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So I plan on traveling next summer (long) | ||
Tags: Travel | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Panhead08 Diglot Newbie United States Joined 5610 days ago 6 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 1 of 12 24 July 2009 at 11:35pm | IP Logged | ||
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I want to go somewhere that I'd genuinely enjoy, be able to relax, and learn a lot about the native culture. I'd also like to go to a country in which the American dollar is worth a lot more, and where I'd have no trouble with about 3,000 american dollars. So I logged onto Xe.com, the site that allows you to make an accurate estimate of how much money one currency is when it is converted to another. I'm seriously consiering the Domincan Republic since a) It is in a tropical environement, which I'd like for a vacation, b) I'd fit with the people there a lot, since they are of darker skin tone and I am black and c) they speak Spanish, which is my target learning language.
On the site, I found that one american dollar is equivalent to thrity six Dominican Republic Pesos (DOP). In turn, $3,000 of my money would be around $108,000 DOP. This seems like more than enough to have a grand time there. However, one of my co-workers (who is from Liberia) tells me that when people do this, the money that has been converted will go fast. I don't understand her sentiments at all and even after having asked her what she meant, I didn't get a clear picture (and I'm not sure she's quite the "explainer"...she honestly wasn't making much sense). One reason why I don't understand her sentiments is because people from other countries who come to America to work often send money to their relatives in other countries, and they (the relatives) are wealthy in their native lands, due to the strength of the american dollar being converted into their currency. Also, my friend's brother (Guyanese American) owns numerous houses along the coast of Guyana, as do the other siblings in their family. So either this Liberian lady didn't know what she was talking about, or she wasnt explaining well (which i truly think was the latter). Apparently 3,000 USD would be about 600,000 over in Guyana, but she told me that this money would go fast. I honestly don't see how 600,000 in any currency could go fast in it's native country, no matter how reasonably expensive the food and lodging is. I'm not planning on moving to the DR, just staying there for a week. So my main question is: Would $3,000 (which would be around $108,000 in DR) be enough for me to stay in the Dominican Republic for a week or would it "go fast"? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| goosefrabbas Triglot Pro Member United States Joined 6370 days ago 393 posts - 475 votes  Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German, Italian Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 12 25 July 2009 at 12:01am | IP Logged | ||
The first example I think of is the German Mark. A quick search gave me http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperinflation Some examples are... "By late 1923, the Weimar Republic of Germany was issuing two-trillon Mark banknotes and postage stamps with a face value of fifty billion Mark. The highest value banknote issued by the Weimar government's Reichsbank had a face value of 100 trillion Mark. One of the firms printing these notes submitted an invoice for the work to the Reichsbank for 32,776,899,763,734,490,417.05 (3.28×1019, or 33 quintillion) Marks." "The largest denomination banknote ever officially issued for circulation was in 1946 by the Hungarian National Bank for the amount of 100 quintillion pengő (100,000,000,000,000,000,000, or 1020; 100 trillion on the long scale). image (There was even a banknote worth 10 times more, i.e. 1021 pengő, printed, but not issued image.)" That said, I have no idea about your situation. But, in any case, hyperinflation is really interesting. :) Edited by goosefrabbas on 25 July 2009 at 12:02am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Woodpecker Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5813 days ago 351 posts - 590 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), Arabic (Egyptian) Studies: Arabic (classical) | Message 3 of 12 25 July 2009 at 12:19am | IP Logged | ||
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No offense, but I think you're a little unclear on the concept of currency exchange. By converting your money to DOP, you will end up with 108,000 DOP, yes. But that is not the equivalent of having $108,000 in the United States. Not even close. The money is still worth the equivalent of $3000, it's just now in a less valuable currency than the dollar. As the poster above pointed out, it was fairly common for people living in the Weimar Republic to be billionaires or trillionaires, when in reality, they were dirt poor because their money couldn't buy anything.
The most useful tool for looking at situations such as this is something called "Purchasing Power Parity." Basically, PPP measures how much a certain amount of money can actually BUY in a country. After all, the real value of money is its equivalence in goods. Skipping over the more technical aspects of explaining PPP, here's the information you're looking for: In PPP terms, in USD, the per capita GDP of the Dominican Republic is $8,571. So, in translation, the average Dominican makes enough money to buy the equivalent of $8,571 worth of goods in the United States. Obviously, your 3 Gs is enough to buy $3,000 worth of goods. So, considering as you're going for a week with a third of the money an average Dominican makes in a year, you should be pretty well off. And your friend was completely right. The reason remissions (money made overseas and sent home to family members in one's native country) make people relatively wealthy is basically this: the US is a very expensive, very rich country. Most people who live here make a lot of money. However, they also spend a lot of it. By working in the US and then sending wages to another country, you get the benefit of high wages without suffering the high costs. The added value comes from the discrepancy in relative PPPs, not in exchange rates. Is all that clear? It's a complicated subject. And you'd be crazy to go to the DR. Go to Senegal instead. Edit: Source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_ per_capita Edited by Woodpecker on 25 July 2009 at 12:21am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| gogglehead Triglot Senior Member Argentina Joined 6077 days ago 248 posts - 320 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Russian, Italian | Message 4 of 12 25 July 2009 at 12:24am | IP Logged | ||
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You have to bear in mind that the costs of living in other countries are never defined by the basic unit of the dollar. In the way that you seem to perceive the world, if you were to go to turkey, you could live the life of a millionaire. Technically speaking, you could, but the fact is, that just because you would have a million Turkish Lira in your pocket, this would not let you have a "grand time" as you put it.
I have met North Americans in Buenos Aires that say "Gee, wow, I thought we were rich getting three pesos to a dollar, but for your pound, you guys get five pesos!!" Erm, no, if only the world worked that way. You should go to Zimbabwe, where ten US dollars would buy you the (now)legendary 100 trillion Zimbabwean dollar note. Should have a grand time on that. Mmmm not really..... EDIT: The guy above posted first, guess he types faster than me... Edited by gogglehead on 25 July 2009 at 12:30am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Panhead08 Diglot Newbie United States Joined 5610 days ago 6 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 5 of 12 25 July 2009 at 2:09am | IP Logged | ||
I'm perfectly aware that converting my money to Dominican Pesos is not the equivalent of having $108,000 USD. My understanding is that $3,000 USD is their 108,000. Have we established that? Okay. So would I not be well off in THAT country for a week, with 108,000 pesos of their currency? What would make Senegal a better experience for me? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Panhead08 Diglot Newbie United States Joined 5610 days ago 6 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 6 of 12 25 July 2009 at 2:13am | IP Logged | ||
I might be reading you guys' posts wrong, enlighten me. Why would one not live lavishly (according to Zimbabwean and Trukish standards) in Zimbabwe and Turkey once the money was converted into their currency? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Woodpecker Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5813 days ago 351 posts - 590 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), Arabic (Egyptian) Studies: Arabic (classical) | Message 7 of 12 25 July 2009 at 2:51am | IP Logged | ||
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I explained that to you already. You're thinking about currency quantities in terms of your (American) reference frame. Having 1 million in Zimbabwean rand (if that's still what they use...) is meaningless, because a loaf of bread costs more than 1 million ZAR. I think you should reread my first post rather than brushing me irritably aside. You're missing the point.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6381 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map | Message 8 of 12 25 July 2009 at 3:40am | IP Logged | ||
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Panhead,
it's not that complicated. Why don't you just find out how much it costs for a hotel room for a week and how much food will cost and maybe some other basics? Also, try going to the lonely planet forum and asking how far 108,000 DOP will go and DR travelers will likely respond. This type of question gets asked a lot there. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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