Unsurprisingly, travel is easier if you are able to communicate with the people who live where you are staying. As a native English speaker the good news is that this language is slowly expanding to the far reaches of the globe. The not surprising news is that there are vast swaths of the Earth where it remains a curious novelty. If I could snap my fingers and magically have mastery over a few languages, they would be, in order of preference: English, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Swahili, Mandarin and French. Absent this attribute I have significantly developed my Charades skill.
When people I meet list the supposedly intimidating reasons why they do not travel, language and communication are usually high on the list. Those who do go as tourists often hire guides to overcome this fear. When I was younger, and the only language was ’dinosaur’, I was a terribly self conscious tourist. I understand and empathize with these choices, especially if someone is only getting out a couple of times a year. Of course, I do not want a babysitter, and very much want to be an active rather than a passive participant in the pursuit of travel.
Here are my thoughts on communication conducted in English in non-English speaking countries. I have traveled with a few people who may as well have been wearing T-shirts that read ’if you want my dollars, speak English’. This does infuriate me. I consider it a gracious honour that a person has chosen to learn my language. I thank them for that, and I apologize that I do not know more of their beautiful and complex lingo. Even in the briefest of encounters I tend to ask the interlocutor to teach me a word from our topic in their language. My terrible and humble essays to pronounce it demonstrate that I am being considerate, and are often of levity to them.
To have a better chance of being understood (at a zinc bar in Paris with Moroccans; in a pub in Brazil; with pretty much every hitchhiker I have picked up) I have adapted. I have literally changing the way I speak. I have dramatically slowed the speed of my speech, enunciate in an exaggerated way, ensure that there is an distinct gap between words. Additionally, I use much simpler words in communication, avoid tenses if they are not critical to understanding intent, and alter word order in sentences to mimic the local dialect. I never use sarcasm, or allusions, and avoid tropes like ’never count your chickens…’. I try to pick up on rising and falling modulation, and love to study the hand gestures that accompany statements and questions.
I am now a dedicated user of the Duolingo language training app. Nearly every day I spend a few minutes learning a few new words or more accurate pronunciation. I start with the same twenty words that I know that I will use every day (please, thank you, etcetera).
I will never ever be a decent linguist, but I am putting in some effort to be a more gracious traveler.