Learning the language...
Jun. 28th, 2007 08:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khiemtranIt's another little irony that the true world traveller probably won't know the language of the country they are in - simply because there's no time to learn each one.
I used to make it a principle to try to learn at least some of the language of each place I visited. Besides being good manners and a good window into the local culture, it was also a very useful survival skill. I learnt very early on how differently you could be treated if you showed you'd at least made something of an effort. (I once arrived late at night at a small hotel in a hutong in Beijing and spoke only English because my brain was too tired for Chinese. Shortly afterwards, I came back down to ask how to make a local call on the phone and was careful to speak only putonghua. The difference in treatment I received was remarkable.)
But once you get into travel for business, the rules start to change. For one thing, there's often very little time to brush up on a language beforehand. A backpacker might have months to plan their trip (or not plan, as they feel like it). A business traveller might need to be on the other side of the world by Tueday. Plus, you're normally there for a reason and that reason isn't likely to be your language skills. Spending time learning the language when you might have been brushing up on the area of expertise you're supposed to have is a form of disrespect of a different kind.
Then there's the question of convenience. Is it better to use your own language if you know it make communication easier? Or should you make the locals sit through your attempts to mangle their mother tongue until at least they give up and switch to yours? (A friend from Wollongong once had this happen in France when he was trying to book a hotel room. After ten minutes, the hotelier told him "Alright, that's enough. You can speak English now.")
But what do other people think?
I used to make it a principle to try to learn at least some of the language of each place I visited. Besides being good manners and a good window into the local culture, it was also a very useful survival skill. I learnt very early on how differently you could be treated if you showed you'd at least made something of an effort. (I once arrived late at night at a small hotel in a hutong in Beijing and spoke only English because my brain was too tired for Chinese. Shortly afterwards, I came back down to ask how to make a local call on the phone and was careful to speak only putonghua. The difference in treatment I received was remarkable.)
But once you get into travel for business, the rules start to change. For one thing, there's often very little time to brush up on a language beforehand. A backpacker might have months to plan their trip (or not plan, as they feel like it). A business traveller might need to be on the other side of the world by Tueday. Plus, you're normally there for a reason and that reason isn't likely to be your language skills. Spending time learning the language when you might have been brushing up on the area of expertise you're supposed to have is a form of disrespect of a different kind.
Then there's the question of convenience. Is it better to use your own language if you know it make communication easier? Or should you make the locals sit through your attempts to mangle their mother tongue until at least they give up and switch to yours? (A friend from Wollongong once had this happen in France when he was trying to book a hotel room. After ten minutes, the hotelier told him "Alright, that's enough. You can speak English now.")
But what do other people think?
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no subject
Date: 2007-06-28 03:34 pm (UTC)I've had the occasional conversation with English on one side and French on the other. I completely mangle French if I attempt to speak it, but I can understand slow simple French. I can get surprisingly far with a French speaker who's the same way with English if we each stick to our own language.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-28 05:44 pm (UTC)