Talk
The world has over 5,000 different languages, of which more than twenty have 50 million or more speakers. Travel can bring you into contact with any of these.
This article tries to give an overview of how to cope with language difficulties, an important problem for many travellers. See our List of phrasebooks for information on specific languages.
Coping without knowing the local languageIf you need to spell out a name, note that the letters of the alphabet are named differently in other languages. The letter "i" is pronounced "ee" in most European languages (and "e" is pronounced "eh").
Using EnglishIf you can speak three languages, you're trilingual; If you can speak two languages, you're bilingual; If you can only speak one language, you're anglophone.
Regional languagesIn many areas, it is very useful to learn some of a regional language. This is much easier than trying to learn several local languages, and is generally more useful than any one local language.
Widely used expressionsThe word for tea in many of the world's languages originally came from Chinese, either te (from Minnan in Fujian) or cha (from Cantonese or Mandarin).).
Language learningThere are many ways to learn a language.
Variants, dialects, colloquialisms and accentsVariants, dialects and accents add diversity and colour to travel. Similar to English, other languages can also have dialectal differences between different parts of the world.g.
Language as a reason for travelIt is fairly common for language to be part of the reason for various travel choices.
Cultural aspectsWhen you start achieving conversational proficiency in a language, cultural aspects often start coming into play.
RespectIn some areas, your choice of language can have political connotations.
See also
Sources and licences
- Guide text adapted from the Wikivoyage article "Talk" by its contributors, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikivoyage · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0