When you’re the one who knows the language, be patient with the one who doesn’t. You’ll switch places someday.

Being the fluent one in the room is a temporary position, not a permanent trait. Travel, a new job, a family you marry into, and suddenly you are the person nodding half a beat behind and exhausted by lunchtime. Patience from that side is remembered for a very long time, and so is impatience. Knowing something first is mostly luck.

When somebody is struggling, slow your speed before you simplify your words, and let them finish their own sentences. Translate the thing nobody thought to explain, like what a form is actually for. Ask what would help rather than deciding for them.