Ask Colin: Language Learning

Do you have any tips or advice for a first time solo traveller going to another country with a totally different language?

Sandi

Hey Sandi-

Good on you for deciding to travel solo!

There’s a lot to be gained from solo-travel opportunities, even if you’ve traveled with other people before: your dynamic with strangers will be different, your approach to planning and using your time will be different, and your internal experience will be quite different; all in potentially quite valuable ways.

Even after about a decade of full-time travel, learning languages is still not something for which I have any particular knack. That said, I have picked up a few tricks and strategies that’ve worked pretty well for me, and there are a few resources I can point you toward that should help you grow beyond those basics.

First, it’s helpful to memorize the few dozen basic words that you’ll be using most frequently, day to day.

The specific words might be different for you, based on what you’ll be getting up to while on the road, but I find learning how to say “hello,” “thank you,” “please,” “sorry,” “yes,” “no,” “that,” “a,” “some,” “and,” “help,” the names of a few basic foods, and numbers one through ten, allow me to fumble my way through the vast majority of early conversations when I arrive in a new place.

If you’re keen to speak to people who are enthusiastic mountain climbers or musicians or chefs while in the area, consider also picking up some basics that are specific to those fields of interest. It’s a good idea to practice your pronunciation, alongside your word-knowledge, too, lest you find yourself knowing how to write a vital word, but unable to communicate it to someone out in the broader, pen-and-paperless world.

After you arrive, learn how to pronounce the street where you’re staying, including a cross-street, if possible, and learn phrases you’ll need to communicate to chefs or medical professionals any allergies or conditions you might have. The phrase “how do you say?” is endlessly useful, because it indicates that you don’t speak the language but you want to learn. And there’s a good chance the person to whom you’re speaking will then tell you the word for the object you’re pointing at, properly pronouncing it for you in the process.

In some countries, it’s also a good idea to understand the basics of tone (if relevant), the gendering of words (if relevant), and some fundamentals of conjugation. These components can take quite a while to understand completely, but I find setting aside a little time to memorize the ones I use most frequently helps me pick up more of the language, faster, and better understand what’s happening around me. These are often foundational concepts, and it’s possible that lacking them, you’ll memorize a lot of vocabulary without ever understanding how the words fit together.

I find it helps to do a little research into how things are pronounced (YouTube often serves as a decent resource for this), and where applicable, which written characters represent which sounds or concepts. You can then walk around town, attempting to read signs and menus and newspapers for practice.

In the cases where I’ve managed to pick up the proper linguistic rhythm and a halfway decent accent for an unfamiliar language, it’s almost always been the consequence of spending a great deal of time wandering around, murmuring the words on signs as I walk by them, practicing over and over again the sounds that don’t come naturally to me, and listening to other people talk to figure out pace, tone, and other unwritten rules of how locals actually speak, compared to how books or the internet tell me they should speak.

Because we live in the future, tools like Google Translate can be helpful, allowing you to hold your phone’s camera up to a sign written in another language and immediately see a translated version of the words displayed there. This means you can wander around, look at signs, work on your pronunciation, but also figure out what the words you’re saying actually mean, if you don’t already know them.

Please note that this is an immensely simplified and practical approach to picking up the fundamentals of a language when you’re traveling to an unfamiliar place, not a means of achieving fluency. It’s meant to help you explore and communicate better, and to help you demonstrate that you’ve put some effort into learning the local tongue; which tends to be appreciated, even if you butcher the language as you use it.

In terms of learning for eventual fluency, I’ve been told that spaced repetition is key, and creating opportunities to use the language you’re trying to learn in a challenging and non-judgmental space helps a lot.

I have friends who swear by attending board game groups and painting classes in any new city they visit, not just because they like board games and painting, but because going to these events gives them the opportunity to interact with people in a natural setting that allows them to move beyond the “one coffee please” and “do you have butter?” sorts of engagements to which one might otherwise be limited.

I would also suggest picking and choosing frameworks, exercises, and methods from the many courses and pros in the language-learning space, to figure out which components work best for you and the way you learn and think and travel.

Benny Lewis (of Fluent in 3 Months fame) is a great resource for these sorts of things. He has books and courses, and his work speaks for itself.

Rosetta Stone is a well-known standard for those wanting something closer to a more traditional language course, though other, cheap and free alternatives exist.

Duolingo gamifies the language-learning process in an interesting way, and some people claim this approach keeps them engaged for longer, and more consistently, than more formal and dense options.

It can also be helpful to find an enthusiast of the language you want to learn on YouTube, or finding a podcast in the language you want to learn, and just working your way through their playlist. This type of consistent exposure to the language as it’s actually spoken is optimally paired with more intentional, focused learning, but it’s also great for picking up slang, accent, and pace.

Most important is that you find the right combination of elements that work for you. There’s no one correct way to pick up another language, no perfect level of comprehension to aim for, and no tricks that will work for every person every time they go to a new country—languages vary greatly, and so do our brains.

My advice would be to try a bunch of things, see which ones you enjoy, and which ones work for you, and then cobble together your own you-shaped routine for learning what you want to learn, based on your intended outcomes.

Travel safe and enjoy the journey!





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