I’ve long argued somewhat controversially that you can travel almost anywhere in the world without making much of an effort to learn the local language.
In fairness it’s something that you can benefit from — as a sign of respect for the people, and as a way of connecting with them and having a richer travel experience. Your bungled efforts may sometimes endear you to the people you meet, although it’s just as possible that you’ll be snickered at. I’d like to think my bungled efforts are cute.
Here’s what it’s like when I travel:
My language skills are quite poor. I was never very good at Hebrew, though I sat in class clueless over it for several years studied it. I was never very good at Spanish, though I took it in school for six years. I was always better at reading it than speaking it, and once someone got into a conversational pace I was done for.
Asian languages? I can speak a few words that I’ve picked up along the way. But I know that even if I get a word mostly right, I’m absolutely hopeless with tonal languages.
I’m going to come off as an Awful American, but I consider myself very fortunate to speak English because the truth is that most of the places I’ve traveled it’s worked out for me just fine.
Learning at least some phrases in the language of the country you’re visiting helps make friends but I’m not very good at it (languages, or making friends – hah!).
Fortunately there are a few things you can do to ensure you handle things better than Marcus Brody from the Indiana Jones films.
So here’s what you do:
- Hire a guide. Someone who speaks English to take you around. In some sense you’re hiring a tout to keep away the rest of the touts, but they can help you get where you’re going efficiently and explain things along the way. Often you’ll have a guide and a driver and the driver usually won’t speak English. In Vietnam a full day cost me ~ $90 for the guide, driver, and vehicle. In Sri Lanka about $75. A guide who drove me in Bali was ~ $45. In Beijing I paid $11 an hour for just the guide, but they came well recommended.
- Google maps. You can download maps and use them without wifi now even. I carry an unlocked mifi device and I always have internet so I’ll generally have internet for my phone and can pull up just about anywhere I am, and get directions. (Yes, T-mobile works but I can’t handle the speeds and their coverage hasn’t worked great for me at home so I’ve avoided them.)
- Use a translation app. There are several, including from Google, and while it’s a bit stilted and the translations aren’t perfect they let you communicate.
- Get a card from your hotel with it’s address written in the local language. I’ll usually print something myself, such as when I’m going to China, on the likelihood that a cab driver won’t understand the name of my hotel when I arrive at the airport. Leaving a hotel the staff there will tell a cab driver where you’re going, or will point you in the right direction. Coming back you can always just show this card and ask a taxi to take you there. That may be harder than going from A to B to C to D if you’re always heading back to A (your hotel) but it works.
- Uber. Your phone knows your location, a car pulls up, you type in your destination — you don’t need to know the language, they’ll just take you where you’re going.
If you aren’t very adventurous, then businesses in most parts of the world that cater to tourists will have some rudimentary understanding of English — even if they don’t get a lot of Americans. Because we aren’t the only ones (or even the first ones!) with the language.
Some of these won’t help you in more off the beaten path places but at least one or more will.
No flames necessary. You are absolutely correct. I witnessed this amazing transformation to world-wide English during 25 years of overseas business travel.
No flame necessary, but I always enjoy learning at least a few words in the local language. I think(hope?) that it might endear me to the locals and gives me a small sense of accomplishment. I speak passable French and pretty good Vietnamese and am always thrilled when I can carry on a conversation in those languages.
Caveat: Yes English is the lingua franca these days but, depending upon the country and the locale, the level may not be extremely high. We were once in Shanghai and not one taxi driver understood “The Bund” as thats not what they call it in Mandarin.
We are so fortunate (lucky) to grow up speaking the universal language!
I agree. I try to pick up a few words. Mostly excuse me and thank you which I find extremely valuable. I also ALWAYS print out the address of the hotel or other places I need to go. The biggest challenges in many places are that the cab drivers don’t speak English or even worse they don’t speak the local language. Can you say Russian cab drivers in Istanbul.
Agree 100%. My language skills are for crap. However, I’ve found that many in foreign countries(to me) they like to practice their English with Americans/Brits/Canadians. Happy to help especially when it makes my life easier.
You don’t say!?
In addition to translation apps try Berlitz World Traveler. Look for it on IFE. You can learn key words, phrases, dates, numbers in any of 27 languages. Jot down a few items to use after landing. It has been been invaluable to me. Delta, China Eastern and Singapore are some of the airlines that offer it. It might be found under Games or Other Information. Your efforts at the local language will be limited but they won’t be bungled.
Usually works out, sometimes not so much. Apparently an issue in Shanghai with cab drivers. Like @ira barrows, we had a harrowing trip from the bund to Shanghai Disney, that took 3 hours and went through a number of small villages and a military installation! That was after the hotel told him where he was supposed to go.
