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Where are all the language tourists?

| 53 comments | Category: travel

In this day and age travel is so easy and cheap that taking a “gap year” is becoming more and more commonplace.

Travel before settling down into your job or even before going to college is something a large number of Europeans and Australians have been doing for well over a decade. I’m glad to see that North Americans are starting to do this more regularly too.

And what people do during this extended travel period is quite impressive; many of them get to do incredible things they have never done before – for example I just went scuba diving for the first time this week, and I can tell you if you have never gone that it really opens your eyes to a whole new world, and makes you so aware of your body in different ways.

As well as this, people take photos to inspire others, eat local foods, learn local dances, and make many international friends. Most of these will be with other travellers (that’s to be expected due to more common ground), but occasionally they will indeed make a real connection with (beyond ordering food off…) some locals.

English is pretty widespread, so if you don’t mind restricting yourself to the university educated or those that work in the tourist industry, then you can indeed get by fine just with English, and you can even make lifelong and deep friendships with those locals.

Nothing wrong with being a tourist

Luckily, I meet many foreigners who do speak the local language. These are usually expats, who didn’t follow the typical route of protecting themselves in an English speaking bubble. As expected, they have no “language talent” – they just realised that if they are going to be in the country that long, not learning the language is going to limit them too much and necessity becomes their fuel to learn it.

Since I don’t live permanently in a country and thus can’t quite call myself an “expat”, unlike some travellers, I have no qualms with relating to use of the word “tourist”.

I’m touring, and I’m living a non-local lifestyle in many things I do (such as being vegetarian), and staying in temporary accommodation rather than getting a long-term lease. If I know I’m definitely leaving, even if it’s not for 3 months, I still consider myself a “tourist”, even if my lifestyle is not quite what you would consider of a typical tourist.

I’m not one for site-seeing for example (which is an excellent way to get to know a place, I just am not so interested in architecture and museums/history), but I usually do that at the end of my stay.

Backpackers are tourists too, even if they don’t like the lack of romanticism and adventure associated with the word. I find the whole thing quite ironic that so many will constantly ask for the “non touristy” destinations on travel forums (frequented almost entirely by other tourists).

If these same people ended up in a 20 person village with no running water, then they’d quickly change their mind. The world is becoming developed and tourism is part of that development. Even small “non touristy” towns have resources to accommodate tourists. It’s an important industry that helps the economy of the local country when done right. The tourists (both backpackers and resort stayers) before me have paved the path to make access to places as a foreigner that much easier, and I’m eternally grateful for that, even if that path happens to be “beaten”.

But there has been something that has constantly annoyed me in 8 years on the road:

Why aren’t there other language tourists??

So, accepting that we are all tourists and interested in different things (so if you travel for scenery or food and I don’t, that’s quite alright!) what has constantly confused me is why there aren’t other language tourists?

Every time I meet someone and tell them what I’m doing, they’re always so amazed at the idea. And in almost a decade travelling, I’ve never actually met someone else who is definitely travelling (so they know the investment they make is not one for speaking the language for their entire life every day) and also focused on speaking with locals. Why is that?

Perhaps I’m simply missing them just barely, but I usually start my time in a country in a more typically tourist-like situation (so I’m still in hotels in the Philippines and will hopefully have an apartment from next week), so I meet plenty of other travellers in each country, just before I transition to the time where I’m simply not being in situations where I’d meet them at all (i.e. spending time with people who wouldn’t use English socially).

I’m sorry but to me it just doesn’t seem like that clever or unique an idea to be a tourist and to have “get to know locals” as the main priority in your travel criteria.

If you think you can do this only using English in any non-restricted way in countries where English is not an official language or not in very developed countries like those in Northern Europe, then I would have to kindly ask you to take your head out of your ass.

Yes, you can make great friends with the well educated, or those whose job it is to speak English, but after that you can’t talk with most people normally in terms of getting to know them. Sorry but them knowing how to count to 100 so they can sell you a t-shirt (to some people, this will count as the vast majority speaking “some English”) doesn’t count in terms of you really trying to get to know them.

