“Oh the places you can go”…. That’s how a very popular children’s book begins. That phrase captures the desire of many to go everywhere and do everything imaginable. While the sense of adventure and exploration isn’t for everyone, a large percentage of people yearn for those opportunities. The possibilities with travel are nearly endless. That brings me to the question of why more people don’t travel to the far-flung places of the world. While there are likely to be a variety of reasons for this, certainly a major contributor is the travel language barrier.
It’s no doubt that not knowing the language is a challenge. However, avoiding travel destinations that don’t speak your language is a terrible way to limit your possibilities. Therefore, I want to provide some of my best tips for overcoming travel language barriers.
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English Language Default
As this post is written in English and the vast majority of visitors to this website speak and write English, I will assume throughout this guide that English is the reader’s primary language. However, if that is not the case, the same principles still apply. The only caveat being that finding English language alternatives are generally much easier than many other languages.
Find Your Native Language in a Foreign Country
Native Country Hotel Chains
When visiting a foreign country that speaks a different language, find the pockets that speak your native language. You wouldn’t want to do this for your whole trip as it takes away from the cultural immersion. However, a few opportunities for this will give you the chance to converse in a more relaxed environment. One of my favorite ways to do this is through hotel chains that are native to my home country. Alternatively, I would look for a hotel chain that is based in a country that speaks the same native language.
For Americans, hotel chains like IHG, Hilton, Marriott, and Hyatt have a worldwide presence. The vast majority of staff at these hotels throughout the world speak English. While I don’t always recommend a chain hotel, I would gravitate to them more than usual if a culture and language is different from my own. There is a comfort returning to a place every night that can understand your needs. Hotel staff and especially concierge are able to provide great recommendations about where to go for meals, transportation, and attractions. While you could try to get this information from other places, no resource is as convenient and helpful as the hotel staff. A native country hotel chain is by far the simplest way to feel at ease in a place where you don’t know the language.
English Language Attractions
Major museums and attractions in large international cities typically provide the descriptions of the exhibits in multiple languages. While English is almost always one of the options, other major languages may also be available. If the museum or attraction doesn’t have descriptions in English, many will provide an audio guide or audio guide app in English. While I will stop short of telling travelers not to go to museums or tours without a translation in their native language, those experiences lose a lot when you don’t have context.
As an example, I went to a Caribbean Maritime Museum in Cartagena, Colombia. This museum did not provide English translations, and all the exhibits were in Spanish. The museum recounted the history of Colombia both as a colony of Spain and after its independence and how the Caribbean impacted that history. The museum described several major sea battles, pirates, the purpose and founding of different cities on the coast, and much more. As I have studied Spanish for several years, I was able to understand some of the exhibits. However, I believe I missed much of the information. I could not translate whole sections of the museum’s information. While the exhibits were neat to look at, it felt like a waste of the admission fee not being able to get all the information.
Some places will not provide English translations in the most important museums. In this situation, visitors have a decision to make – go to the museum without translations, hire a guide who can translate, or skip the museum. For something visual like art that doesn’t need translations, by all means go without any language help. However, for a history museum or something that requires a description, hiring a guide is a great option. These guides will accompany you to the museum and describe the exhibits you are seeing. Even better, these guides can sometimes get expedited entry to the museum, and they can provide more information than what is listed on the plaques. Obviously, this will cost more than the museum entry fee. Ultimately, you will have to determine the value of the experience with and without language assistance to make your decision.
Book in Advance and Online
As mentioned above, many large, international cities and large attractions will provide English language options. However, travelers should expect that the non-native language options will be offered less frequently. For this reason, I highly recommend booking ahead to ensure the experience is in the language of your choice. While a museum could offer guided tours of their exhibits eight times a day, it wouldn’t be uncommon for an English tour to be only offered twice. English is likely not the only foreign language offered. Spanish, German, and French are other common languages worldwide. In certain regions, other languages would be offered that align with the typical tourist. All this goes to say that the English options are sometimes sparingly offered. Therefore, do research and book ahead of time. You don’t want to miss the opportunity to work one of those into your itinerary.
The other advantage of booking in advance is that travelers can often do this online. It is much easier to navigate buying a ticket, finding tour times, and understanding operating hours from a webpage. Oftentimes, webpages for major tourist sites have an English version. If an English version isn’t published, Google will translate any webpage to a number of other languages (including English). While the Google translation isn’t perfect, it’s good enough to understand and build an itinerary.
Learn Some of the Language
Perhaps the most obvious way to get through a language barrier is to learn the language. However, it’s not realistic to learn the language of every place that you may visit. Still it’s appropriate to learn some essential phrases. Some of the most used words when traveling tend to be: the bill/check, bathroom, a beer, hello, goodbye, the cost, yes, and no. All of these are essential to remember or write down.
Equally important are the words that convey thanks to those you meet during your journey. Always try to remember “Please” and “Thank you” when traveling. Being able to speak these two words to those who help is essential. Remember that you are in their country. They have no responsibility to speak your language; yet, most will go out of their way to understand you and point you in the best direction.
Translation Apps
There will be moments when hand gestures and the small number of phrases that you have learned will not be sufficient to read information, convey your requests, or provide a sufficient answer to a question. This is where a translation app like Google Translate can be helpful. While I try to use translation apps sparingly, sometimes they are instrumental. For example, if you are having a hard time remembering a word (like “check, please”) or need to know a more obscure word (like “pizza”), a translation app can come to the rescue. I find translation apps to be the most helpful in restaurants that have no English menus and wait staff who speak very little English. Translation apps are able to provide a full menu translation using your phone’s camera. As with all translation services, the interpretation isn’t perfect, but it’s good enough to understand.
If you want to use a translation app, there are a couple things you need to do ahead of time to prepare. Apps use cell phone data to access dictionaries and translate the pictures captured by the phone’s camera. For this reason, users will need Wi-Fi or cellular data everywhere they want to use the translate app. Most of the time when I travel abroad, I enable my cell phone’s international data plan. However, that can sometimes be expensive. Therefore, decide if the cost is worth the convenience it will bring to you.
If you determine it’s not worth the cost, all is not lost. There are a couple of app features that can be used offline with proper planning. Google Translate provides the option to download a translation dictionary to the app prior to leaving your home country or while on a Wi-Fi network (like at your hotel). With this, travelers can enter single words or simple phrases into the app for translation without needing a cell signal. The full image translation will not work with the downloaded dictionary, but again you should be able to key in what you need to get by.
Be Courteous, Polite, and Patient
Finally, it’s important to be courteous, polite, and patient. It’s easy to get frustrated when you can’t communicate what you need. The inability to communicate properly is something that most of us haven’t confronted since our very early childhood. However, as I previously said, it’s important to remember that you are in someone else’s home country. They have welcomed you, and they are attempting to understand you and tend to your wants/needs. Put yourself in their shoes, and think about them being in your own home country. Being respectful will go a long way into communicating thanks to those around you, and it will make your trip so much more enjoyable for all.