A possible hitch to your plan to have a card with the name/address written on it; it is quite possible that a cab driver could be illiterate, so you may also need to find someone who can read and tell them what it says.
You’re right, but a few points:
T-Mobile coverage at home bears very little relevance in coverage abroad because it’s all roaming partners. Often you can get better coverage because roaming agreements apply to multiple carriers. Also, you should see if your phone at home supports LTE band 12. It’s made T-Mobile in populated areas have coverage that well matches Verizon or AT&T, but does require newer hardware.
Uber can be hit and miss in other places. In particular, some of their metadata for pickup points in India was really bad and drivers ended up in a different place than me.
What if Esperanto had become the lingua franca of the world as intended, instead of English?!
I’ve never hired a guide (or really traveled anywhere when I needed to), but I can imagine for under $100/day it can make things much easier in a lot of places. When you (Gary or others) have used guides, how did you find the ones you hired? Recs from friends? Recs from guidebooks or the internet? Hotels or businesses set you up with them? I’m not sure I would know where to start in finding a guide in Vietnam or Cambodia or something.
I am also very thankful that I am a native English speaker, as I can travel through an awful lot of the world with basically only learning how to say a few phrases (always including “beer please!”) in the local languages.
I was told years ago by a pilot I was flying with, who was from Belgium, that I didn’t need to learn French because I spoke English and “everyone speaks English.” Wrong Jean-Poll. One does not need to venture far from a big city in France to find out that not “everyone” speaks English. Fortunately my iPhone does. While the saying “you haven’t been lost until you’ve been lost at Mach .84,” is true . . . being lost on a back country road, in a country who’s language you don’t understand, it is a close second. I try to learn a bit of the local language and to also keep my speed to less than Mach 1.
Yes, there can be issues with taxi drivers in Shanghai. My wife and I and two travel companions were returning to our cruise ship, docked close to town in a temporary dockage (small ship). We handed the taxi driver the paper from the ship supposedly containing where the ship was docked. His inquiry to his GPS, and then to his dispatcher by radio came up with something in Cantonese similar to “Beats the h— out of me”.
Google maps to the rescue! Pulled up the app on my cell phone, with the blue dot comfortably on screen, and found the place where the ship was docked. Pointing “straight”, “left” and “right” with both hands got us there, with laughs on all sides, a 20 yuan fare ( and another 10 for the driver) and an experience we won’t forget.
And thanks to Verizon – for $10 per day, I can use my phone anywhere in the world — drawing phone, text, and data both inbound and outbound from my U.S. plan. (I’m paying for it anyway!)
@Eric: I’ve had excellent experiences hiring guides through http://www.toursbylocals.com.
Learning food vocabulary and decent pronunciation is where you get the most bang for your buck. I make it a point to be able to order food accurately everywhere I travel. Chinese colleagues sometimes get a big kick out of me when I show up for sichuan hot pot and can read my favorite ingredients off the menu and start asking about gong cai and obscure food terminology no foreigner knows about. My associates who can really speak conversational Putonghua, but don’t have a passion for mainland Chinese food and culture, quickly become the less exciting people to invite for dinner. It would be great to be fluent faster in all these languages but who has the time.
Adapting the age old adage: It is better to keep ones mouth closed, and be thought of as insensitive than to open it, speaking English and remove all doubt. Whenever I traveled abroad, I first practiced up learning basics: hello, goodbye, good morning, thank you. Then speak English. If you can’t bother to learn how to say hello in their language, just why are you in their country?
@Eric – I have hired guides through travel agencies and also used hotel concierges for recommendations. Both have worked well. The key is to be clear to the guide as to what you want to see and where you want to go. Also, the prices in Europe will b much higher than what Gary quoted for Asia. Expect to pay $200 – $300 for a half day in a private coach.
You definitely cannot assume that Uber has your location right all the time, especially where there are high-rise buildings around.
@IAP I’m fluent in Chinese and my wife is Chinese and we have no idea what gong cai is. Maybe you’re food vocabulary isnt as good as you think.
Also, I disagree. Take some time to learn a language. When you dont speak the language, you miss out on a lot.
Totally agree. Only once in my travels to Hong Kong did I have a driver who didn’t speak English. He called his dispatcher, handed me the phone, I told her where I was going and we were back to our hotel. Where I picked up a few cards with the name and address.
I travel to too many places that speak too many languages, but when I’m in South America I usually regret not being a better Spanish student in school. English language skills are surprisingly bad there, and knowing some Spanish always helps. On the other hand I could easily travel in most European and Asian countries with no local language skills.
What mifi device do you use?