If we’ve heard it said once, we’re heard it a million times: “Don’t worry about the language thing. They all speak English over there.” We’ve even heard one man crass enough to say that if you waved an American twenty dollar bill (he called it a “handy Andy”), anyone in the world could understand your English. While he may have had a point about American money, albeit a crude one, he really kind of missed the point. He figured all he needed to travel abroad were travelers’ checks and travel insurance.
First of all, understand that English is widely spoken around most of the world. Where it isn’t the primary language, it is almost invariably the second language par choice. English has certainly become the current century’s lingua franca and you are likely to find at least a few people who speak reasonably good English anywhere you go. However, going into someone else’s country and expecting them to speak your language is kind of like having someone come over to your house and expecting you to grill them a steak. You certainly could do it, but no one has the right to expect you to do it.
Here are some more reasons you might want to consider buying a phrase book along with your travel insurance when you’re making plans to go travel abroad:
- Believe it or not, you might actually end up in a situation where no one speaks English. That’s usually not a problem, but if you need to find, say, the bathroom or the police, it might be a good idea to know at least a few words.
- It’s simply good manners. Learning at least how to share pleasantries in the native language where you are vacationing will be appreciated, even by those who speak perfect English. They’re likely to find it amusing when you speak their language with an American accent, but they will also generally appreciate your attempt.
- There are parts of experiencing any culture that are experienced best with an understanding of the language. Don’t get me wrong, you can still have a good time in Paris if you can’t read Molière, but being able to read and speak some of the language certainly makes the trip all that much more enjoyable.
- If you’re in a group, you’ll impress those who didn’t bother to learn any of the language. We know, it’s cheesy, but it works. It isn’t nearly as hard to learn a foreign language as people make it out to be, especially if you are only learning the basics. But they don’t need to know that.
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