Many years ago, when I was in Brazil, my wife of the time suggested that I go back to the room to get something and to ask at the reception for the key. Now I was quite pleased that I had learnt the word for key, so was shocked when the receptionist just shook his head and sent me away. When I told my (Brazilian) wife this she burst out laughing. I had only mixed up the words for key and rabbit in my head. No wonder he was confused.
Since then I have more than a fair share of mix ups, but I keep trying to learn the local languages wherever I am because I think it will improve my experience and make my stays smoother and safer (at least I will have some idea of what is going on.) But with so many languages and so many countries to visit, how can I take the time to learn that much? It is a question I have been asked a lot and more than one potential world traveller has said to me that this is the thing that puts them off the most, not being able to speak the local language. I hope this post will bring some clarity to the situation.
I guess the first thing to say is “don’t panic.”
English is the most spoken 2nd language in the world, especially amongst young people and professionals – so in most big towns and cities, whichever country you are in, the chances are you will be able to find someone who speaks some English.
This is especially true in countries whose own language is not widely spoken. For example I found that nearly every young person in Slovenia could speak a little English, whereas this was not the case in Italy. Having said that in Italian cities, people do speak English especially in the service area, but rarely any other language. More than once I saw Italian waiters trying out their best English on German or Turkish visitors who looked even more puzzled than when being spoken to in Italian.
Obviously in my own case I have only been to countries that speak European languages, in Europe and South America, so have not had the chance to grapple with Tagalog or Korean just yet. But I have tried to learn at least a few words of the language of wherever I happen to be, just to make interactions with locals better and to have some idea of what is going on when reading notices etc.
As you probably know, there are 4 areas of need within language learning, reading, writing, speaking and listening. I think the writing is the one least needed by travellers, certainly I have never had to write in another language as google translate does a good enough job for most situations. Reading is really useful, not just for notices but for food items at the supermarket etc. but again a translation app will help you get by. Speaking and listening are what most people tend to focus on and although there are apps to help learn with this, I would argue they may not be the best solution.
Most apps are aimed at people who want to study a language over the long term. This can take months if not years of consistent practice even to get close to a conversational level. In this video, the polyglot Luca Lampariello https://www.lucalampariello.com/10x-your-language-learning-progress/ has 5 tips to speed up your language progress, but all of them demand a lot of time and energy and the last suggestion is to get into a relationship with someone who speaks your target language! Having been married to a Portuguese speaker and dated Italian, Urdu, French and Arabic speakers I can attest that “love” hasn’t improved my learning much. But maybe I am the exception to the rule.
So if not the apps, what do I suggest for learning language for travelling?
First of all, work out what you feel you need to learn for the country you are going to. You many have specifics, such as “I am allergic to sesame, can you leave it out.” I often ask about milk or cream because it affects my IBS.
My second suggestion would be that you watch videos or listen to podcasts of local speakers in the towns / cities you are visiting. These don’t need to be long and can be about any subject (though of course it does help if it’s of something you are interested in.) My reason for doing this is to get a feel for how the language is. Do people talk fast or slow, do you notice repeat words, what hand gestures do people make that might help you to make sense of the context. If you can get subtitles for the video, then this will help to give it context, but it is still relevant if not. There is a Chrome extension for Youtube called Language learning with Netflix & YouTube (snappy title) which will give you subtitles if the video producer has enabled them and are much better than the auto-generated ones. A video explaining how it works is available here. (The videos is from Talk the streets, which is focused on Portuguese, but the extension is useful for all languages.)
Third, there are specific language learning videos and podcasts for “holiday” vocabulary. This is different to the apps like DuoLingo which are meant to be used for the long haul and just teach you a few basics that you can take to the country with you. Things like “hello, thank-you and where is the bathroom.” Coffee Break (language name) and Easy (language name) are two that I have found useful.
Finally the one app which I would recommend is Memrise. This is simply a vocabulary memory tool which teaches you words and then repeats them to you at specific intervals so that they stay in your memory. It includes short videos on its in-house produced languages which are the main ones you would use around the world. There is also a community produced language learning area as well, for more obscure languages, (my favourite is “speak Esperanto like a native!”) but at the time of writing (November 2023) this seems to be being phased out.
I also use Duolingo and am strangely proud of my (current) 1528 day streak. But there are 3 reasons why I am using this. The first is that as a language teacher, I feel it is good to put myself in the position of student so I can see things from their point of view. The second is that I do want to learn a language over the long term (Spanish) and I am hoping that the app will help me achieve my goal. Thirdly, I am a little bit addicted to it (I think the developers learnt a thing or two from gambling apps.)
To sum up, as I said at the beginning, the main thing is not to panic. Most younger people around Europe (I can’t speak for anywhere else yet) know some English and you should be able to get by. There is always Google translate of course, as long as you remember to take your phone with you and you have a wifi signal. My experience on my one day in Poland will show you the importance of that. Please don’t let being poor at languages put you off and embrace the challenge as part of the travel adventure.
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Comments
That ‘no gun’ photo looks like one you’d see in Florida. Whenever I visit my parents, I’m amazed at how few establishments have the sign. Usually only doctors’ and lawyers’ offices (I wonder why 😅)
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