Did you ever vist a country where English is not spoken and you don't speak the

[MsLeFever]

right after high school I went to live in Japan for a year as an exchange student. All I knew how to say was "Where is the rest room?". I was pretty lonely for awhile but everyone was very helpful and many people knew a bit of English. Within a month or 2 I was getting along ok!

 

[trappednabox]

You might wanna get used to "Baka Gaijin"

Just kidding.

Okay, since I haven't started my lessons yet tell me what it means! PLEASE!!!

 

[gdulaney]

Last year we were in Cozumel and we asked one of the store clerks (who was from the US, but living in Mexico) where she and her friends bought their alcohol. She directed us to the grocery store. Who can see where this is going? We're in Mexico and we're headed to the grocery store. Tourists don't normally go to the grocery store, right? That's ABSOLUTELY right!! Not only was everything in pesos (can you imagine the crazy tourists trying to calculate the exchange rate)....but this was like the Mexican equivelent of a Wal-Mart. Everything under the sun and more. We got up to the register, with our bottles of booze clutched carefully, only to realize that duh, we're in Mexico, in a Mexican grocery store....everybody speaks Spanish. Luckily we had a friendly cashier who had a young bag boy, I think he might have been her son? The young boy (maybe about 10-years old) was able to translate for us. It was really an eye-opener. I'd always had compassion for folks who don't speak English, but this really brought it home. They were very friendly and found us pretty darn funny. I can only guess what the dinner conversation was like that night... "Honey, you'll never guess what happened today." "What?" "Two crazy tourist came in to buy booze." "Did they speak Spanish?" "The crazy woman said 'hola', but I think that might have been the only word she knew."

Ginny

ps--- I've seen those dingy tourist that get frustrated or angry when others don't speak English...and sometimes they do say really nasty things. We realized that we didn't have a Spanish-to-English dictionary and that if we couldn't communicate, it was our own darn fault. I mean how many tourist shops sell rum? Exactly. But visiting the grocery store (as crazy as it sounds) was a really cool experience and I wouldn't trade it. Maybe it was the fact that we were pretty humble and we tried to communicate that prompted the young boy to pipe up with the translation?

 

[christineann]

I travelled in Europe after college, and the only place we had a problem was France. We heard some Frenchmen speaking English with another man, and when we said, "excuse me, could you help us with directions?" they denied that they could speak English. Everyone else was very gracious and helpful. My son studied abroad in Germany last summer, and he and his classmates encountered the same problem in France.

 

[Serena]

I was in germany for a while and didn't speak any. My landlords didn't speak any english either. We had to have neighbors or her daughter translate. Luckily we did a mean bit of sign language and smiling.

At one point, my h and the landlord were speaking a smattering of french to each other. Some how it worked.

Then we went on vacation to france. An engagement party that lasted a week long. I knew no french. I had to have people translate, luckily his sister was there.
The last day we played UNO in french. I could do that.

 

[palmtreegirl]

Back in 1987 I went on a trip to the USSR. I was 16 years old and the only thing I knew how to say in Russian was spaceba, which means thank you. It was an amazing trip.

I've also been to Denmark and Mexico but both of those places a lot of the people we met knew some english so it wasn't very hard to communicate.

 

[WishinOnaStar]

Several years ago we visited Quebec. They were very hostile to anyone speaking english. I think it was during the time they were really pushing to separate from english canada. Anyway, it wasn't a good experience and I doubt if we would ever go back.

 

[teachingmyown]

In 94 we were in Hong Kong and one afternoon took an excursion that separated us from our group and so had to fend for ourselves in order to get back to the hotel. We did ok...many, many residents of Hong Kong speak enough English to help us, but I was so glad to have my DH along. By myself, I'm not sure how well I would have managed.

Loved Hong Kong and would love to go back there sometime, but it is SOOOOO far away!!!

 

[Planogirl]

I stubbornly spoke Dutch during my last trip to Holland but just about every Dutchman spoke back to me in English. I wanted to practice my Dutch but they wanted to be nice by speaking in my native language.

The only people I found that didn't speak English were some people that lived out in the country. Just about EVERYONE speaks English there!

 

[Rafiki Rafiki Rafiki]

Paris was a very grim reminder that 3 years of French get you nowhere in Paris.

The Azores were much better--even though they spoke Portuguese, they attempted English.

London brought some relief, but I was still afraid to order anything with meat in it...even the McDonald's at Heathrow didn't taste like BEEF

 

[supercarrie]

I've been to Mexico, France, Spain, Finland, and Russia.

Mexico - no problem, everyone spoke English (this was Baja CA)

France/Spain - we traveled with a guide some of the time, used phrasebooks, etc. In Paris some people were pretty hostile towards us, even as we made the effort to say certain things. Outside of Paris, everyone was incredibly friendly and helpful. I was traveling with my best friend's family - mom is a Spanish teacher so we had no trouble in Spain, and I was studying Spanish in school so it was a good way to practice.