Even here in the Philippines I got a regional bus and ended up sitting next to a lady who was transporting chickens (do I get my non-tourist badge for doing this? Oh goody(!)) Since I was struggling so much with my Tagalog I tried to use some English with her and she just gave me a blank face. Conversing was only possible with my very limited (but imaginative) language skills and body language. And this is in a country where English has official status!

And here come the excuses…

Actually I know the answer to the question, but I’m still asking it in the hope that others might start thinking more about it to realise the fallacies.

The real reason there are very few language tourists is because of excuses. Plenty of people would love to do it, but (while or before they are travelling) they have no time, no money, the “language gene” located a few strands up the 14th chromosome (or whatever) is missing for them (ignoring the fact that they already clearly speak a language so this is quite ridiculous), only a “select few” like me are lucky enough to be able to do it (yes, just me… and over a billion others who genuinely speak more than one language). Sorry if that’s not the case in your country, but places like India with people who speak 5 languages being almost the norm show that wealth and travel really have little to do with it.

Or maybe you’re too old? I was also too old when I started – it’s a good thing I ignored that excuse.

Or maybe you’ll only be in the country for a few weeks, so it’s not worth the effort. The only real “effort” I have in my travels is trying to convince other people of how easy this process of learning a language really is when you do it right. Grab a cheap phrasebook. Learn off the phrases and use them. It will be hard the first time and not so hard the second time. You can even learn enough to get by pretty well in just one weekend or on the flight over.

Maybe you don’t like hearing that the reason you aren’t speaking your language is actually due to empty excuses rather than some decision about you cast by destiny at the beginning of time. Well tough cookie. The purpose of this blog isn’t to show off my travel stories; I want to slap some sense into people until they learn languages.

As I said at the start, if you are a tourist with other goals, then great. I’m not interested in attacking people who are simply interested in a holiday or a cultural experience that involves things you do, rather than getting to know locals with little restrictions. But if you are interested, then it’s time to realise what is really holding you back.

———–

The day when I meet enough travellers (as well as more expats than the current small number I’m meeting) who say “Cool! Me too!” rather than “Wow, you’re so amazing!” will be a great day indeed.

Of course, I’ll have lots of encouragement and advice to try to point people in that direction – I’ve got lots of goals on this site; selling the Language Hacking Guide on the side supports me as I learn my own languages and helps me save up for more expensive future immersion experiences like to learn Japanese and Russian some day (since I’d like to do them in the capitals), but what I’d really like to do with this site and the increasing readership is simple:

I want to change the world.

I want as many people as possible to communicate confidently in other languages, no matter what their background is, and I want everyone to realise that (even if school convinced you otherwise) everyone, including you, can learn other languages in a lot less time and effort than you might think.

And it’s working; I’m starting to get more and more e-mails from people who are confirming that (surprise surprise) actually trying to speak actually works. Hopefully you’ll be sending me yours soon :)

Looking forward to meeting more language tourists some time soon! ;)

Let me know what you think about this in the comments or share this post with your friends on Facebook.

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  • Anonymous

    “The day when I meet enough travellers (as well as more expats than the current small number I’m meeting) who say “Cool! Me too!” rather than “Wow, you’re so amazing!” will be a great day indeed.”

    Benny, I do think you are unique, and what you’re doing is really great and amazing… AND I am trying it too! :) hehe… “+1″

    I wish you the best at tackling Tagalog!

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

      Thanks Ryan ;) Yes I’m a unique special flower and all that, but what I’m doing doesn’t have to be. Hopefully you’ll be among the next ones!

  • Dzyanna

    I spent a month in Japan several years ago (after having studied what I thought was enough Japanese to get by). Apart from one friend who spoke English and one duty free shop assistant I survived the time using Japanese and got to see a lot of places most tourists never get to. To the extent I was somewhat shocked one day to see a blond haired “gaijin” on a train one day – but that was in Tokyo. I made plenty of cultural blunders and at times felt like I was on another planet, culture shock hit about the third week there. When I got back I was bowing as I opened doors and my English had temporarily degenerated into Japenglish. This was ten years ago but I still find Spoken Japanese easier than other languages I’ve learnt other ways. Language tourism can be daunting for a first-timer but its life altering and enriching. Once you’ve done it be a mentor/encourager for someone else who wants to go.

