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Choose 5 languages for travel | ||
Tags: Travel | Choosing a Language | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| maxval Pentaglot Senior Member Bulgaria maxval.co.nr Joined 4883 days ago 852 posts - 1577 votes  Speaks: Hungarian*, Bulgarian, English, Spanish, Russian Studies: Latin, Modern Hebrew | Message 33 of 52 16 January 2011 at 2:16pm | IP Logged | ||
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My choices for travel languages:
1. English, 2. English, 3. English, 4. English, 5. English. Reason: because it is the only de facto official language of airports, railway stations, hotels, restaurants and tourist agencies. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| polyglHot Pentaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 4876 days ago 173 posts - 229 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, German, Spanish, Indonesian Studies: Russian | Message 34 of 52 16 January 2011 at 2:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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So far no one has suggested travel WITHOUT English, I'd like to find out if it is
possible. Outside of the western world of course. One would however, have to speak languages that many people speak as a second language. I don't know. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 4940 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 35 of 52 16 January 2011 at 4:13pm | IP Logged | ||
I can think of one trip I've made that English really didn't help me - Morocco. I would have liked to have been able to speak French. I could sputter out a few words because of my Italian/Catalan/Spanish (in fact, Spanish did help in a couple situations), but French was the de facto tourist language there. But talking beyond tourism, I was able to meet some really great people in both Spain and Italy because I spoke the languages. I wouldn't have done that just with English. R. == 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| CaucusWolf Senior Member United States Joined 5082 days ago 191 posts - 234 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Arabic (Written), Japanese | Message 36 of 52 17 January 2011 at 12:43am | IP Logged | ||
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I noticed alot of people have said Arabic. My pet peeve is whether you can really lump MSA and all of the dialects as one language. MSA is its own language afterall and all of the dialects are very different from MSA and eachother. Edited by CaucusWolf on 17 January 2011 at 12:45am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cheshire_Cat Triglot Newbie Germany Joined 5129 days ago 17 posts - 23 votes Speaks: German*, English, Russian Studies: Dari, Spanish, Arabic (Written), Norwegian, Mandarin, Mongolian, Estonian | Message 37 of 52 17 January 2011 at 11:55am | IP Logged | ||
Not everywhere... If you travel to former Soviet Union/Central Asia it is definitely Russian... in other parts of the world it may be French or Spanish... If my only intention would be to 1. travel the WHOLE world and 2. be understood almost everywhere, I'd choose... 1. Russian (Eastern Europe, Russia, Armenia, Azerbaidjan, Georgia, Central Asia, Mongolia) 2. French (France, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Canada, Caribbean/Pacific Islands, northern and western parts of Africa and some people in Laos, Cambodia and Viet Nam also speak French) 3. Spanish (Spain, South and Central America except for Brazil) 4. English (Europe, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, North America, parts of Africa esp. southern Part, Austraila, New Zealand, many Asians speak English also) 5. Arabian (North Africa, Middle East and in non-arabian islamic countries at least some people speak Arabian because of Qur'an) If I could choose a sixth or even a seventh language it would be first Swahili and then Mandarin, to better cover East Africa and/or East Asia... with all those seven you'd be understood nearly everywhere. If money wouldn't matter I'd try to travel almost everywhere. I'd buy cars, sleep in a tent or rent a room, never stay anywhere for more than a few days and see as much as possible. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| pineappleboom Groupie United States languageloft-ashley. Joined 5063 days ago 66 posts - 76 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, French, Russian | Message 38 of 52 17 January 2011 at 6:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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English
French Chinese Arabic Hindi 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cathrynm Senior Member United States junglevision.co Joined 5935 days ago 910 posts - 1232 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Finnish | Message 39 of 52 17 January 2011 at 8:47pm | IP Logged | ||
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1. English.
2. Loud, slow English. 3. Written English. 4. Simply add 'o' to every English word. "Where-o is-o bathroom-o." 5. Pointing with fingers. Become a mime. I went through this recently. I hired a maid service to clean my father's house in Los Angeles, and these women did not understand any English at all. I don't remember encountering monolingual Spanish speakers in northern California, but in Southern California, I guess this is more common. Didn't occur to me to try Japanese or Finnish. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Desacrator48 Groupie United States Joined 5118 days ago 93 posts - 127 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French | Message 40 of 52 17 January 2011 at 11:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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Maybe some clarification on the parameters for choosing the 5 languages to travel would help. Some are answering based on the 5 languages they would like to know based on where in the world they want to travel.
But I take this question to mean which 5 languages do we think might be the most useful to know that will help us get by if we travel the world. In that case, I must not be the only one who is always curious to observe which language materials like museum guides and audio tours are offered in for tourists. You will always see English and Spanish and French, so those should be a starter for top 5 languages for traveling. There is usually an Asian language like Mandarin or Japanese. Also, touristy places like museums around the world already are knowledgeable about the nationalities of people who have the ability to travel, and what kind of languages they might speak as their native, or what they might know as a 2nd or 3rd. With that being said, my 5 would be: English Spanish French Mandarin Arabic If this question was asked 20 years ago, Japanese would probably be substituted for Mandarin, but not in today's world. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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