When I was planning my visit to Europe, I mistakenly anticipated the fact that I’d understand very little of the language. I’ve been taking French lessons for years, so hoped that I’d comprehend at least a little of the language in Paris. I’m also travelling with my friend Lilian who is fluent in German so I had jokingly told friends I was taking my own personal translator to Austria.
When it came to speaking to delegates at the IFAJ conference though, or when travelling in Slovakia and Slovenia, I was sure that language would be a big issue.
I couldn’t have been more wrong. Everyone, almost without exception, speaks English.
When ordering from shops, restaurants and cafes in Paris, I did my best to put my French lessons to work, ordering with my poor accent whenever possible. Every single time, though, the waiter put me to shame by replying in English. It was almost as if they couldn’t be bothered dealing with my poor attempts to butcher their language. They’d rather answer in mine thus putting me – and them – out of our own personal misery.
In Austria, it was much the same. Despite Lilian’s obvious fluency in German, many wait staff promptly responded in English – each one of them as knowledgeable about the language as those of us who grew up with it.
And then on to Slovakia. There, Lilian and I began at a common level – the language was as foreign to both of us as Greek or Latin. But again, English prevailed. It started with the taxi driver at the airport, then the concierge at the hotel and finally the wait staff at the restaurant we dined at for lunch on our first day in Slovakia. What has especially amazed me, though, are the delegates to the tour I’m participating in. Whether they’re German, Finnish, Swedish, Dutch or Japanese, each speaks English with grace and confidence even using many of the technical terms that agriculture can be famous for.
We were discussing this topic at dinner last night. Porji from Finland told us that Canadians are lucky only having to learn English and French. In her homeland, she explained, they have to learn three or four languages including English, German and occasionally Dutch.
The Dutch delegates tell us that they began taking mandatory English lessons at the age of 10. In Slovakia, German and Russian used to be the mandatory languages and the older generations still speak these. Since the end of Communism, though, English has become the preferred option so the younger generation are easily able to answer journalists’ questions of their farmer parents.
It really weakens our often heard Canadian complaints about having to study the French language for at least a few mandatory years.
But that’s not the only universal language here. Tonight at dinner, Jacques from Belgium challenged the delegates to a competition of song. Each country’s delegates had to perform a song from their own country. We four Canadians began the serenade with a patriotic rendition of “Oh Canada” – the only song we could think of on short notice. We even offered to sing back up to the two tone deaf and embarrassed two American guys on “Surfing USA” or “Born in the USA”. Not surprising, they declined our offers, choosing instead to sing a version of “Home on the Range” – a precursor to the IFAJ conference in Texas in 2009.
But it was the six Japanese delegates who brought down the house. They began their version of “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands” 
(Shown here in photo). And suddenly, in more than a dozen languages, delegates were singing and clapping along. It was truly a moment to be remembered.
And so, apparently there are two languages at the IFAJ congress. English is the first one but when in doubt, music will always work too! We understand that there are lots of both in the days to come.
Kelly Daynard is Program Manager for the Ontario Farm Animal Council. Her trip to the 2008 IFAJ conference is being sponsored by Monsanto and the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation.
