Bhavash’s experience echoes mine. I have facilitated Open Space meetings and World Cafes in French, Estonian, Turkish and Irish and I only speak one of those languages passably. Have a translator you can meet before hand, speak slowly and clearly - much more slowly than you think you need too. And then get out of the way.
Chris On Sep 16, 2014, at 12:47 AM, Bhavesh Patel <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Michael, > > I once ran an OST for a Dutch group. > > My opening was in English with translation. My posters were in Dutch. All the > proposed topics were in Dutch. All the discussions were in Dutch. On Day 3 I > re-opened space for action steps, which all were in Dutch, and so was the > closing circle. > > At the end the most skeptical person in the client group, a former navy > captain, thanked me for the most useful meeting he had been to and that the > results were more than they expected. > > I don't speak Dutch and till today don't really know what happened! > > I spent time literally collecting coffee cups, and when it was clear that I > was forgotten by all, I went for a walk in a beautiful forest, it was Autumn, > and then had a local specially brewed Autumnal beer. > > It was a real experience of letting go and letting come, and experiencing how > OST 'happens.' I couldn't do anything more even if I wanted to because I > didn't understand what was happening... and actually I didn't need too! > > > Smiles Bhav... > > On 16 September 2014 04:51, Michael Wood <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Jo, > > Please tell us more about how to facilitate an Open Space when the group is > operating in another language. Is it as 'simple' as having a 'translator'? > Did you find the four principles and one law translated smoothly into Persian? > > Michael Wood > Perth, Western Australia > > Message: 1 > Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 23:22:16 +0200 > From: Thomas Herrmann <[email protected]> > To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, World wide Open > Space Technology email list <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [OSList] Note from Kabul - it works > Message-ID: > <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Wishing U all good luck and great outcome. > Wohoo > Thomas > > Skickat fr?n min iPhone > > > 13 sep 2014 kl. 11:01 skrev Jo Toepfer <[email protected]>: > > > > Dear colleagues, > > > > this is a little note from day 3 of an OST event in Kabul, Afghanistan. 40 > > people from the Afghan National Association for Adult Education (ANAFAE) > > from 6 provinces gathered to work on "Issues and Opportunities for the > > Future of ANAFAE" and I have the privilege to facilitate this event. In > > total we have 8 break-out sessions spread over 3 days and day 4 for action > > planning. People posted 33 issues in the first morning. So far 12 reports > > were handed in. Yesterday during evening news people shared their surprise > > and a lot of excitement about the outcome of the event. As I write this > > there are 3 break-out sessions going on and I observe intense discussions > > and serious engagement in the groups. I guess this proofs again that it > > always works. > > > > Greetings > > Jo > > > > P.S. > > It is very easy for me to be detached from outcome since everything is > > going on in Persian language ;-) > > > > > _______________________________________________ > OSList mailing list > To post send emails to [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org > > _______________________________________________ > OSList mailing list > To post send emails to [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
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