After reading Danny Hustle's story on the busker's subforum here in the Café about performing for some Japanese tourists, it got me wondering about how one could effectively prepare for performing for different cultures, specifically language-wise. The goal wouldn't be to attain fluency, but simply to be able to negotiate the process of presenting basic magic tricks.

I was curious what people might think would be important phrases to learn. Frankly, I think we'd need a lot less than one might suspect, since one could replace "Shuffle" or "Cut" or "Wave your hand" with a simple "Like this" and miming the gesture. (Goodness knows that saved my butt when performing for Koreans)

So, if one was going to perform, learning the bare necessities of the language and relying upon body language or miming and gesturing to communicate the rest, what phrases would one need to learn?

Also, how important do you think it would be to nail exact language conventions (such as, in French, choosing between "tu" and "vous" for politeness)? My own experience is that people generally tolerate any mistakes in that regard, since they're usually so impressed (or amused) by the person making any effort at all to speak the local language. But, I'd be curious to know what others thought, since my intercultural experiences are limited to Asian/Western (where they are extremely appreciative of even the smallest effort) and English/French (where I've got moderate fluency already and therefore haven't encountered many such problems).

My own first impressions...

"Magic"
"Please"
"Thank you"
"Like this"
"Take this"
"Give this (to me)"
"Ok?"
"Understand?"

I would suggest looking into whether literal translations of certain phrases would still communicate the proper message. I wouldn't assume that "wave, cut, pick" are going to mean the same if translated literally. I point those out as purely random examples.

I would also look into the proper way to address people depending on their age, gender, marital status etc. One could probably reap huge benefits by showing that you took the time to learn the cultural norms.

I performed on the lobby of a theater that was featuring a Mexican comedian and the crowd was exclusively Spanish speaking. I know enough Spanish to get by so I just turned on the energy and blazed through it. Professor's Nightmare was getting HUGE laughs all night long and for the life of me I could not figure out why. Later, I recapped to a friend of mine who has a minor in Spanish. Apparently when I was telling people to tap the rope with the magic wand I was getting dangerously close to telling them to do something impolite with the rope, repeatedly. Even though the word I was using was technically correct, I was just a few letters off from shouting an obscenity. I actually got very lucky by stumbling onto a double entendre.

I came out of that experience believing that there is great comic potential in a "The Magician and The Interpreter" act, kind of a Smothers Brothers scenario with the interpreter playing the straight man and having to constantly remove the magicians foot from his mouth.

Hilarity ensues!

I have two sets of suggestions.

(1) For those who know they will be performing consistantly for one specific culture group:

Get a language partner and try everything out, and perform with the same person assisting as a translator. Unless you have a truly silent act, if you are very much less than fluent, you probably need the interpreter for formal shows. You will quickly learn the most necessary words and phrases--for example,the names of all the playing cards and simple instructions like "Tell me when to stop," or "Open your hand!" You should throw in some phrases to show you are trying to learn the language of your audience, but you will make people uncomfortable if you try to work beyond your language ability.

The post above this one suggests learning cultural norms, and that advice is excellent. When I first performed in China, I did not know that "negative questions" [for example, "You don't want to change your mind?"] are answered here in the opposite way from English [in other words, the answer "No" would actually mean "No, you are wrong; I DO want to change my mind.]

Another problem in China has been that the cultural concept of magic is much more challenge oriented than in other cultures [If you don't believe me, ask Richard Kaufman], and audience members are more likely to grab props or lie about what card they picked and so on. This aspect is less language related, but also important--as you can imagine!

(2) For those who may find themselves performing--informally or by surprise--for many different international groups from time to time:

Think through your performances in advance and know which proceedures depend a lot on language. Prepare some set effects that do not depend heavily on language. Try to recruit an impromptu interpreter if you see that someone in the group knows your language. Apologize for your poor language ability, and as the post above suggests, use your ignorance to your advantage!


I have a lot to learn about performing for other cultures. Thank you, Andrew Musgrave, for the great question.

It is somewhat different if you perform locally than it is if you perform on "your ground" for tourists.
If you perform locally and use aa translator, avoid that to be slowing down the pace. Build some showmanship where the translator is building up the magic by doubting very much what can be expected like saying "he claims that he will... I don't know but I doubt it..." or personally placing jokes about the performance (rather than the performer) in between translated stences... In short use the drawback of having to use a translator for entertainment purposes! Rehearse this with him. Generally it doesn't cost anything as there are always local people willing to learn tricks just for the price of translating. He/she might even feel honored that you allow him/her to be part of the show. Just learn from him/her how the humour works in his/her culture.