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

      Absolutely – my site is my way of trying to encourage others to do it too :)
      Japan will be a future experience for my some time – I’m sure your tips would come in handy then!

  • http://www.facebook.com/slashnode Corey McMahon

    Great post!

    I highly recommend the idea of a ‘gap’ year. I only managed to have a gap 3-months, and a little late (post Bachelor Degree as opposed to post High School), but it was still an incredibly valuable experience and one I’d love to do again.

    As for the idea of a ‘language tourist’, it isn’t something I’ve thought about in the past, but now that you describe it it makes sense and sounds like something I’d like to try one day.

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

      Haha “gap 3 months” :P I’d call that a summer abroad. I had summers abroad (in the states) before graduating and I can’t say it’s enough time to deprogram yourself from your home culture, but then again it’s a different experience for everyoen!

  • http://www.facebook.com/slashnode Corey McMahon

    Great post!

    I highly recommend the idea of a ‘gap’ year. I only managed to have a gap 3-months, and a little late (post Bachelor Degree as opposed to post High School), but it was still an incredibly valuable experience and one I’d love to do again.

    As for the idea of a ‘language tourist’, it isn’t something I’ve thought about in the past, but now that you describe it it makes sense and sounds like something I’d like to try one day.

  • adam

    I think there’s a lot of people doing similar things to you at their own pace. I mean you might be almost unique in the velocity that you move around (and possibly even your funding of your movements) but there are definitely others around.

    I think most people end up funding themselves by working in language schools so I recommend you have a look for them in there. I’m in my first non-english speaking country (Hungary) and at the first school I landed at, I met at least two guys that I would consider to be language tourists, one having travelled around most of west and northern europe for the last 30 years.

    But I agree, it would be a beautiful thing to have more language tourists, I’m working on becoming one anyway.

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

      I worked in language schools for several years and never came across these people – the only ones speaking the local language were expats who had decided to settle permanently.

      Out of pure statistical likeliness, I’m bound to run into these other people SOME day… :P

  • http://twitter.com/CaronMargarete Caron Margarete

    Benny, the terms expat and tourist don’t really gel with me. Over the last few years I found a friend’s concept works the best, that is, the transit traveller versus the foundation traveller. The latter being the person who chooses to stick around long enough to get into the culture, for whatever purpose they may have. The transit traveller is the person who simply stop-starts constantly and never really absorbs much, let alone the language.

    So now you can be a foundation traveller too… Like you need another title! ;}

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

      Cool – so now I can introduce myself as Benny the Irish polyglot technomad location independent blogger vegetarian engineer nerd language hacker foundation traveller! Rolls off the tongue so easily!

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

      Cool – so now I can introduce myself as Benny the Irish polyglot technomad location independent blogger vegetarian engineer nerd language hacker foundation traveller! Rolls off the tongue so easily!

    • http://languagefixation.wordpress.com/ doviende

      Excellent terminology. I’ve always been much more interested in being a “foundation traveler”, so I’m glad I have a name for it now. After 7 months in China learning Mandarin, and already 8 months in Germany learning German and Esperanto, I’m still unsure about my next destination, but I know I’ll be there much longer than 4 days or something.

  • Yael

    Good post!!! :)
    From my experiences, I’ve developed the belief that so much of the reluctance of native English speakers to speak the language of the place they are traveling to or even living in comes from an extended culture shock. Speaking English and hanging out with other English speakers in a bubble means not having to confront that. And while some say they want to learn the culture and speak with locals, the culture shock puts them off, so they invent excuses about why “they can’t…”

    Some overcome it, some never do. I’ve seen how in two countries this has led to the extreme bubble of “We Anglos are superior culturally to the natives!”

    I could write a long list of the excuses I’ve heard people give for not speaking a language :)

    What they don’t realize is that by speaking the language the culture shock will pass much faster because the language is THE gateway and medium to understand the culture and local identity.

