Language Considerations

Some General Points

Changing languages is already a form of travel...

Whether it’s to connect deeply with as many people as possible or simply to get the essential information you need once you’re there, travellers should know at least the basics of one—or even several—languages. But be careful: depending on your level and goals, you don’t learn a language the same way, nor even with the same tools.

Before You Start

It’s true that the more languages you speak, the faster you’ll pick up new ones. That said, childhood remains the best time to learn, for many reasons—it’s the golden window for language acquisition.

Learning several languages from the same family in succession, like Spanish, Italian, or Portuguese, isn’t always the best idea. Unless you’re at a very advanced level, interference happens, and everything gets muddled. So, if you want to become multilingual, it’s better to alternate between languages from different origins.

Apparently, if the French struggle, it’s primarily due to a physiological issue. Every language has its own sound range, and our ears are naturally tuned only to the sounds of our mother tongue. Unfortunately, French has a relatively narrow range, making it hard for us to recognise—and even harder to reproduce—certain sounds from other languages. This explains some of the difficulties, unlike, for example, Russians or Portuguese speakers, who are luckier in this regard, as they can hear almost all the sounds produced by most other languages.

The Useful and the "Superfluous"

Still, you can always take comfort in the fact that for travel, a small basic vocabulary is often enough and already opens up a lot of possibilities. That’s why various apps and pocket multilingual translators have been created, offering translations for 4 to 10 languages in words or phrases to help those who feel they’re really not gifted.

But whether we like it or not, English is increasingly becoming the universal language, which in a way limits the number of "useful" languages for travellers (pack your dictionary). After all, almost everywhere, you’ll eventually find someone—though not always quickly—with some vague notions of English. So, a French-speaking traveller who knows at least a little English, as well as some Spanish (a good gateway to Portuguese), won’t have too much trouble getting around the world.

Vocabulary

In practice, with just 40 or 50 words, you can manage to sleep, eat, and ask for directions without too much trouble—even if understanding the answers is another story. In this case, don’t worry too much about grammar; keep it simple. For example, instead of learning words and their opposites, it’s better to know and use a negation term (e.g., "good" and "not good"). And if you say "I am yesterday" instead of "I was," everyone will understand. Besides, don’t forget that communication also happens through gestures and other imaginable forms of expression.

At another level, with around 500 words and some basic grammar, you can make yourself understood and grasp the essentials of what others are saying (about 10% of French people only have a usual vocabulary of... 500 French words).

Of course, you still have to learn this minimum. Like many things, it depends on your motivation and willpower, especially if you’re learning on your own. Obviously, a language with an alphabet similar to ours seems easier to learn. But watch out for sound reproduction—at this level, Japanese is, according to linguists, almost as easy as Spanish. For this, audio methods can be useful for pronunciation.

Methods

So, if you only want to learn the basics for travel, specialised guide collections should be enough. They usually include vocabulary and ready-made phrases for different situations you might encounter.

Otherwise, more comprehensive methods exist in various collections. Once you have some basics, you can move on to bilingual novels and short stories, or magazines specialising in language improvement, not to mention bilingual comics, which are easy to understand, before finally tackling foreign media.

But the key is to choose books or methods that suit your tastes, because when it comes to languages, the best way to learn is through desire.

Learning Online

Or at least picking up some useful basics for travel. It’s entirely possible with specialised websites and, above all, the massive arrival of dedicated apps that allow you to learn (and listen to) basic vocabulary and a few common expressions. Given the range of options now available, you can easily find one that fits your needs (languages, level, method...).