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I chose " somewhat important " but it really isn't a factor when choosing a destination.
I usually do some research on how much I need to know in a language to get by….except once!
I was much younger and for some stupid reason I didn't even think of learning some basic German words. Which would of been easier if I had a German dictionary ( pre - internet ).
My first meal in a restaurant. No English on the menu, no French ( which I don't speak but am very familiar with and can at least read a menu ) or any pictures.
Server didn't speak English so I just pointed to an item on the menu that looked like a main and hoped for the best.
Thank god it was chicken.
I chose " somewhat important " but it really isn't a factor when choosing a destination.
I usually do some research on how much I need to know in a language to get by….except once!
I was much younger and for some stupid reason I didn't even think of learning some basic German words. Which would of been easier if I had a German dictionary ( pre - internet ).
My first meal in a restaurant. No English on the menu, no French ( which I don't speak but am very familiar with and can at least read a menu ) or any pictures.
Server didn't speak English so I just pointed to an item on the menu that looked like a main and hoped for the best.
Thank god it was chicken.
Reminds me of the first time I went to Germany and knew next to no German words at the time, and was similarly confused with food.
I saw the word "schinken" and thought it was chicken but to my surprise they brought me ham!
And before I mastered my Spanish pronunciation I once asked for "zumo de naraña" in front of a bunch of people instead of "zumo de naranja". Everyone got a good laugh as I had asked for spider juice instead of orange juice!
Reminds me of the first time I went to Germany and knew next to no German words at the time, and was similarly confused with food.
I saw the word "schinken" and thought it was chicken but to my surprise they brought me ham!
And before I mastered my Spanish pronunciation I once asked for "zumo de naraña" in front of a bunch of people instead of "zumo de naranja". Everyone got a good laugh as I had asked for spider juice instead of orange juice!
LOL damn Spaniards for having the word for orange sound so much like the word for spider.
You should be more positive about it because you know that in many countries people are not fluent in English, they don't have to do it either.
Most of monolingual English speakers think in that way, it's paradojic. I dont know if it is your situation.
I don't want to sound selfish but really I don't need to learn any foreign languages.
I only visit countries that have a high standard of English and if not I won't visit. Usually that is a very far away and poor country that I won't visit anyway.
Language is not my main decision more development level. It will be considered though.
While English can be beneficial since it is one of the most spoken/understood languages in the world, nowadays even if I am trying to communicate with someone who does not speak English and if I am not completely fluent in their language, I can simply just download a language conversion app or use Google Translate on my smartphone or tablet and translate it into what ever language I need to use to get my point across.
It does help sometimes, but not that important, it is more fun trying to understand and trying to be understood. Sometimes people want to try their English language skills out. I found in Indonesia last year lot of tour guides learning Japanese.
Funniest thing that I experienced was in Thailand when a Japanese tourist was flapping his arms and clucking like a chicken to get his point across. It was so funny and I ordered whatever he did. LOL...
Yeah, it's not that difficult to get some points across. It took less than half a minute in Korea of gesturing (as if breathing fire like a dragon) to ask the restaurant to lower the spiciness level of what we ordered because the people I was with find Korean food too spicy for them :-)
Funniest thing that I experienced was in Thailand when a Japanese tourist was flapping his arms and clucking like a chicken to get his point across. It was so funny and I ordered whatever he did. LOL...
Yeah, it's not that difficult to get some points across. It took less than half a minute in Korea of gesturing (as if breathing fire like a dragon) to ask the restaurant to lower the spiciness level of what we ordered because the people I was with find Korean food too spicy for them :-)
LOL...yes these moments are always good for a laugh/story.
I only visit countries that have a high standard of English and if not I won't visit. Usually that is a very far away and poor country that I won't visit anyway.
Language is not my main decision more development level. It will be considered though.
It's not like Northern Ireland is super rich either...
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