KISS Principle Pointee Talkee

Say you are in a Foreign country or someone is there who does not speak your Language and you need to communicate, what can you do? one way is with Pocket Coms which are plastic cards with pictures to which the person points. But what if you need something that is not in the cards? I was in Haiti where the earthquakes were and needed something to ask about house facillities, ie. Gas, Water, Electricity, Because these can be a real danger if you do Urban search & Rescue and need to be turned off if possible before going in so I made my own cards.

Supplies

A Printer (not shown) or picture/ Photo of object to be shown

Laminator

Scissors

corner cutter (optional)

What Am I Trying to Say?

Think what you need and either download pictures to print out or if you have photos or pictures from magazine

you can use them.

Enter the Laminator!

Once you have Printed etc. cut your pictures down to a handy size and with plastic laminate them

Cutting Corners, But Not a Shortcut

Once you have cut the laminated pictures you need down to size and if you want to (I would recomend it) you could use

a handy little device which cuts the corners so they are more rounded. If you leave them as they are they can catch

on pockets or stuff or scratch also they are sharp and can scratch someone.

Test With Someone Who Does Not Speak Your Lingo

Try it on some one, If you look at the cards I made there are I think no doubt as to what they mean.

Here is a picture of our cat, after choosing what he wants for dinner he now shows me what sauce

to go with it!

A Plus at the End

Even though I made my own cards there are a few places who do them. One I feel are really excellent are Pocket coms

see: www.pocketcomms.co.uk Not only food but medical and a lot of things you find in everyday life. I got the military version which has info on weapons like mines etc., which is alwayshandy if you are walking in the direction of a danger and a local can point that out.

The Plus is this is of course not restricted to pointee talkee, I love reference cards here is one for recognising Yarrow

which is a good herb to know, you could do cards on foods/plants to Forage etc..........