Comments on: Don’t Learn a Foreign Language

By: Fiona

Fiona — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:56:31 +0000

Isn’t that just an awesome feeling, to understand another language without knowing it? This happened to me in Tokyo Disney World, of all places! Though I took four years of Japanese in high school (with a teacher who was fluent only in English and Spanish), it wasn’t until I got to Japan that I really knew what the language was about.
A group of about 3-4 boys came up to my host sister, joking about the “cute American girl,” assuming I didn’t know the language. When I replied back, “thanks for the compliment!” their faces turned red pretty quickly! We got a huge laugh out of it!

By: jforestphotos

jforestphotos — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:28:28 +0000

I took minor amounts of french in high school, and I have taken some Italian classes in the last year. I took a trip to Italy in march/april of this year, and I was able to function quite well. My French however, not so good. I have been able to travel through France, Austria, the Netherlands, amongst others, without knowing the language. I really do think that you can get by, without knowing the language. You really can mime your way through, if I can do it, anyone can. I suck at languages!

-Josh

By: Olivier

Olivier — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 01:04:55 +0000

I agree and had to resort to this kind of communication in Laos, Cambodia and Thailand more than once. But in every country I go, before going —more precisely: while going— I make a point to learn how to say “hello”, “please”, “thank you” and “goodbye”, and how to salute. That’s not much but I feel it’s good to be able to show a little respect and friendliness this way.
Thanks for our site!

By: Melissa

Melissa — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 09:24:00 +0000

totally agree! i went to see some family in germany for a few months, couldn’t speak a word of german but i knew how to play charades!! we were able to have the greatest conversations!!

By: Brian Barker

Brian Barker — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 10:13:58 +0000

I agree with Bill Chapman

Apparently President Barack Obama wants everyone to learn a foreign language?

The British learn French, the Australians study Japanese and the Americans prefer Spanish. Yet this leaves Mandarin Chinese, Russian and Arabic out of the equation
.
Why not teach a common neutral non-national language, in all countries, in all schools, worldwide?

An interesting video can be seen at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8837438938991452670 and a glimpse of the global language Esperanto can be seen at http://www.lernu.net

By: Bill Chapman

Bill Chapman — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 09:15:47 +0000

The title was provocative and eye-catching. However, I would not like your readers to think that they should not make any efforts to learn the languager(s) of the country they are visiting.

Life is too short to learn every language on the face of the earth, so you need to make choices. I make use of Esperanto, and I recommend it to your readers. Take a look at http://www.esperanto.net

By: NomadicMatt

NomadicMatt — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:37:28 +0000

@pam: you win the challenge lol

By: pam

pam — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:05:24 +0000

While we were in Hanoi trying to get breakfast, my friend actually made the sound of a chicken and pantomimed cracking an egg. It was a hilarious and wonderful moment.

And yeah, we got our eggs.

By: Stephen Chapman

Stephen Chapman — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:59:35 +0000

Matt your comment above offers me some relief to know that you too are surprised by some of the feedback written here. This is a very controversial post with a ridiculous title. I understand how a language barrier doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t interact, I’ve had plenty of those experiences, but choosing not to even attempt to learn a language seems just plain lazy, disrespectful and a little arrogant. Languages are part of a place, part of their identity and therefore part of the reason we travel. We should all be active in helping to preserve cultures and a sense of place as we move around the world. Learning a language, or atleast attempting to is one way of doing this. Not only is it an important form of stewardship and caring for destinations, but it is empowering to foreign langauge speakers to hear us attempt to speak and understand their language.

By: Erica

Erica — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 19:26:49 +0000

The title “Don’t learn a foreign language” certainly grabbed my attention. I could take you up on the challenge, I won’t deny that non verbal communication is important, but I love learning new words too much to avoid it alltogether. Even if it was only for a day.