be used as a noun? Is it even a word? Well, it is now.
This week at our youth prayer meeting, a Latino man arrived who couldn’t speak English. He tried to communicate with one of our young men but couldn’t. I was asked to help and was once again reminded of how horribly I need to pick up Spanish. (My intermediate French skills weren’t doing the job.) One of our girls knew enough Spanish to pick up the words “sick”, “pray”, and “Guatemala.” Fortunately prayer picks up where our human communication abilities stop. I’m trusting that God is going to help this man and meet his need. But I’m still left feeling a little helpless and frustrated that all we could do was nod stupidly and make over-exaggerated charade motions.
posted by Lee Ann @ 6:00 AM
3 Comments:
At 12:47 PM,
Anonymous said…
I also feel the same way when trying to communicate with a deaf person - how selfish of me not to learn their language...
At 6:12 AM,
Kim said…
A tax professional was on Good Morning America Monday morning. She stated that you have 3 years to file your taxes if you are getting a rebate. If you are filing an extention, you must still send in what you think you owe to the government by April 15. The money is due; the paperwork isn't.
So according to GMA, you're safe!
At 7:42 AM,
Anonymous said…
Learning a new language is never easy. I lived in Mexico as a child, and I barely passed Spanish in high school. Yes moments like these are reminders that we should learn something new, but these are the moments like you said:
"Fortunately prayer picks up where our human communication abilities stop..."
Many people went overseas to become missionaries in the early 1900's believing God would allow them to speak to local populations, allowing them to reach the world. Many found out that they needed to learn the culture and languages of these people the hard way. One thing that may be ofuse if your low on time, is to go to your local cumminity college and take a class, some even offer conversational non-credit courses. As a 911 dispatcher that is where I go to get my basic language skills brushed up.
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