Story Lab: Languages

Sources: Allie Vandersanden

I am not good at English, but when my family and I moved to the United States five years ago, I taught my mom and my dad one simple sentence. That was "I'm sorry! I don't know English." That sentences my parents used almost everyday whenever there was someone tried to ask or tell them somethings.
Back to the time when my parents just got their driver licenses, the most important problem was how they could fuel up the gas tank. It was such an easy task that people do regularly, but it was not that easy for my parents . They couldn't paid the gas using debit/ credit card at the pump since they didn't even understand the words on the screen. So they chose the "old method", paying the attendant inside the station. My parents couldn't remember the long sentences. To make it simple, there was the structure, "Pump number. Dollar amount. Please!" That actually works very well for both. "Pum number three. Thirty five dollars. Please!"
One day, my dad got home with his excited face. He told that  he overpaid for the gas and he came to the attendant, saying, "I'm overpaid. Pump three." He felt so happy because they could understand what he said.
Language barrier also creates so many awkward moments for me too. When i studied at Oklahoma City Community College, my professor in a Reading course told us a story, then all of my friend laughed so hard, except my sister and I. It turned out that it was a joke story. Inevitable awkward moments happens regularly since i am not influent in one's native language, in my case, English.
The video Does Grammar Matter?, Andreea S. Calude raises a question that are worthy to know, that is "Why it is matter if people can understand what's being said?" The video also explains the concept of prescriptivism and descriptivism and how speaking and writing have their own different rules.
The point here is if every people use the standardizes rule, it is easy to connect people all around the world together without interruption. It is also important in many formal situation, too.