It’s Andrew again and today I will be writing about
languages when studying abroad. While it
is obvious that travel abroad necessitates learning at least some of a foreign
language, there are still all sorts of linguistic curveballs that can come
up. First of all, countries frequently
are more linguistically diverse than we think.
See what languages are spoken in your host country here:
http://langscape.umd.edu/map.php (I was surprised when I looked at Peru).
If you are lucky, you will see names you know in local
toponyms, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Victor Hugo stations in Paris:
The other side of the coin is that sometimes a language you
were not expecting comes up, like the Greek on this plaque on the exterior wall
of a Hungarian church:
Likewise,
sometimes you are led to believe that English more common than it is. Take for example St. Petersburg, Russia. Before my trip there, I read that the names
of streets and metro stations are printed in English and, while not completely
inaccurate, what the writers of those travel guides failed to mention is that
the words are just rendered in the Latin alphabet, not actually translated into
English:
So, while “Ulitsa Aleksandra Bloka”, “Gostiny Dvor”, and
“Rybatskoe” are written in a way that an English speaker would recognize, they
still don’t mean much to us. I needed
all the out-of-practice Russian I had left just to get around.
In any case, there is some strategic language learning you
can do to get by with minimal incident.
I found it helpful to learn the local words for parts of cities such as
“street”, “plaza”, and “bridge”. A
friend of mine makes it a point to learn “thank you” in the vernacular of all
the countries she visits. Words like
those make it easier to interact with the people and the place.
Keep in mind that any trip will not be
without linguistic hang-ups, which is just as well because they are all part of
the experience (and make for some great stories!).
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Don't miss out on your own study abroad experience!
Find out more about Andrew's Spanish Language & Courses program at http://studiesabroad.com/programs/country/spain/city/malaga
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