Wouldn’t you like to be able to talk to the locals? It might be easier than you think…
We travel to experience what’s “out there” in this world of ours, no? And a big part of “what’s out there” is people. Seeing people in far-away places is one thing, but interacting with them, even just a little, takes the travel experience to another level. With that thought in mind, lets talk to the locals!
People Love it…
It’s true. People love it when you make an effort to talk to them in their language. Most people instinctively want to help. And just like that, a conversation gets started. Even if you didn’t get very far in the conversation, you probably made a friend.
You don’t have to be “fluent” to be able to have a conversation with a local in their language. But you do have to be able to say quite a bit more than bonjour, ciao, or xin chào. If you want to converse with someone in their language, even at a basic level, you have to do some work – but it takes less knowledge of the language than you might think.
To converse with someone in their language, we need to be able to do four things:
Recognize foreign words when they’re spoken.
Translate them into our language so we get the meaning.
Translate what we want to say into their language.
Pronounce it well enough for them to understand what we say.
We need to know a lot of foreign words and grammar rules. We need to memorize a bunch of stuff. There’s no way around it. Over the years, mostly through trial and error, I’ve developed a language learning method and a tool that work for me, so I’m sharing them here: How to Learn a Language.
But First…
I’ve had memorable experiences talking to locals in France, Italy, and with a little help, a few other places. Let me share a few here. Maybe they’ll provide some motivation.
A Fall Afternoon in Bordeaux
My wife and I were on a private wine-tasting tour in Bordeaux, France. (Just for the record, it was Bordeaux, and it was private, but it wasn’t one of those hotsy-totsy tours. OK… I suppose it was a little hotsy-totsy).
Anyway, we arrived at a small estate where we had an appointment for a tasting. We knocked on the door. Nothing. The place was quiet. We knocked again. Finally the proprietor answered the door. Ah, yes. Our appointment. “Un moment,” he said. Then he disappeared back into the house.
He returned with a glass, (or maybe crystal), carafe half-full of wine in one hand, and a partially-filled wine glass in the other. He motioned us to follow him as he led us into the building next door. It looked like a big barn. Inside, barrels of wine were stacked everywhere. We gathered around a large wooden table where he poured us each a taste from the carafe. “Parlez-vous francais?” he asked. “Some, but not very well,” I replied, in french.
He started talking to me in french about wine. It was rough at first, but I got most of what he was saying. He went slowly, and repeating words sometimes to help me understand. The more he talked, the more I understood, and the more I understood, the more passionate he became about giving me an education that I’d never get anywhere else. Thanks to knowing just enough french, it was a day I’ll never forget.
Taxi Ride in Lisbon
While in Lisbon, Portugal, we grabbed a taxi to take us across town. I’d guess the driver was in his late twenties. My Portuguese is shaky, but it was good enough to start a conversation. We ended up talking the whole way, partly in English, partly in portuguese.
The driver had never been outside of Lisbon, but he was something of an “Americanophile,” if there is such a thing. He peppered us with questions about what life was really like in the United States. His hero was John F. Kennedy. He listens to recordings of Kennedy’s speeches the way other people listen to their favorite pop group. He even recited part of one of JFK’s speeches to us. Wow.
After he dropped us off, we just stood there. “Did that really just happen?” That driver was amazing. He was so interesting, as well as being interested in everything. I’m sure he opened up because I started things off with a little bit of portuguese.
Two Parisian Restaurants
We were in Paris at dinnertime. It was back in the days before I knew to make a reservation rather than just show up. We saw a small neighborhood restaurant, (our favorite kind). It looked good. I inquired in French about a table for two. No. No reservation. We were grudgingly led in to the only free table in the tiny dining room.
Our server had a “what are you two doing here?” attitude. Parisians can be pretty intimidating when they feel like it. I pressed on with my French. Pretty soon, our initially cold-as-ice server was helping me with my pronunciation. By the end of the meal, we were practically old friends.
On another occasion in Paris, I wanted to have dinner at a restaurant that was one of the hot spots at the time. There was a weeks-long waiting list to get in. I went there as the lunch hour was ending. I asked the chef/owner, in French, if there were any cancellations or possibility of dining there tonight. Sorry. (Not sorry). No way.
We talked a bit more. I didn’t push it, and started to leave. I hadn’t gotten very far when he called me back. “OK. But we’d have to come early, at such-and-such time, and we could only have the table for two hours.”
We have a once-in-a-lifetime meal that night. Even better, our table was near the bread station where the owner cut the bread himself. He checked on us so many time, we felt like he had invited us to have dinner in his home. Do you think any of this would have happened if I hadn’t been making an effort to speak French? I don’t think so.
We Have Some Things Working for Us
It’s true that to be able to talk to locals, we have to learn quite a bit of our target language, but we have some things working for us. If you’re an english speaker or know some english, most people know at least a tiny bit, so that helps. Lots of words in the Romance languages, say, french, italian, spanish, and portuguese, share the same latin root, so people can guess the meaning.
English speakers have another thing going for them. A lot of non-english speakers want to learn a few more english words. As the conversation proceeds, they pick up a few words, and we pick up a few words. It can be pretty entertaining for all involved.
OK, then. Let’s get started!
