Repair at the Siida ticket counter
A candidate is doing a role-play at the ticket counter of the Siida museum in Aanaar. The clerk speaks Inari Sámi at normal speed. The candidate asks for two adult tickets and one child ticket. The clerk replies with a short question that contains a number the candidate hears as '7' and a word the candidate does not know. The candidate suspects the question is about the child's age, because the ticket price list behind the clerk shows a child rate and a family rate. The candidate has 30 seconds to respond; the clerk is friendly and has already repeated once. The candidate knows how to say 'again, please' and 'I don't understand', but worries that asking again will seem impolite. The role-play requires the candidate to resolve the misunderstanding and complete the purchase. The clerk may switch to Finnish if the candidate stalls.
1. What repair strategy should the candidate use first, and why?
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Use a specific clarification question rather than a general 'again, please'. The candidate has a hypothesis: the clerk is asking about the child's age. A targeted question such as 'Is it about the child's age?' in simple Inari Sámi or, if necessary, with a gesture toward the child, lets the clerk answer yes/no and repeat only the key word. This is more polite and efficient than a blank 'I don't understand', because it shows the candidate is following the interaction. If the targeted question fails, then use 'again, please' and listen for the number. The candidate should not pretend to understand and pay the wrong amount; a service encounter allows repair, and the clerk has already signalled willingness by repeating.
2. The clerk switches to Finnish. How should the candidate handle the language switch without failing the role-play?
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Accept the switch for the transaction but try to keep one or two Inari Sámi elements. In a real Inari service encounter, bilingual switching is normal and not a failure; the candidate's goal is to complete the purchase and show interaction strategies. The candidate can say 'I understood' or 'yes' in Inari Sámi, answer the age question, and then return to Inari Sámi for the closing ('kittâ'). If the role-play rubric rewards staying in Inari Sámi, the candidate can ask the clerk to repeat the key word in Inari Sámi once, then accept Finnish for the rest. Do not argue about language choice; pragmatically, the customer's job is to resolve the purchase, and the clerk's switch is a cooperative move.
3. How can the candidate use the price list and the number heard to confirm the child's fare?
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Treat the number as a hypothesis, not a fact. The candidate heard '7'; the price list shows a child rate and a family rate. If the child is 6, the '7' may be an age threshold ('under 7'), not the child's age. The candidate should answer with the child's actual age, not with the number heard. If the clerk asked 'under 7?', the answer is yes/no; if the clerk asked '7 years?', the answer is the age. The candidate can point to the child and say the age, then check the total by pointing at the price list. This uses the visual context to disambiguate the spoken number. Do not simply repeat 'seven' back, because that could confirm the wrong thing.