Hot answers tagged languages
34
I have backpacked around a fair bit in India - I grew up there, by the way - and yet I still mostly had to use English to get myself understood when I was visiting other states. India has 22 official languages, so the curious thing is even for Indians it is often English that is the binding thread - the one language that I could communicate in any part of ...
21
This year I travelled from London to Mongolia overland. There was a period from leaving Saint Petersburg, Russia to reaching Khiva, Uzbekistan - where for 10 days, I did not hear any native English. Two people had broken English, that was it.
So no, it will NOT get you by wherever you are in the world. However, you can still get by - with hand signals, ...
19
While saying "No" in Asia is generally different from other countries in western Europe, I made the experience that - depending on how well you know people and in which environment you are - it is much more difficult to find out what the actual situation is in Japan than let's say in China, Singapore etc. I experienced the biggest differences to the Japanese ...
18
English works everywhere with people buying and selling things and in the hospitality and tourism busniness.
Hindi does not work everywhere and seems to not even be respected in the parts of the country (ie most of India) where it is not the primary language. I found very few people helpful in trying to teach me basic Hindi phrases, the opposite that I ...
17
While this phenomenon exists, it's not as big a problem as you think, and it affects primarily relationships with people you already know. If you ask a complete stranger for directions, they will say "no" or direct you somewhere else if they can't help you, and if they go out of their way to help you they're doing it entirely voluntarily. Sure, you might ...
15
Yiddish is only spoken in very specific neighborhoods by very specific people. Usually you would identify them by being rather old (middle-aged+) and very religious (you can see by their clothing). You would probably encounter them in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak.
Some younger members of the certain Ashkenazi religious communities speak Yiddish, as well as some ...
14
It's a common problem I had in South America - I really wanted to improve my Spanish while travelling as it gives you a much better insight into your travels, and can talk to locals more. But so often they'd just switch to English because they welcomed a chance to learn English themselves.
You can either do the obvious (ask them to speak French so you can ...
14
I was in Southern India earlier this year and noticed many Indians speaking English with each other. This is because they simply don't speak each others native language.
I don't think people in the south don't want to speak in Hindi, they simply can't. That's why English is so important, because most people speak better English than any second Indian ...
14
The answer is yes, but you will have to speak a bit slower to most Brazilians, since they are not so used to listening to Portuguese with "Portuguese accent".
The other way around is easier because Portuguese people are used to listen to Brazilian accent in soap operas.
In Angola, Mozambique, etc. differences also exist but the understanding might be a ...
13
You need a bit more information. Are you going with a tour or solo?
I went solo and I don't really know any Russian aside form what I picked up while there. I stayed on the Europe side of the Urals, and bounced between hostels. It is definitely more difficult to go solo, but with some pedimiming and patience, it is easy enough. Contrary to a lot of ...
13
The "North vs South" divide exists. South Indians feel North Indians are loud, boorish, and have a superiority complex, and do not attempt to learn or respect local culture, language and such. North Indians feel South Indians are unfriendly, are sambar-rasam people. Both parties have some pre-conceived notions.
In the end it depends on you, and the ...
12
If you are planning on travelling to only places such as Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad - essentially the metros - English will not be a problem. There is no one language that really works in India. But in most urban areas such as the ones listed above, English will work without any problem. At most "touristy" places too, you are very likely ...
10
While some people have mentioned that you sometimes get a translation in English on signs, I've found that especially in ex-Soviet states, this often isn't the case.
That doesn't mean you can't get by. Sometimes a picture with the words is worth a thousand words:
(landmine warning on the Tajikistan border with Afghanistan)
10
Unterkunft - the most general word that includes everything else (just like accomodation)
Hotel
Gasthof, Gasthaus - translates best as "inn", may or may not offer rooms as well as food
Pension - similar to bed&breakfast, the most common in rurual areas
Berghütte, Hütte - shelter for hikers and mountaineers in alpine areas, generally offers only shared ...
10
If you know Russian, use it. Despite the political situation, Georgians are smart and open minded. They may not like the Russian government but they love Russian people and they love the Russian language.
I'm pretty convinced after seven months in Georgia that people learn Russian there for just the same reason foreigners everywhere learn English: it's cool ...
9
As a general rule when travelling, I've always been surprised by how helpful pharmacists are.
They often speak quite a bit of English
In many countries they have the authority to provide certain prescription drugs otherwise available only from doctors
They often are surprisingly good at telling you what the local equivalent is for an American medication, ...
9
You said EVERYWHERE so the answer is no. Try getting around in rural Thailand with just English. I would say there's a lot of places you can't get by with just English. But within Thailand, only Bangkok and the big tourist destinations are the only places English will get you by. Even in Chiangmai, there will be times when you will need a translator or ...
9
If it's more than a day or two, I would try to memorize the following words in Russian:
numbers 1 to 3
hello, bye
please, thanks
excuse me/sorry
Those alone will get you a long way.
Also, it certainly helps you to get around and find shops/hotels/etc if you're able to read Cyrillic. A lot of international words are the same, just look differently. From ...
9
That is true that relationships are a little cold, but I didn't notice any open hostility while traveling to Baltic countries. Since people there have different attitude to Russian language (some may consider it as language of their oppressors), I try by default to start conversation in English (it is spoken at sufficient level by many people), if the person ...
8
I'm in Russia now - just got off the train in Volgograd. I know only a few words and am travelling on my own. Fair warning - Russia (my second visit) is the hardest country I've travelled in. I struggle with the Cyrillic - but it's definitely worth learning. It gets faster to read quite quickly.
One of the best suggestions is to write requests down. ...
8
I traveled around Maharashtra (including Mumbai) and Andhra Pradesh and I had no problem getting by with just English. I did try and learn a few phrases in Hindi, Telugu, and Urdu, however, I hardly used any of them. In the few instances where I did try and speak in the native language (e.g., when trying to bargain), I was often met with a blank stare. ...
8
In general all major airlines will have flight attendants on board that speak at least the following languages :
The main language of the country they are flying FROM
The main language of the country they are flying TO
English
That's not to say that every flight attendant on the flight will speak all of those languages, but there will be at least one ...
8
One type of German accommodation for informal, budget, bucolic accommodation is a Naturfreundehaus, which literally means "friends of nature-house". Those are youth-hostel style places in often quite stunning settings in the German speaking countries.
Naturfreunde-Haus Kolm Saigurn, Austria. Photo ⓒ unknown.
An international search-engine in German and ...
8
You can't really count on Harbor Masters knowing English although International Maritime Organization mandates at the very least a basic proficiency in English and knowledge of Standard Marine Navigational Vocabulary for all people responsible for communicating to ships at sea or ports.
In addition to this I have found Standard Marine Communication Phrases ...
7
I cross-posted your question here. According to the forum's moderator, there is a well-connected Spanish teacher named Ramon who can probably help you. Looks like you can find his contact info here: http://www.sanpedrospanishschool.org/pages/contacts.html
7
You don't have to be able to read the alphabet to travel but learning it will save you from a lot of confusion when you're trying to synchronize the map, the signs and what you heard from the other people.
Cyrillic ain't that hard—the hardest part may be to realize that some letters don't match (Cyrillic “В”, “Р”, “С” and “У” are actually “V”, “R”, “S” and ...
7
If you didn't study Russian for some time, you shouldn't read the Cyrillic. Some letters are similar to Latin ones, but are pronounced differently, and this can confuse you.
Also, you definitely should not worry about English in Saint-Petersburg and Moscow - there are lots of people who speak English well. But in Irkutsk it can be a problem, and you should ...
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