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Which Countries, What Languages? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| Raincrowlee Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 6702 days ago 621 posts - 808 votes  Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Indonesian, Japanese | Message 1 of 39 24 October 2006 at 12:18am | IP Logged | ||
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Simple question: Which countries have you been to, and which languges did you use when you were there?
Canada: English and a little French Honduras: English Guatemala: English Belize: English Argentina: English Taiwan: Chinese, English, Russian, German Japan (Okinawa): English Hong Kong (PRC): English, Chinese 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6768 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 2 of 39 24 October 2006 at 3:13am | IP Logged | ||
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Thailand: Thai (occasionally English or French)
China: Mandarin England: English Germany: German Belgium: French Japan: Japanese (occasionally English, French, & Portuguese) My Thai and Mandarin never advanced past the beginner level, but it's really not hard to learn enough to barter on the street or order at a restaurant. All you really need are numbers and a few memorized phrases. Edited by Captain Haddock on 24 October 2006 at 3:14am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6703 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 39 24 October 2006 at 3:50am | IP Logged | ||
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I have been to most of the world, so for me the question would rather be: where do I speak the language used by the population, where do I have to rely on for instance English or French to survive, assuming that one of these languages is a common second language in that area, and - third category - where would I have a problem due to language?.
America (North and South) is almost totally within the first group, - I just have to do something about my Portuguese, and that will happen soon. Of course I might meet a person in say Peru who didn't speak Spanish, but mostly I could find somebody to help out in that situation. Africa is also accessible because the old colonial languages are still in common use as second language for a surprising number of people. It is the same situation in South and South Eastern Asia. The largest remaining area then would probably be the countryside of China, where it might be necessay to know at least a few words in Chinese (any advice on that?). In a few cases I have used fragments of languages that I otherwise don't pretend to know. For instance knowing a few Russian words was very handy when I visited the Caucasus area about five years ago, and the time I spend learning the hangul alphabet - and only the alphabet - was a good investment when I visited South Korea. In Belgium I have spoken French in Vallonia and Bruxelles, but in Flanders I have sometimes preferred to use my very limited knowledge of Netherlands/Flemish instead of speaking French or English. Everybody would probably have understood me better if I had spoken either one of these languages, but in a setting where I do speak a little of the local language I prefer to use that within the limits of my abilities. Edited by Iversen on 24 October 2006 at 3:52am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| sapedro Triglot Senior Member Portugal descredito.blogspot. Joined 7118 days ago 216 posts - 219 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English, French Studies: Croatian, Serbian, Greek | Message 4 of 39 24 October 2006 at 4:08am | IP Logged | ||
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Spain: Spanish
France: French Mexico: Spanish Switzerland: German and English Sweden: English Denmark: English Hungary: Hungarian (my little), English and German Austria: English (Austrian German is absolutely uncomprehensible for me) Greece: English and Greek (my little) Romania: English and Portuguese Croatia: Croatian and English Slovenia: English and Croatian Serbia: English and Serbian In my next trip...for sure... Finland: English Estonia: English 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6768 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 5 of 39 24 October 2006 at 4:08am | IP Logged | ||
When I visited Sichuan and Yunan, we got by entirely on travel-guide Chinese and gestures. In a lot of places, the locals are not Han Chinese and might not even know much Mandarin (and certainly no foreign languages). In Japan too, you won't get far off the beaten path without Japanese. I suppose like Hangul in Korea, knowing at least the Japanese kana would be indispensible. That gives you enough to read guide maps, some restaurant menus, bus signs, etc. Edited by Captain Haddock on 24 October 2006 at 8:13am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7015 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 39 24 October 2006 at 6:12am | IP Logged | ||
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Spain: Spanish
Portugal: Portuguese, English and Spanish France: French and Spanish UK: English USA: English and Spanish Caribbean: English Mexico: Spanish Morocco (as a child): Spanish and English 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6703 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 7 of 39 24 October 2006 at 7:48am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks to Captain Haddock for the tips. So far I have only visited Kyoto and Osaka in Japan. Kyoto was OK because there were a number of texts in English (for instance street signs) and pictures of the food outside many restaurants. Osaka was more of a problem. In China I have visited Beijing and Xian on a charter tour, so practical matters were taken care of and I had little need to communicate with anybody. In South Korea I shocked at least one local guide because I was able to read aloud the text in hangul at one of the sights, - but I had not the faintest idea about what it meant.
Edited by Iversen on 24 October 2006 at 7:52am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6659 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 8 of 39 24 October 2006 at 9:08am | IP Logged | ||
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Canada: English and French
Mexico: Spanish Belgium: French and English France and Monaco: French Switzerland: German, French and English Spain: Spanish Germany: English the first time, German ever after Netherlands: English, struggles with Dutch produced much English from locals Denmark: phrasebook Danish which was not understood by the Danes, then English Luxembourg: French Italy: Italian Austria: German Croatia: Croatian, German and English Hungary: German and English Soviet Union: English, attempts at Russian 1 person has voted this message useful |
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