Should You Visit Any Country Where You Don’t Speak The Language?
With vacation time steadily approaching for some people, is it a good idea to visit countries where English is not a fluent language? Having a translator device or even a person that is familiar with the customs and words is great—but what if, heaven forbid, you become separated from that device or individual? How will you communicate your dilemma? It may not be safe to assume that everyone speaks “a little English.”
Sure, as long as it's a safe place, I don't see the harm.
I've travelled to a few places where we ran into situations where no one spoke English and it's half the fun!
In Italy we stayed just outside of Rome. Rome was pretty good for finding English speakers as it's so touristy, but by the time we got as far out as our hotel, the English was sparse. We ended up buying most things by just pointing and trying to order from menus was certainly interesting. I wound up with a pizza with no crust at one restaurant due to miscommunications, which I thought was hilarious.
We wound up not knowing how to open our gas tank at a gas station in rural Iceland where no one spoke English and at one point we had like six locals out by our car trying to figure out what the problem was. They were all so helpful and kind despite the language difference, it was very endearing and a lovely experience!
In Germany our language barrier caused us to go to the wrong airport and miss our flight... which was maybe not the most fun experience I've ever had... but we were also originally just passing through and it gave us a few hours in Düsseldorf, so not a total loss, either!
Only America tends not to encourage citizens to be bi-lingual.When I went to Paris, France we had no problem getting around.
I've never been one to want to travel off the beaten path into a tiny village town to spend a week. I want to indulge, play, and relax when on vacation.
I'm one who enjoys going places where there are upscale hotels, restaurants, shops, night life activities, or beach front resorts.
Most of the major tourist countries have lots of English speaking people or they translate descriptions of items in multiple languages.
Yes, I will visit any country where I don't speak the language. I think nowadays most people in any country speaks English. I think it is good to try and have fun along the way. We have been to Barcelona on holiday and I find that some people don't speak English but some do. I think the younger generations speak English but the older generations don't. For me, I won't let the language barrier stop me from going to a country where people don't speak English. You will be surprise that other countries who don't use English as a means of communication that people actually know how to speak English especially the younger ones.
For me I will visit the country where their currency is lower than Ringgit,but only a few countries likely to have below than Ringgit Malaysia now.It doesn't matter too if you can afford to visit more if you have the opportunity to do so.
For sure & have a great time ! You can usually get across what you want or need by actions. We visited 12 countries in our campervan . Right now we are living in Spain!
I get my hair cut real cheap by going to the Spanish hairdresser.
Last week I wanted a particular style so I took a photo in to show them !
Google translate is a great help for asking directions !
Have fun !
by Lady_E 15 years ago
Should it be a necessity for Presidents/Prime Ministers to speak English Language?There are a lot of people all over the world who are making a big effort to learn English. In the UK, thousands of people from places such as Russia, Poland, Spain, Bulgaria, France etc are learning English so...
by klevifusha 7 years ago
If you were able to learn a foreign language without any effort, which language would you choose to speak and why?
by Audrey 11 years ago
How many languages do you know and in which country do you live?I frequently hear comments about how people in the United States generally only know English, whereas in many other countries people generally know multiple languages.
by Gus Ahmed 15 years ago
I'm interested to know how many peopl can speak different languages?I can speak, English (obviusly!), Bengali, Hindi and i can speak a small amount of French.I can also read arabic.How many can you speak?
by NewYorker 15 years ago
This interests me, since we're only allowed to speak English here.I, myself, speak English as a primary language. But I also speak Spanish, Icelandic, Swedish and Danish.Your turn!
by Jerad Maplethorpe 13 years ago
How many languages can you speak, and why?I am curious as to how many languages you can speak. More specifically, why do you speak those (or possibly only English) language(s)?Have you thought about learning other languages and what has held you back?
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