A Common Language

As I began to put together the plan for my around-the-world adventure, one problem continually arose as I planned my itinerary. I only speak one language.  Communication could be necessary in nearly a dozen different languages if I wanted to eat, find a place sleep, and get from one place to the next reliably.  

It's not that I haven't given learning another language a good shot over the years. But, each attempt has unfortunately been met with abject failure. Three years of German in high school served as an exercise in futility that netted the ability to say “hi”, “bye” and, inexplicably, “table” in that language. A year's worth of French in college had me semi-conversational for about half a summer.  
But, that summer faded long ago and my French prowess with it.
In an effort to address the issue, I downloaded a number of language guides to my iPod. I could regularly be seen in my car or walking around talking to the air in various tongues. It was all I would listen to for the months leading up to my departure.  I even began to feel confident with my Spanish skills as that time neared. 

As soon as I set foot in Peru, however, all that effort was moot.  I was faced with the sad reality that no one sounded remotely like the guy from my language lessons. Almost instantly, I was reduced yet again to my monolingual self which didn't bode well for the rest of my trip. 

My concerns were thankfully largely unwarranted. Despite not being an official language of most of the countries I visited, English was prominently spoken just about everywhere I went.  I understood that English is one of the most predominant languages in the world, but it was still eye-opening to see just how prominently it plays a role globally.  

Obviously, tourist dollars serve as the core impetus for its omnipresence.  So it was not too surprising to see it employed in a retail or tourism setting.  It was among fellow travelers that I found the prominence of English to be most enlightening. Travelers from places that would normally have a language barrier between them, used English as a lingual bridge of common understanding, even (perhaps especially) when English was not native to either party. I witnessed Spaniards speak with Brazilians in Australia, Chinese with Vietnamese in Thailand, Indians with Italians in Cambodia, and Dutch with Israelis in New Zealand. All using English as a common denominator. 

But, the proliferation of English as the world's common language has a downside as well. Especially for those of us for which it is their sole spoken language. It provides a disincentive to attempt learning how to speak on locals' terms and failure to participate in what is a fundamental aspect of a specific place or culture. While you won't miss out on any key attractions, it is all too easy to get by on only a cursory knowledge of what's going on around you instead of delving deeper into the local culture. 

It is even restricting when it is spoken prevalently by locals. Even with the simplest of transactions, I tended to find myself too often at a point in a conversation where a crucial word was mistranslated, misunderstood or unintentionally omitted (sometimes there is no similar word in English).  That small piece could change my entire understanding of that conversation, exclude a critical piece of information or just plain leave me confused. It also forced me to trust, almost implicitly, what other people were telling me because of my own inability to understand or read what was plainly spoken or written around me.

Of course, when you're visiting over a dozen countries in a year's time, it's a bit much to expect anyone to be fluent at every stop. But, I have found that making an effort to learn even just one additional language can make a substantial difference in surprising ways.  Those that speak at least one other language seem to assimilate better to being in a foreign place, whether they speak the language or not. They seem to be ever-so-slightly more comfortable with, and understanding of, a place than a monolinguist like me.  They also seem to be more apt to grasp even a rudimentary understanding of other languages when necessary. Maybe it's just that a multilingual person has a greater comfort level because their chances of understanding what is going on around them are, at the very least, doubled.

Admittedly, the prevalence of English in my travels served mostly as a crutch that was a bit difficult to give up. But, the more I see people who speak in multiple tongues traveling with a greater sense of ease and comfort, the more I'm inclined to make a more concerted effort to learn at least one new language and see what new doors it might open up around the world. So, if you see me driving around Chicago when I get back and talking in tongues to the air, don't be alarmed. I'm giving it another shot.