  • http://tlllanguagecoach.blogspot.com/ Aaron G Myers

    More language tourists. Great idea and I think they come most frequently from the university programs which require a semester abroad to get your Spanish Major for example. Would you consider a study abroad program participants “language tourists’? They are definitely not planning on staying and are there just for the language. Outside of students and aspiring polyglots though, I don’t see “language tourism” catching on. There are too many other important reason’s to travel for most people who would love to know another language, but language is a secondary goal to, say, digging wells in Africa or taking a job with City Bank in Berlin. That said, I think the work you are doing here is helping those people feel empowered to actually move the “learn the language” goal a bit closer to the front of the list. Keep up the good work.

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

      Sorry but digging wells in Africa and taking a job in a bank are actually much much less common than learning languages, so I don’t see what you mean…

      Yes, I’d consider exchange students good language tourists when they are genuinely learning!

      Hopefully I’ll empower others to try!

  • Daniel

    Well I’m only 15 but doing my best with language conversations in any situation possible. But as soon as I’ve finished college, the life of the language tourist awaits!

  • http://howlearnspanish.com/ Andrew

    I could have written that. (I mean that in a good way)

    I’ve been saying this same thing for years now (about how you need to speak the local language), and it’s been my dream for years now, it’s precisely what I want to do, at least for the next 10-15 years or so if not longer. I completely agree with the bit about HAVING to speak the local language (or else you’ll never truly understand the people and the culture no matter how long you live there). My personal goal is to travel to a new country where I’ll live for 6 months to a year or so, speak the language (which I will have already learned prior to going–this is where we differ), and get to know the locals and their culture. I wrote about this quite a bit more extensively on my ‘About’ page if anyone’s curious. This is something I’ve been wanting to do for years, I just need to get my income stream from my online business consistent enough and high enough such that I can do it (I also want to automate a lot of what it is I do so I have a lot more free time).

    So you ask if there’s anyone else out there who wants to do what you’re doing (and even thought of doing it on their own before they ever found your blog and saw that someone else had the same idea): yes, you’re not the only one who loves this concept and wants to do it, though you may be the only one actually doing it right now. I have to say it’s not so much an issue of excuses for a lot of people as it is one of priorities, or at least it is for me: I probably could move to a country with a very low cost of living like the Philippines or Thailand right now, but I think it’s much smarter to spend another year or two getting my business in order first and then going wherever I want to in whatever order I want. That’s just me.

    Cheers,
    Andrew

    • http://corcaighist.blogspot.com Anonymous

      If you want to do something so badly just do it. Go to a country and support yourself with a job.

      • FreeSpiritMe

        Great idea, but you have to find creative ways to get income. It’s hard to find a job in another country without speaking the language or having a work permit. Plus, working under the table is usually illegal and it’s unwise to piss off foreign governments.

        • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

          I travelled for 5 full years finding jobs on location (before working as a translator online and now earning from this site). Yes, it’s hard, but it’s totally doable if you are flexible enough. Not speaking the language isn’t an issue, especially for native English speakers willing to teach and flexible enough to go outside of major cities saturated with thousands exactly like them.

          And if you live your life to avoid pissing off governments then that wouldn’t be much of a life in my opinion ;) I’d highly suggest you change your name!

          Getting temporary working visas is some annoying bureaucratic work depending on the country, but many many many people do it.

  • http://www.rognalf.com Kristian

    And like you’ve mentioned many times before, country borders are unimportant, and spoken practice in advance is fully possible. I’m going to Peru in february as an exchange student, and despite being “stuck” in Norway, I’ve already had a couple of long spanish lessons/conversations on Skype, with a spanish friend who lives in Belgium! Only 5% english or so was used in the most recent one just now, I’m really proud!

    There are many words that I don’t understand, but the few that I do understand often provide me with the full meaning! I do struggle to produce nearly every sentence, but then again, I utter a few effortlessly with full comprehension from her! And this is with crappy Skype-sound! I also really enjoy the reactions I get when I use slang :D

    The main realisation I’ve gotten is this: It was a million times worse in my mind (as suspected, but still!), before I just did it. Really, I’m stunned at how scary our minds make things out to be concerning embarrasment! It was probably the least risky thing I’ve done this year, and yet it was perceived as being the far scariest (before doing it). Why don’t my instincts warn me about downhill skiing or getting into a car?