Lawrence O, your good words remind me of a joke one of the linguistics majors told me not too long ago:

A visiting foreign dignitary was giving a speech to Chinese businessmen in Beijing, and at the end of the evening he decided to ad lib a quick joke. The interpreter, not quite understanding the humor, turned to the audience and said, "The foreigner just made a joke. Everybody laugh."

But seriously, folks...



I most often now perform for non-native speakers of English and sometimes for people who have no English. I have found that I really have to prepare on a trick-by-trick basis. The process for me is to think through the trick and identify the key points which truly depend on language, where there can be no mistake.

For example, when I first came to China, I wanted to perform Don Alan's Invisible Deck routine. Believe it or not, most of it could be done through pantomime. But for three key parts, I had to get the language down: (1)"Invisible cards," (2)"What is the card?" (plus the suits and values of all the cards), and (3) "turn the card over." With these three keys, I can pull the whole thing off even for people with no English.

Following this process, I have even put together a mental magic show and two mentalism shows (which you know depend heavily on language)for non-native speakers. The audience members have varying levels of English, so for the key points I usually learn the Chinese and have back-up language assistants at hand.

The only real problem I remember was with asking a negative question the first time. I was performing Osterlind's Radar Cards and said to the participant: "It's not a high card?" She said, "Yes" (which means, "Yes, you are right, it's not a high card) and, of course, I thought she meant "Yes, it is a high card."

Unless you're fluent in the language, or have very good proficiency, I would avoid changing anything. Why? Magic is an art, and art is much about the culture it's derived from. Kabuki isn't changed when performed here, nor are operas translated (though that might increase their audience...) certainly you can slow things down and demonstrate as needed, but things visually magical, like the cups and balls, really don't need much understanding of the patter to realize what's going on?

As a deaf entertainer, I face this problem a lot simply because I can not hear people all the time or because I find myself performing for other deaf or hard of hearing individuals. Being a deaf entertainer has made me think a lot more about communication when performing the magic that I do.

The one thing that I realized a lot is just how effective the art of pantomime is to what I do. I have studied the art and am fascinated by others who have mastered it so beautifully. It is the art of telling and communicating stories and ideas simply through body movement and facial expression.

This is a powerful skill to learn. I often can do full routines in my strolling show without saying one word but sill getting people to laugh and have fun and react the way they would if I was speaking. It does take time to learn and master, but so does performing magic. You just have to learn things and say to yourself, "how would I communicate "thank you" if I did not verbally say it? You will be amazed at just how much can easily be expressed through body movement only.

Kyle

If you're not careful, you'll end up, as I have been, trapped in an Abott and Costello sketch. Something like...

"It's not a high card?"
"Yes"
"Oh, so it IS a high card?"
"No"
"Um, it's NOT a high card?"
"Yes!"
"So, it is a high card, then?"
"No!"

...ad infinitum.

While I see your point, pretty much all the magic I do is interactive, and truth be told it's one of my favourite aspects of magic, as opposed to other art forms. I wouldn't want to sacrifice that even if I could. There's also something tremendously satisfying when you can bridge the gap with a magic trick even with only a tenuous grasp of the language.

Some aspects of magic (and all arts) are universal, some aspects are cultural, and some are personal. Awareness of differences in language and culture (in my haughty opinion) will improve your art.

For example, if I ask Americans to think of a lucky number, they will often think of 7. My Chinese friends will most often think of 8 or 6. I ordered a pop-eyed popper deck that I cannot use in China because it uses the 4 of clubs. 4 means death in China, and does not play well, to say the least.

I know that Richard Osterlind said he used an interpreter when he appeared in Beijing. I don't know about the David Copperfield show that came to Beijing.

The debate about translation of art, however, is an interesting one. Some people claim that the Tang Dynasty Poetry--for example--cannot be translated without losing most of it's meaning, while others claim it's better to at least share some small part of the culture that is not lost in translation. I guess if your magic show has come to the level of Shakespeare, it may injure your native culture if you change it to work cross-culturally.

I'm in Malaysia... I've even seen Michael Ammar flustered onstage when he performed here...

It was after a Seminar, me and the other Magicians went to see him perform onstage...

We had to help him out be volunteers... But he did great though... So there...

Btw, his Cup and Balls routine was just crazy!