How would you feel when the language barrier knocks on your door?
Have you ever played a board game or charade? Probably, you did, and you had fun, right? So, if I asked you whether you have ever played a game based on real-life, what would you answer? Maybe, you will think about what do you mean based on real-life for a while.
Anyway, let me introduce a game called “Can you survive?”. It is based on the experience of the ups and downs of the language barrier that refugees deal with, from unexpected moments to daily activities. The aim of the game is that the player with the highest positive mood points, which means the happiest one on the final point of play wins! Let’s experience the ups and downs in this journey, but first, we have to select our character and read the instructions!
This board game gives you four options to select as your character listed above.
Kareem is 22 years old who has arrived in the country from Afghanistan alone. After his parents died, he dreamt of living a better life. He is speaking only Urdu. He is trying to learn English, but he couldn’t manage it adequately yet.
Arash is 33 years old. He has arrived in the country from Syria with his wife and a child. His parents died because of the civil war. He desired a better life standard for his family and better education for his daughter (5). He is speaking only Arabic.
Carmen is 24 years old and has arrived in the country from Venezuela to the country from her hometown, leaving her parents behind. She speaks only Spanish; however, she is young and excited about having a new life in another country.
Samia is 32 years old. She has arrived in the country from Syria with her two children (5–9). After her husband died in the war, Samia came to the country with aspirations and hopes for a better life standard. She is speaking only Arabic, and she thinks that she won’t learn a new language because of her age.
Before you select your character, I have to say something that you should know. These representative four characters are only four of the 79.5 million forcibly displaced people worldwide at the end of 2019. At least 79.5 million people around the world have been forced to flee their homes. Among them are nearly 26 million refugees, around half of whom are under the age of 18 (UNHCR). Did you know that?
Speaking of which I just wanted to say! Sorry, I don’t want to bother you with this fact. Never mind, games are for fun, right? So, let’s move to the selection!
Did you select your character? I am going to choose Samia as my representative character in this game. If you are ready to go, let’s skim through the instructions and rules once before we start to play! Instructions are listed above.
- This game is allowed to play with not more than four participants.
- Each player starts the game with +100 mood points.
- Each player takes turns rolling the dice. When it’s your turn, you roll dice. After the dice stop, take steps forward as much as the number on the dice.
- Take the challenge after you move on the board.
- There are some challenges on the board providing you positive and negative mood points. The game takes you some up and down experiences daily.
- The daily challenges are based on your performance and acting ability. You have to express the situation on the card within 2 minutes. Acting person and the person who predicts earn +50 mood points if someone predicts correctly.
- If you rolled and get points based on the challenge, you can write and bank your points on the mood point chart and pass the dice to the next player.
- The final round means the ending start point, and any player completes the round with the highest positive score, which means the happiest person.
Okay, the instructions look reasonable, and time to have fun! The story will begin with how your character has just arrived in the country. Now, I am rolling the dice for the move. The dice is rolling, rolling, rolling! And, I guess it didn’t love me, why it is only “one”! 🧐
The game says, “Welcome to the country, and I hope you will feel better here. Take two steps forward! ” It is not bad, actually an excellent start! Time to move!
What is a daily challenge? It says, “Pick a yellow card. You have to explain the situation without telling! ” Where is the yellow card? Here it is. The card says that “How would you describe the bug invasion in your kitchen when you went to the store?”. What? How am I supposed to explain this without speaking and using only my body? I have two minutes to tell the other players. I hope they can understand that!
Think 15 seconds; how would you describe this situation by obeying the game rules. 15, 14, 13, 12 …. 3,2,1! It is hard to explain this specific situation when you cannot talk or not know the language, right? However, it would be straightforward to explain it and communicate if you and the person in front of you speak the same language. Think now, how would you feel if you were in this situation? Samia also wants to say something about it.
“ … Not knowing the language also meant that I’ve found difficulties to complete the essential parts of life, such as shopping, dealing with letters, appointments and communicating with doctors and many more things. I found it really hard as I couldn’t ask, and I wasn’t able to understand at all says… ” -Samia
The dice is rolling, rolling, rolling! And, it is five! Now, the game says, “You found a document in your mailbox, and you weren’t able to understand that. Take two steps back!” Okay, another bad thing happened! What a fantastic game! 🙄 But, wait!
The game says something kind “ You are ambitious to learn the language to communicate with others. You are trying to learn new words.” and I can get +20 points now. Thanks, game! I would say the life also has ups and downs, and experience them in our daily life.
Unfortunately, I am not able to play all board game here, of course. I want to introduce other challenges and lovely moments that might face in the game. Yet, if you are willing to discover all other challenges and play the game with your friends, feel free to contact me.
- You are not comfortable communicating with others, which makes you feel lonely and sad (-10 mood point). Samia also wants to say something about this situation.
“ Here because of the local language unknowledge, I wasn’t able to communicate and make new friends even I wasn’t able to speak with my neighbors. ” -Samia
- Due to the lack of tailored language classes, you couldn’t improve yourself. Take five steps back!
- Good News! Your residence permit has been accepted!
- You face difficulties in understanding procedures and instructions at the health center. Take two steps back!
- You are trying to figure out what ingredients you can use for your traditional food. (-10 mood point)
- Today, you feel fabulous! You thanked that you have a better life standard now. (+20 mood point)
It is a game. It will be taking up to two hours, and having fun with your friends. Nevertheless, Samia, Kareem, Arash, Carmen, and other refugees continue to struggle with this language barrier in their daily life. Having this barrier is not fun for them. Moreover, this barrier affects their social welfare, preventing engaging with society, having difficulties with communication in every place they go, and being open to being misunderstood. It is not a game for them, and this is the real-life they experience! Do you think you can survive?
