Here on the Golden Princess, we’re in the middle of a show install for a new production show. Head office sent out a lighting tech a month in advance, to get the plot rehung and get all the additions and changes squared away. A couple weeks ago another lighting tech got on, to do some reprogramming and some video set-up. That makes three lighting techs on board, and we’re from three different nationalities. We’re Canadian, English and American. And we speak three different languages.
We’re all experienced lighting technicians, but every day we work together, we find some differences in how we do things. Things are done differently in different theaters on the same block, so it’s no surprise that things are done different across international borders. The biggest difference is language.
There are the inevitable pronunciation differences from the three countries, which we all acknowledge, and constantly make fun of each other for. Then there are the turns of phrase and the idioms unique to each country. These are fun to adopt. Then there are the completely indecipherable differences. They make work difficult.
A good example is when the British lighting tech found out (as if it were a big secret) that the correct way to say the word mauve is with the same vowel sound as in caught. He pronounces it mOv, like stove. Wrong.
That was a high point of contention, until we got to soldering. Then he had bigger battles to fight.
It’s been a cross-cultural learning experience. And not just in the theater.
Right! If you are from England....:-)
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