Holidays where you dont know the language at all.

[Branleuse]

I imagine a lot of people dont give this much thought, but do you ever go to non touristy places where you dont know the language, and how do people manage it.
My son is always trying to enthuse me about obscure places to visit, but I cant imagine trying to get around without knowing the language. I am fine in french and can cope with spain with phrasebook help or in touristy areas, and everywhere else ive been can either get by in french or english, but I do like the idea of going to other places, but the language thing makes me feel a bit anxious. Does this factor into anyone elses holiday decisions?

Can't say I ever choose my destinations based on language. There's always someone around who speaks at least a little bit of English, and if not, there's google translate.

There's always someone around who speaks at least a little bit of English - not necessarily in China

not necessarily in China

I never had an issue in China.

I don't tend to worry about this - you can get some basics from lonely planet guides, use google translate or wechat in China, and generally people understand what you want based on the situation - eg I bought a local bus ticket in Gyeongju Korea - bus driver assumes I want to buy a ticket, I point to destination on my map and the amount due was displayed next to cash box/container - so all good.
I speak German and can get by in French, Dutch and Mandarin and don't tend to worry if I look like a complete idiot.

The internet 😊 apart from Cuba I buy a local sim and shove it in an old phone. That way have access to maps, and google translate

I live in China and ime it can be bit challenging in rural areas - but the Chinese app wechat is great for translation.

The international language of mime. Smile, point.

I live in China and ime it can be bit challenging in rural areas

It's the same where I live. But the vast majority of people travelling to a country, as a tourist, for the first time aren't going to go that far outside the touristy areas, so it language shouldn't be a massive issue.

And if you're planning on trekking around rural China, you might want to make sure you have a Smart Phone or a basic English to Mandarin/Canto book.

To be fair as well, I've been to parts of the UK where I didn't understand a word anyone said.

I've never had a problem. Generally someone speaks a bit of English or French.

My only tricky experience was reading the station signs in the Moscow underground. They are all in Cyrillic and the trains don't stop for long!

Another one here who has previously lived in Mainland China and it really is easier than you'd think to get by with a bit of pointing, nodding and some v basic phrases. Google translate makes everything 10x easier now too.

We were in China and got by with a combination of pointing at menus and holding up fingers for the number of something we wanted. We also downloaded Chinese on google translate and used that a bit - you can hover it over text for instant translation, although found that a little bit hit and miss. Did loads of research beforehand eg how to use the underground (easy), how to get public transport to a particular place etc. But what we found was that when someone wants to sell you something any language barrier could be overcome! We never depended on finding someone to speak English which in China is rare except at the main tourist sites.

How obscure are the places you want to go? Realistically most of the places you go as a tourist, are expecting tourists.

I've been to Budapest which is massively touristy. Hungarian has no relationship to other European languages at all - but loads of people still speak English, you can navigate around using Google maps and the public transport app, when you go in a museum or restaurant people will prob speak English or you can point.

My most obscure experience would be going to a remote village in Lesotho reachable only by pony with no phone or TV as a health worker. I got asked if I supported Man United.

Seriously English influence is everywhere.

@countFosco yes its limiting, hence me asking the question. Im not massively well travelled, like many people I guess. Is that really amazing?
I travel to France several times a year, and visit family in Malta where they all speak english. In Poland most people spoke english, and in Morrocco I spoke French. In Spain i tried to speak spanish and they all replied in English.

Id like to go to more places, especially as my son is super interested in the idea of travel and countries, but I always seem to end up feeling panicky about making myself understood. Im getting worse for this rather than better

Thanks for the replies. I think I might try and be brave next year. Im one of those people who thinks everyone is going to laugh at me if i make a mistake, as ive had it happen before, or have an uncomfortable feeling that everyone hates the english so its something to be ashamed of etc. This is lessened if i can make myself understood, but I guess I cant know unless I try

Depends where you go. If you aren’t going too remote:

China tends to be easy as English is widely spoken in the cities and if not you can get by with minimal prep in Pin Yun. Also, HSBC and Standard Chartered requires staff to speak English so if you were desperate you could go to their offices for help. Another option is to do find yourself an Indian cafe or restaurant if you need help as most (even immigrants) will speak fluent English.

