Anyone who’s ever taken the time to learn a foreign language, whether it be French, German or Arabic, knows it’s tough. Between conjugating verbs, pronunciation, sentence structure and vocabulary, there’s a lot to learn.
C'est la vie
Plus, think about English. Have you ever listened to someone from Liverpool? I have and I couldn’t understand a word any of them were saying (and they probably had a difficult time understanding me, too). It’s like that with other languages, too. Even the difference between French in France and French in Belgium can be a huge obstacle. Nevermind trying to understand French in Africa or the Caribbean.
People spend years, decades, learning a foreign language, and even then, they come across linguistic challenges when they try to utilize their skills.
Challenges ahead
So, if you’re planning a trip and think that learning the native language will help you, you’re right ... and wrong. I’ve spent more than 18 months in France now and have yet to be able to have a legitimate conversation in French (granted, I haven’t tried as hard as I could). For me, the bigger challenge isn’t learning the language, it’s understanding when someone else speaks. The accents are tough. They use colloquialisms (as we do). Their vocabularies seem enormous. They speak at mach speed.
Bon jour
My suggestion would be to learn the basics: Hello, goodbye, please, thank you. Being able to understand a few words at an airport, train/bus station and restaurant are also helpful (I never would have ordered beouf tartare had I know it was raw hamburger). But don’t feel you need to be fluent in the language of the country you’re planning to visit. Patience, common courtesy and a smile will go a lot further than perfect language skills and a bad attitude.
Audio, audio, audio
Now, if you feel you absolutely must learn more of the language before you travel, I have one main suggestion: Audio. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of the printed word, but when it comes to language, a book won’t do. You need to hear the language. Download some CDs (I’ve used both Michel Thomas and Pimsleur and both have been excellent) to your MP3 player and go for it. Yes, books can be good for supplementary materials, but audio is the key.
