Let’s talk about the language barrier when traveling. Recently I took a trip to Vienna, Austria and Sofia, Bulgaria. While I was in Vienna, I took two-day trips to Budapest, Hungary, and Bratislava, Slovakia. All four of these countries speak different languages even though they are relatively close to each other. And none of these four countries speak English or French, which left me feeling a bit out of my depth.

I have traveled quite a lot and I’ve visited many countries before where I didn’t speak the language. However, on this particular trip, I felt especially strange about not being able to communicate in spoken languages. Most recently when I’ve traveled, I’ve been going to either French or English speaking countries, meaning that I haven’t run into the problem of being unable to communicate in quite some time. This trip made me very grateful for the language learning opportunities I’ve had in my life that have given me the ability to learn how to speak French. And it made me realize how much we, as English speakers, take the opportunity to speak English while traveling for granted.

There was not a single place I walked into during my trip where the people did not speak English. English was the default language with tourists, meaning that my mother, with whom I was traveling, and I, had no problems being understood. We even heard other tourists, whose first language was clearly not English, resorting to English when asking for things like audio guides at museums when their own language was not available.

It’s incredible, when you think about it, how easy it is to travel when you speak English. Everyone in any kind of touristy area will be able to speak English with you, and no one expects English speakers to speak another language. In fact, they’re quite surprised when an English speaker switches to another language. Yet we, as native English speakers, expect everyone else to be able to seamlessly switch between languages, even though this is a feat of which most of us are incapable.

If it’s so easy for an English speaker to travel around the world, think about how difficult it is for a non-English speaker to travel to an English speaking country. Let’s take the US for example. So few people there speak a second language that I can only imagine how impossible it would be to travel in most parts of our country without knowing any English. Some of my students tell me that they really want to travel to and maybe live in the US. My response to them is always that they really need to focus on their English lessons if they want to be able to do this. In the US, I warn them, very few people they meet will speak French. If they want to be able to communicate with anyone, they must be able to speak English, because English speakers don’t tend to think it’s as important to learn a second language, and therefore it will be very difficult to communicate. 

This brings me to the thing I realize about English speakers every time I travel: we can be arrogant. Everyone speaks our language, so we do not try and learn theirs. I felt slightly ashamed during my trip of not being able to speak the language in the countries I visited. As a child, my parents always taught my siblings and me the greetings and necessary phrases in the native language wherever we were traveling, which I’m thankful for. This is a baseline level of respect we should all aim for when traveling. No, it’s probably not possible to learn a new language every time you visit a new place, but it is possible to learn a few phrases. This shows the locals that you are at least trying to communicate in their language without immediately assuming they speak yours. In most places, if you start an interaction by trying to speak the native language, you’ll notice the person you’re talking to will become even more friendly and more willing to switch to English to continue talking to you. It shows respect to your host country’s culture and way of life and it will make your trips much more enjoyable.

At the risk of sounding obvious, here’s a reminder that language is essential for communication. When traveling, being able to communicate, even a little bit, in the host language, will open lines of communication for you. Don’t underestimate the power of language and don’t make the grave mistake many English speakers make and neglect to learn any other language. Even if you never become fully fluent in a second language, the experience of learning it will open your eyes to just how difficult it is and help you appreciate the effort it takes for people to speak in English with you when you’re a tourist in their country.

And with that, happy language learning and happy traveling! 

À bientôt!

Shannon