English is one of the national languages of India, and the government requires fluency in English and another official language for a lot of government roles (including management ones in the railway) so no matter how remote you feel you are you probably won’t be far from an English speaker.

Japan and South Korea can be difficult but Japanese and Korean people can often be very eager to help and will often help you find an English speaker to help. South Korea has a thriving Indian expat community and you can often just approach an Indian looking person for help.

In fact out of all the countries I have ever been to, Rural France has probably been the place where I had the most problems making myself understood. As locals could understand neither my French nor my English!

I think you need to embrace it - for me that’s part of the adventure! I’ve been lost many times in places where no one speaks English and I speak nothing but English. People have always been really kind and helpful and when both parties are trying, you can get your message across.

Im not even talking about anything as exotic as china. Im just talking about european places really, but outside of capital cities.

I think I used to think english was more widely spoken until I spent a lot of time in France and found its actually really not.

I find it a bit stressful too, but I think mainly because between me and my dh we speak enough of a few European languages to get around. However, you just have to be confident and try your best! There are lots of countries where people in touristy areas will speak English (or perhaps another language you might know), and we always try to use what basic words we do have (hello/please/thank you etc). Also as PPs said phrasebooks and Google translate are fantastic (the photo function and translating as you talk into it are particularly useful)

@Branleuse I think France can be difficult because the french tend to be more likely to be annoyed if you assume they speak French/don't think you're trying hard enough, compared to say Spain or Germany. If you go there a lot though just make sure you know how to say the things you say frequently. You can practice with Duolingo, or try speaking the french phrases you learn into Google translate to translate then back to English. That will show whether you're pronouncing things correctly.

This has never bothered me in the slightest, and I travelled widely from a young age. I’ve always found it interesting quite how much you can figure out even when you don’t speak the language, and how quickly you pick up a smattering.

The only place I ever felt completely floored by not being able to understand anything, written or spoken, was in an underground station in an industrial city in Japan where tourists just don’t go. Nobody was willing or able to help me. Lots of pointing at me though! Eventually I figured out how to get where I needed to go, and then I met up with a friend who lived there so from then it was fine. It was a pretty disorientating and unnerving experience though (long before mobile phones).

I think it's possible to get by anywhere. I've been to countries where I don't know a word of the language and although it does make me feel stupid.sometimes I enjoy going. If you are really stuck Google translate is great.

I like these

www.amazon.co.uk/Point-Travellers-Language-Dieter-Graf/dp/3980880273/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_0/258-9938704-5721541?psc=1&pf_rd_p=e44592b5-e56d-44c2-a4f9-dbdc09b29395&_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_wg=wCaQg&pf_rd_r=QTCRM0S7X0PWNEE8AAHE&pd_rd_i=3980880273&pd_rd_w=OQxVO&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&refRID=QTCRM0S7X0PWNEE8AAHE&pd_rd_r=9b7b85a7-cd7d-4fea-9dbd-0a2d4a7dc6d1

We went to Russia independently and neither of us spoke a single word of Russian but it was completely fine. Attempting to decipher the Cyrillic alphabet on signs etc was challenging at first, but we started to get to grips with it after a few days. Most people we encountered in Moscow & St Petersburg spoke a bit of English, and Google translate was very useful.

I’m certainly not going to let a Language barrier stop me going to interesting places.

That was a stupidly long link...

It’s a small flip—book book full of pictures to point at

No language needed

The only country that I've ever noticed a language barrier and people be arseholes about it is Wales.

I've never been across China or Japan, but everywhere else, there's a good % of people under 60, who speak English. To our shame, they also speak German, Russian, French and Hebrew etc and this is the rural poor. Although they have their sights on hotel etc work, or migration.

I wonder if we had more incentive to migrate would we would learn other languages. However the population that learn multiple languages from poorer countries, often have very little other education, that we'd recognise.

Where are the obscure places?