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Foreign Language and Adventure Travel: What is the Authentic Experience?
cultural
August 29, 2019

Foreign Language and Adventure Travel: What is the Authentic Experience?

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Just recently I had the pleasure of leading our Bike Across France trip with extraordinary guide Enrico Chierici.

We had a well-sized group. The Bike Across France is part of our Bike Across series, with a special focus on food, wine, culture, and biking. We cross four different regions of France and you can taste how the regions differ from one another.

You can also hear the differences.

Listening closely, you can pick-up the clear pronunciation of western French compared to that lovely “vowel-squeeze” so characteristic of the south.

That is if people talk to you in French.

Once upon a time, the French were notorious for firing off verb forms and vocabulary in their native language without any consideration of the listener’s mother tongue.

But all this seems to have changed in recent years.

I noticed more and more French people speaking English during this trip to France. Part of me considered this very considerate by our wait and hotel staff. Another part of me wished they would all speak French.

After all, we were in France.

I began to consider the pros and cons of speaking the local language versus speaking English to American tourists. For me, the authenticity of a trip to a foreign country is missing a fundamental element if the locals talk to you in a language other than their native tongue.

But I’m a lover of languages. Maybe I’m wrong.

Here’s what I came up with:

English

Pros:

Efficiency (If You’re Lucky)

Possibly the biggest advantage of speaking English in a foreign country is efficiency. If you need anything, you know how to ask for it. There isn’t any effort involved. And you can be confident the person receiving the message on the other end will understand you.

Or at least that seems to be the case.

Keep in mind most natives working in tourism haven’t left their country to master a foreign language. Or if they have, three weeks in Scotland will have them speaking Scottish-English as well as three weeks in Costa Rica will have you speaking Spanish.

Therefore, the efficiency lies more in the ease of the English speaker communicating their message. Getting what you need from the recipient may still be a different challenge.

Comfort and Ease

There is a sense of familiarity with speaking one’s native tongue. It feels comfortable and friendly. There is no room for error (of course, even here we need to ask ourselves how properly we speak our native language). Whether you are from the mid-west, New England or Texas, you feel no need to change your accent. On the contrary, you’re probably very proud of it.

Unlimited Access to Anything

The world is your huitre. Even the most obscure request is at your fingertips. Maybe there is something you’ve seen window-shopping and need to have. Maybe you’re missing some random object from your toiletries. There is no barrier preventing you from asking for it.

Getting it – as we mentioned above – may be another issue.

English

Cons:

Traveling in a Bubble – Never Moving Out of your Comfort Zone

Traveling in an Anglophone sphere everywhere you go prevents you from learning what is unfamiliar; in a sense, it prevents you from growing. But not just on a linguistic level, but culturally and socially as well. If more of the world traveled in small language bubbles, how would we ever communicate and grow?

I can’t help but emphasize how avoiding foreign language is – for me – parallel to avoiding culture, history, art, the whole development of a country and its people. You lose authenticity. What is the point of traveling to Belgium if you’re not going to learn a bit of Flemish?

Local Language

Cons

Misunderstanding

Possibly the most obvious of the linguistic pratfalls, misunderstanding on both the speaker’s and the listener’s part is commonplace. It’s a lot like riding a bicycle: if you don’t know how to balance on two wheels the rest will be difficult. Not knowing the fundamentals of speaking or understanding a linguistic code will make communicating impossible.

Delays

Trying to get your point across in a language that isn’t yours will take some time. It will lead to frustration. You’ll find yourself struggling like a kindergartener with new words. If you are a high-profile executive and have a lot of self-esteem, it may be difficult to assume the role of the individual with a lacking in vocabulary.

Possible Prejudice

Your mispronunciation and the listener’s misunderstanding will lead you to prejudice if you’re not careful. In French, many vowel sounds are distinct to native speakers but to non-native speakers “u” and “ou” have the same phoneme.

But they don’t.

Again, you may assume your listener is simply being difficult. You may think they don’t “want” to understand you. That is when frustration becomes prejudice.

Local Language

Pros

Authenticity

You can’t avoid the linguistic component when you travel. Even domestically. Madison, Wisconsin has a different accent then Boston, Massachusetts; and both have a different lexicon than Memphis, Tennessee.

But isn’t that partly why you travel anyway?

I used to work for another tour operator. I left because few (if any) of their guides spoke any foreign language. Ciclismo Classico has bi-lingual (if not multi-lingual) guides who introduce you to the language. Which brings me to my next point…

Learning

Wouldn’t it be great to learn the differences between Castilian Spanish and Catalan? Or know why Catalan and Provençal are virtually identical languages? How about why the Basque language has almost no connection to any modern-day Latinate lexicon?

The Ciclismo Classico guides have the skills to give you basic language instruction (some of us are foreign language teachers). This enables learning and understanding. Thus, you’re able to absorb (and notice) more during your bike ride.

Expanding Your Comfort Zone

Absorbing and recognizing more words and symbols helps expands your comfort zone. Now you’re not just stuck with middle-school Spanish. You can use that Spanish plus some refreshers we’ve shown you to start making connections and conclusions on your own. Independence discovered.

The next thing you know, you are conversing with the locals.

Smiling Faces

And they are happy. As are you.

This is a Ciclismo Classico cultural immersion: it’s not just about the bike. The ability to move outside of what is comfortable for you and make new connections is what travel is all about.

So book now for one of our many trips and learn something new today!

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