Most travelers pride themselves and make an attempt to learn some of every language in the country they are traveling in. The locals appreciated any attempt to speak their language – at least to be able to make greetings and comments of common courtesy.
Unfortunately, I have, through sheer laziness, not followed their enviable example. Other than English, I know more Spanish than any other language, but can barely function in it. I took two one-week courses in Spanish when I was in Guatemala and became proficient in a lot of vocabulary and could conjugate most present-tense verbs. I have traveled in more Spanish-speaking countries than any other. But through lack of exposure and practice, I have forgotten much of what I learned. I can still manage the most basic functions “No hablo Espanol” is very handy as the police or military at checkpoints and traffic stops eventually give up. “Necesito un habitatione pour una noches, single” covers most other uses.
Even though I am from Canada and my last name is French, French is our second language and we take French grammar for 5 years in school, my conversational French is minimal. I have lived in Western Canada all my life, and basically, never get the chance to speak French.
Almost everywhere one travels, someone speaks some English, the most universal of travel languages. Google Translate is a god-send as it allows access to translate virtually every other language using typing or voice. If you have access to data on your phone, you can function everywhere. If you have no data, most of the common languages can be downloaded to use offline.
Here is how I rationalize my lack of interest in learning new languages.
1. Language aptitude and my brain. Our brains are all wired differently and mine simply isn’t wired for language. This may have something to do with my Asperger’s syndrome?
2. The ability to learn any language decreases progressively after age 12. I am 69 now and any proclivity or aptitude for language has been decreasing for 57 years.
3. I think that having conversational language ability is the only truly valuable type of language ability to have. Without it, one cannot truly talk to someone with a different language. I once had a girlfriend who spent a great deal of effort learning Spanish. She belonged to a local group that ‘practiced’ regularly. But when we were in Mexico and chatting with a couple at a beach one evening, her Spanish was almost useless to have meaningful communication. It takes many courses and practice to become “conversational”.
I travel to so many countries and experience so many new languages, that I simply do not have the energy or time to learn any of them. All I would be doing is studying something that I have little aptitude for or interest in. It would be a real chore.
4. Most native language speakers don’t understand your attempts to speak their language unless it is pronounced perfectly – every accent and vowel needs to be pronounced perfectly. English speakers are very tolerant of all the accents and mispronunciations of non-native English speakers – but they aren’t. This is easily the most common reason I make no attempt at learning more than simply courtesy greetings of any language. It actually drives me crazy.