Two Friends Without a Common Language

In a talk about our need for an international language, given at the Esperanto Society in Edinburgh, Scotland, on January 7, 1913, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá cited the following funny incident to demonstrate how language barriers could cause misunderstandings:

I recall an incident which occurred in Baghdad. There were two friends who knew not each other's language. One fell ill, the other visited him, but not being able to express his sympathy in words resorted to gesture, as if to say, "How do you feel?” - with another sign the sick replied, "I shall soon be dead;” and his visitor, believing the gesture to indicate that he was getting better, said, "God be praised!”

(Star of the West, vol. 4, no. 2, April 9, 1913)

Source: Star of the West, vol. 4, no. 2 (April 9, 1913); also in Vignettes from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (Annamarie Honnold), no. 71; as posted on the Baha'i Stories Blog (https://bahaistories.blogspot.com/2017/01/need-for-international-language.html).

Various. *Baha'i Stories Blog*. https://bahaistories.blogspot.com/2017/01/need-for-international-language.html