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Subject: RE: [worldcruising] English, Spanish,etc
From: Rick Kennerly (nh2f@XXX.XXX)
Date: Sun Dec 24 2000 - 08:53:36 EST
=This language bruhaha has gotten me thinking... would a person be able to
=successfully travel outside the United States with only English spoken?
=
=
You can get by with English only (or German or French or Dutch only--it's
not an American only problem, but we're the worst monoglots in the world).
Most countries now insist on at least a few English courses from elementary
school up and younger people speak better English than their elders. Many
people in cruising destination countries understand English better than they
speak it, but if you don't have a smattering of French or Spanish you'll
really be handicapped in social encounters. If for no other reason than your
not reaching out with a bit of the local language to show you care, so you
will seem cold and arrogant. Of course, as soon as you want to complain,
nobody understand English anymore.
We started off with English-Spanish and French-English dictionaries as well
as basic primers on the language to understand grammar and syntax. We
picked up a English-Dutch dictionary along the way. Now, there are
excellent tape or CD ROM-based programs to teach the basics of the language.
These are particularly good at helping the inflection and pronunciation.
However, paper guides are more useful ashore as you can point to words that
you're screwing up the pronunciation on and the other person can reverse
search English words they're groping for.
I've seen books like Spanish for Cruisers which are a good idea. They focus
on common terms unique to cruising (try finding "stuffing box" in your
off-the-shelf Spanish-English dictionary). Many English language cruising
guides also have a small dictionary section for islands where English is not
the predominate language.
In almost every country we encountered people, often students, who wanted to
improve their English skills by practicing on us. Often these folks were
working to become proficient enough to work in the tourist hotels and
improve their lot in life. They'd offer to be guides or resources for
things we needed and expected little in return, other than your correcting
and improving their English. These are excellent opportunities for you to
insist that they help you with their local language as well and it shows
your respect for their culture and ways (besides, you'll never learn to
swear in Dutch from a book).
True story. We were in Bali touring the mountain rice paddies (and trying
not to have flashbacks of the bad old days) when I mis-stepped and broke
down an earthen dam. The way the water is allocated to fields in Bali, this
was a major disaster as the field was dewatering at an accelerating pace as
the current past the break cut an even larger breach in the dam. A 40
something, poor-as-dirt Balinese farmer wrapped in a diaper-like cloth,
charged over swinging a pretty nasty looking scythe and proceeded to give us
hell not only in Balinese but also in Dutch and English. He ended up making
us sit in the breach while he and his wife and daughter threw mud at our
backs until the dam was sealed. Through it all, we were most amazed that a
man of his lower social and economics class in a remote part of the pacific
could have passable command of three languages--including some real bar room
language--and we were embarrassed that we were essentially English only
speakers. It all ended well. After the dam was sealed, we all went to a
small river and bathed off and then we bought everyone BinTing beers from a
vendor and lounged around the river banks with our new friend until nearly
dark. If you want a surreal dining experience, try eating at the Mexican
Restaurant in Ubud, Bali.
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Rick the Mouseherder - nh2f
Westsail 32 Xapic, Hull #438
Annapolis, MD
A small boat and a suitcase full of money
beats a 40 footer tied to the Bank.
Creative graphic solutions in vinyl for your boat lettering & designs
http://www.mouseherder.com
Visit our Westsail 32 Xapic
http://www.abs.net/~nh2f
The Westsail Owners Assn. Homepage
http://www.westsail.org
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