Speaking a foreign language badly, not knowing a word for something, or only knowing the most basic greetings. People all over the world are generally delighted that you bothered at all, and are eager to teach you more. This has been true for me in big cities (even Paris) and tiny villages. The more obscure the language, the more delighted they will be. I have botched so many languages and conversations with strangers at this point that I am immune from embarrassment about it.
People all over the world are generally delighted that you bothered at all, and are eager to teach you more.
Agreed. All you need is how to say hi/hello, thanks, am sorry/excuse me and goodbye (bonus: “not very fluent with that-language”).
body language is pretty standard all over the world these days; globalization and the internet may have contributed to this (unless people there have been living under a rock for over half a century)
For Eg, acting “drinking from an imaginary bottle” signals as you are thirsty, requesting water.
You will be amazed with your brain capacity to sock up more of that language while in that country.
Yes!! I love picking up little tidbits in other languages while traveling.
It’s also amazing how ubiquitous English has become in the last 20 years, thanks to the internet. Back in the day, French or Spanish was required for some countries that spoke zero English, and that isn’t really the case anymore.
I had to preempt it because there is always such a circlejerk about how awful Paris is to tourists and to the rest of France etc., but that hasn’t been my experience at all. Parisians went out of their way to be kind to us (Americans) on several occasions. I do speak French relatively well, but that doesn’t account for the times people were genuinely so so nice in Paris, or also having this experience in cities like NYC and Amsterdam. Anywhere you go, the average person is really nice and helpful.
Speaking a foreign language badly, not knowing a word for something, or only knowing the most basic greetings. People all over the world are generally delighted that you bothered at all, and are eager to teach you more. This has been true for me in big cities (even Paris) and tiny villages. The more obscure the language, the more delighted they will be. I have botched so many languages and conversations with strangers at this point that I am immune from embarrassment about it.
Agreed. All you need is how to say hi/hello, thanks, am sorry/excuse me and goodbye (bonus: “not very fluent with that-language”).
body language is pretty standard all over the world these days; globalization and the internet may have contributed to this (unless people there have been living under a rock for over half a century)
For Eg, acting “drinking from an imaginary bottle” signals as you are thirsty, requesting water.
You will be amazed with your brain capacity to sock up more of that language while in that country.
Yes!! I love picking up little tidbits in other languages while traveling.
It’s also amazing how ubiquitous English has become in the last 20 years, thanks to the internet. Back in the day, French or Spanish was required for some countries that spoke zero English, and that isn’t really the case anymore.
I love the (even Paris).
the french hate Parisians. the Parisians hate Parisians. the entire city runs on distain
I had to preempt it because there is always such a circlejerk about how awful Paris is to tourists and to the rest of France etc., but that hasn’t been my experience at all. Parisians went out of their way to be kind to us (Americans) on several occasions. I do speak French relatively well, but that doesn’t account for the times people were genuinely so so nice in Paris, or also having this experience in cities like NYC and Amsterdam. Anywhere you go, the average person is really nice and helpful.