Finland - We were in Helsinki for a couple of days (en route to Russia) and this was perhaps the most difficult. Mostly we got around through just pointing at menus, etc to order (I was on a high school trip.) We went to a semi-final hockey game one night which was perhaps the most interesting experience - very few people spoke English except enough to notice the huge group of American high schoolers walking through the arena and comment on it to us. But everyone was very friendly, and we got a lot of "America!!" comments and cheers by drunk sports fans. (This was about 5 days before the Iraq war began.)

Russia - My experience varied. We had a debate conference in English, so all of the Russian students spoke good English. We had dinner in their homes one evening, and the mother spoke no English whatsoever, but understood a little. Outside of that, our advisors didn't let us wander very far away in the city. Obviously all the signs, etc were in Russian so we mostly just observed things. What I found pretty funny was at the flea market in Moscow, the vendors spoke not only English but Spanish (and I imagine several other languages) as well. Being high schoolers, we decided to start bargaining in Spanish for fun, and ended up having long drawn out conversations with them, too. My friends who spoke no English, but only Spanish to the vendors ended up getting lower prices on their items as well.

 

[carolfoy]

India, Lots of different African countries where they do speak native tongues that are even more incomprehensible than swahili, I usually get by cos I speak 'Football' (guess you guys call it soccer) and a lot of head nodding and 'ahh!, Manchester United' goes on!

 

[snoopy]

Not only have I visited, I've lived in a country where I didn't speak the native language. I lived in France for 1 1/2 years and know very little French. DH is fluent, which helped, and I picked up enough to get me by. Most French people speak English, but I always felt its proper to at least try and speak the language of the country where you are visiting or residing. We also lived in Italy for a short time -- my grandmother is Italian and has always spoken to us in Italian, so I was a lot more familiar with that language (but DH wasn't -- so he learned enough from me to get by).

There are actually very few places you will visit where there aren't people who speak English. However, I'd recommend getting an English-other language dictionary just so you'll have a few words under your belt before visting.

 

[Disney Doll]

I have been to Germany and Spain. Didn't speak a word of German, and only had high school Spanish. In most European countries, folks know enough English so you can get your point across to each other. I was actually amazed in Germany that there were many German words that were very similar to English. It wasn't as hard to figure out as I thought it would be.

 

[minniepumpernickel]

I hate to disillusion you guys, but a lot of other countries are bi-or multilingual. In Japan and Mexico, tons of people speak English as their second language. Compare that to how a large percentage of our born and breds don't even use correct grammar, or spelling!

I also know a Russian Jewish family that came here, and they speak five languages and are very educated.

 

[caitycaity]

i have traveled to france several times but i know enough french to get by.

however, when i went to amsterdam, i didn't know a word of dutch. it wasn't a problem, but i wouldn't go back for other reasons.

 

[Crankyshank]

I've been to several countries in Europe with only knowing a couple of words of the native language and haven't had too much difficulty making myself understood or vice versa. Even in Moscow, which was probably the hardest time. I've also have never experienced people being rude to me because I was an American or didn't speak the language.

The most important thing is to try and learn a few words in the language. Like good morning/afternoon, please, thank you, and good-bye. It's considered polite to at least make an attempt to converse in the main language of the city you are visiting.

 

[Bob Slydell]

Been to a lot of countries, but in general either A.) the people mostly spoke some English (places like Tokyo and Singapore, where English is widely spoken, at least in the business community) or B.) went with someone who was fluent in the country's language (like most of S. America, which I usually went with someone fluent in Spanish).

The only real problem I recall was trying to communicate with a cab driver in Sao Paulo. He only spoke Portuguese and the people I was with only spoke Spanish -- and apparently, speaking Spanish to a Brazilian pisses them off because they think you're from Argentina or Chile and they don't like those folks.

 

[toto2]

Several years ago we visited Quebec. They were very hostile to anyone speaking english. I think it was during the time they were really pushing to separate from english canada. Anyway, it wasn't a good experience and I doubt if we would ever go back.

Dont let one experience sour you on my beautifull province. Like anywhere else in the world , we should nerver expect that people will speak English ( or french for us french speakers) .

I went to Turkey , Egypt , Israel , spain , Italy , Dominican Republic whitout speaking a word of any of those languages. With only the phrase pages from the different travel book i had , we manage quite well. I am a backpack traveller , never with a group and often go off the beaten track , of the " tourists" roads, so meeting an english speaker is often more a faint hope than a reality.

In Turkey , with only the guide books , we manage to have a long conversation with a Turkish family on a long bus journey. The were obviously a lot pourrer than us , but manage to give us food , share cigarettes and even give us a lighter that one of the little girls had woven a little basket around it. I always entered a store or hotel saying greeting in the native language , always tried to find the right phrase in the books, and always came back from those trips with incredible satisfaction.

Our next travel plan will probably be India or somewhere in Asia , and it will be the same thing. For me , languge is never an excuse not to travel somewhere.

And just to finish about Québec , if it would be so bad , i dout we would have so many american tourists visiting us

 

[Planogirl]

however, when i went to amsterdam, i didn't know a word of dutch. it wasn't a problem, but i wouldn't go back for other reasons.

You've said that before and you're making me curious. Since I spent part of my childhood there and have been a few times since I really wonder what might have annoyed you so much. Off topic I know but I can't help wondering.