By Roadjunky, Posted Sep 26, 2006
Sections: Intro Which Language? Self Teaching Language Schools Study Aids The Internet Media Exposure Make Friends and Get Laid Travel Immersion Spanish Portuguese Italian
Learning a new language can be done for free. It will win you friends, deepen your travel experience and may even get you laid – what better motive could you ask for?
What do you call someone who speaks 3 languages?
Trilingual.
What do you call someone who speaks 2 languages?
Bilingual.
And what do you call someone who speaks only 1 language?
An American.
The above joke could serve for the English, Australians or Canadians that didn’t grow up speaking French. It’s just so easy to get by speaking English in most places that there often doesn’t seem to be much point in learning other languages – it should be up to everyone else to make the effort, right?
Thus, at least, goes the attitude of the average holiday maker asking the way to the beach at the top of their voices. But then the willingness to learn some of the local language is often one of the dividing lines between a tourist and a traveler and can revolutionise your experience of a country once you understand what the hell is going on around you.
Until after the Second World War the world language was still French and no member of elite sets in other countries would let a dinner party go by without letting slip the odd platitude en francais. Once Britain ceded control of the world to the US though, the ensuing cultural imperialism of Walt Disney, pop music and Hollywood meant that English became a staple worldwide. English is the international language of business and now the internet is making it even prevalent.
Yet the influence of English only goes so far. There are more native speakers of Mandarin and Spanish these days and, depending on the geography and politics of a country, English may be way down the list as far as priorities go. Take a country like Morocco, for instance, and you’ll find that most people speak Arabic, followed by Berber, French, Spanish and English coming in 5th place.
Most travelers wince at the thought of learning another language and entirely miss out on the benefits. Consider:
- You’ll be able to communicate with all the people you meet (instead of just the English-speaking ones) and really get your teeth into the culture.
- You’ll save yourself money by haggling in the local language instead of always paying tourist price.
- You’ll be much safer as you’ll understand advice from the locals too and it’ll be ten thousand times easier to find the right platform for your train or bus.
- You’ll make more friends. People are really touched when you make the step of learning their language and will often then come 2 steps towards you. It’s a gesture of respect and distinguishes you from the consumer travelers.
- Learning languages opens up pathways between the left and right side of your brain and so (probably) makes you live longer. You may also encounter whole new sides to your personality when you speak in another tongue.
- It helps you get laid abroad.
No good at languages?
Crap. Just about anyone can pick up a new language to at least simple conversational level. It just takes 2 magic ingredients – time and effort. So open your mind and roll your tongue and get with the Roadjunky language guide.
