I’m at the dance studio with my daughter who is taking classes. The class is over. She comes out with a quivering voice, “Daddy…”

She turns the corner to where I’m sitting on a couch and she buries her head on my lap and starts to cry.

“I didn’t get… I didn’t get a stamp…! This new teacher didn’t bring a stamp so we didn’t get a stamp!!”

“Oh, you must be so disappointed. Usually they stamp something nice on your hand when you’re done with the class, right?”

She doesn’t reply to this because she’s busy crying. I don’t try to stop her because I know she’s genuinely disappointed. While she’s crying, I’m evaluating whether this is something I should let go or feedback to New Teacher.

It’s only 11:00 am on a sunny Saturday, so I tell her the roster of fun things we’ll still get to do for the rest of the day. Swimming, cake, a play date. She calms down enough to put her winter jacket on and we head home.

What I noticed: I did not approach the teacher, but I know I would have if I knew that they spoke English.

Why it matters: Language barriers do not just prevent people from communicating clearly to each other, they prevent people from initiating conversations in the first place.

My German proficiency is at B1 but that still didn’t feel enough for me to want to provide feedback out of fear of creating a misunderstanding if I mince my words.