Lets talk about language?

I went into China without knowing a single word of Chinese. Luckily there were people at the airport who could speak basic English and they got us a taxi which took us to a hotel. We realised that they overcharged us but that did not matter as it was still very cheap to us. The hotel organised a tour for us to The Great Wall of China which was great and in English. However we went off sightseeing on foot through the city and got lost as we could not read the street signs or the maps that we were given. Luckily we came across an American printing store and found someone in there who could speak English and he made up some cards for us that we could hand to taxi drivers. They had English so that we could understand it and Chinese so that the taxi drivers could take us there. We were so grateful for those cards!

If I traveled to another country it is my responsibility to learn the language or have an interpreter. I am going their country not them coming to my country. I would use drawings if I needed to. Have a translation in my phone or device that I can type my question and they can do the same and translate it back. The internet , LOL.

Well to be honest its a bit dificult being around people that dont speak my language and sometimes its a bit annoying not being able to understand what someone is saying, but thats why I'd like to learn more languages so I dont have to feel so frustrated and left out or miss out on experiencing different cultures. but until I learn I guess I'll just have to try harder to be more tolerant.

Yes. That remind me how difficult for the first time when I visit thailand though some people speak english but most don't. We don't use many "body language" when we visit some places that no one speak english, very embarrassing.

Well language was not discovered, it was a learned behavior, one that evolved, from mare exclamations to sounds relative to emotions. Someone thought, at some point, sings of some sort would help someone react to stimulus instinct. Human kind evolved to rationalism and so did communication. If I go to a place where no one speaks my language, well I would like to learn some of their language to help me be understood. Today's technology is extremely helpful with various devices to help us translate and get by.

hmmmn i think a universal language is not English but signs whoah all people communicates with so much signs and symbols right? when i encountered that i speak english a bit cause i am not fluent and so they are too, LOL but we understand each other by means of signs blah blah blah

I know when I went to MExico I was so glad to have took friends with me that could speak Spanish!

Frustrating at first since I felt like a child that is just beginning to pick up a new language. I began with mimicking the locals, repeating and using phrases they use (usually short ones). Then I learned some new vocabularies (it is quite impossible to learn new words when we are surrounded by people who say them all the time, it does require an open mind though). Then I learned how to string the new words together (what they call basic grammar) and start making 3 - 5 words sentences that made sense. I had the privilege of having a tutor who was willing to teach one to two hours on a daily basis. It helped a ton :)

I've only traveled to countries that speak a different language than my own once in my life and it was quite difficult for me as I had never had the opportunity to study the other languages (Italian and French to be exact). In Italy it was a bit easier for me because I had taken several years of Spanish and the two languages were quite similar. However, in France I don't think that I would have been able to get by at all were it not for the fact that most of the people there spoke at least some English.

Hi Vine, It's hard but since you are already there, you must be creative and innovative enough to express yourself in whatever way that they will understand you. i did by speaking in english then when it did not work i do sign language and it helped. so, what works for me is using simple and conversational english combined with sign language.

communication leads to understanding and lack of it, to misunderstanding. and only the spoken word, or language, as you say, can truly facilitate communication. sign language hardly fulfills the task. but granting, for the sake of argument, i am in a new country with a totally different language, which i don't know a single word of, definitely, i will try to get an interpreter. and where there is none, which is impossible in today's world, i go for signs, which hardly gives...

Yeah,I haven't traveled abroad yet but I think I'd like to make my dream of traveling world come true as soon as possible. I'd like to visit Europe first and many counties there have their own languages.I can't learn the languages at short term and I think maybe I will use body language or talk with someone who can say English.LOL~~

Hello friend i never faced any problem in USA all understood english, though the accent was differnt, they talked so fast, i was in Philippines there too people talked and understood english, english is a universal language The language problem i face is in India, my own country, in north india, i donot face , i can speak oriya, hindi, bengali..... others are similar But in south india this is headache, in market etc no body seem to understand hindi, very few english, i can't understand their language, well i have to use sign language of some sort Thanks for this post Prof

I dont travel, hover I met different kind of people when I go to work. By the way, I can speak a little mandarin, fukien , korean, english and also spanish. One o\time on my to work a lady make a payment oh her fare but her fare is not enough and the driver can not talk mandarin I talk to the lady that the payment she made is not right. Iknow she can speak mandarin then I talked to her in mandarin but unfortunately I can not converse well then I used english languyage luckyly the lady understood me.

i still haven't experience going out of our country so i cannot tell about communicating with sign language. but even not, we have a lot of different languages or dialects being spoken around the country. good thing though, that if i go to other places, we have the common dialect to use, tagalog or we can even use the foreign language, english.

well.. i guess, you've watched the movie 'Eurotrip'.. you could learn much from watching it, if you get a chance to stop laughing and think about it.. the plot takes you across a journey spanning over Europe going to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin and finally Rome..

I have not had the pleasure of traveling to another country other then Canada and that was going to Toronto for only a few minutes so i really didn't get to see much, but i did get to go to Niagara Falls on the tour of the Maid of the Mist and that was kind of different as the mist from the falls blows in your face the whole time they make you wear a raincoat to protect yourself a little bit. I have not had to talk with people that did not speak English so i don't know how well i could relate to them, but have always wanted to travel and maybe someday i will get that chance.

Hi vine88! When I travel to other countries, I often use the English language. Some people understands English since it is the universal language but mostly dont. I had difficulty in asking for directions so I use sign language or just look for available maps. I also felt how foreigners feel when visiting my country since only few people understands English. Happy mylotting!

I have never been out of the country but sure have been in most of the states. I do know a lot of langages and being from the South thought that I would not have any problem staying in any of the south states. I was wrong coz wh I went to hyderabad I was at a loss as I could not mak out a bit of the lanuguage (Telegu) but the house help only understood her native language and none of the other languages so my only way was sign language.

In short, it makes me feel completely, overwhelmingly, out of my depth. In Singapore and Indonesia, most of the residents spoke English. I hired a car and drove up the east coast of Malaysia and it was a totally different experience. None of the businesses had signs in English (nor should they have to - it is their country after all) and I had trouble enough working out where to get something to eat, let alone finding accommodation. I am still unsure what actually happened at a mosque I was sight-seeing. I peered inside. A group of men were sitting around, presumably praying, until they saw me in the doorway. A few of them jumped up,coming towards me, angrily yelling something and waving their arms in a "shooing" motion. Whether it was because I am a woman or because I wasn't appropriately dressed, I have no idea. I just know they didn't want me there. THAT message, I did understand.