    Sorry if I went off topic; I hope it does have some relevance though. I’ve only studied spanish *casually* since the end of october. I know of many people who have studied it far longer, who definitely wouldn’t have any excuses (although they’d still probably have lots).

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

      Great job on the Skype conversations!

  • marianney

    I never thought of it that way. That there is a difference between the types of tourists. I was lucky, my European parents raised us in an American household but we spoke French at home, while we learned English at school. But over the years, my French has gotten very rusty. It picks up again after I speak with non-English speaking relatives for a while, but my goal right now is to be able to spend 4-6 weeks with my grandmother in France solely for the purpose of getting more fluent again in French. Then I’d like to spend some time in Costa Rica to learn Spanish.

    I actually know a lot of Americans that have spend a few weeks in Spanish emmersion in Central America, so maybe it’s not as un-common as you think.

    Ps, Caron I love the term foundation traveler! That’s exactly what I aspire to be once I am finally making a living virtually. :)

  • Frances

    Learning languages is my number one reason for travelling, and yet I also don’t think I’ve ever met anyone yet with exactly the same mindset… it’s like you’re expected to have pictures of you in front of all of the usual tourist places, and people can’t always get their head around the idea that you don’t care about that as much as hanging out with locals and speaking their language. Being able to speak Chinese with the ayis and taxi drivers and shop keepers in Beijing allows me to understand the culture and the people more than anything else, and it’s what I’m here for. I don’t even consider myself a traveller at all, I just like living in different places/countries doing ‘normal’ things. It doesn’t sound like it should be anything different but for some reason it seems to be! I think I could enjoy living in most places once I’d got into the language and got speaking to the locals, that’s what I find sort of addictive…

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

      Yes, I also don’t understand what seems like the vast majority of travellers deciding that getting to know locals should be at the END of their list of travel priorities…

  • Frances

    Learning languages is my number one reason for travelling, and yet I also don’t think I’ve ever met anyone yet with exactly the same mindset… it’s like you’re expected to have pictures of you in front of all of the usual tourist places, and people can’t always get their head around the idea that you don’t care about that as much as hanging out with locals and speaking their language. Being able to speak Chinese with the ayis and taxi drivers and shop keepers in Beijing allows me to understand the culture and the people more than anything else, and it’s what I’m here for. I don’t even consider myself a traveller at all, I just like living in different places/countries doing ‘normal’ things. It doesn’t sound like it should be anything different but for some reason it seems to be! I think I could enjoy living in most places once I’d got into the language and got speaking to the locals, that’s what I find sort of addictive…

  • Jonathan Bellido

    I usually agree with you, but not on your opinion about gap years. Even in high income countries, inequalities are so blatant that many of us couldn’t have it after high school or university. The “I don’t have money” excuse is real then… at least until you really enter the job market.

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

      Excuse #782: Another excuse in the list + “especially for me”.

      I met lots of people in my travels who put in the work even as a waitress or pizza delivery guy and saved up the money until they could travel. High income countries have NO EXCUSE.

      What usually happens is that money that could do so much when saved, goes to buying beers, cars and magazine subscriptions. Unless someone is going hungry, I don’t want to hear “I don’t have money”, especially after living in poor countries and seeing true poverty and the incredible burdens on people who TRULY have no money that first-world countries can’t fathom.

      Shame on everyone who says “I don’t have money” while their iPhone or Blackberry is buzzing on the table.

      Everyone has money, some just decide to spend it unwisely. What most people spend on beer in a few months could get them a life-changing experience abroad. I buy nice gadgets like a smartphone now, but a few years ago I couldn’t afford to, so I didn’t – I put everything I earned into my passion for travelling rather than resign to “not having money”.

  • Jonathan Bellido

    I usually agree with you, but not on your opinion about gap years. Even in high income countries, inequalities are so blatant that many of us couldn’t have it after high school or university. The “I don’t have money” excuse is real then… at least until you really enter the job market.

  • Mowing Out

    Oh, Benny, you are inspiring, you know? It is amazing what you do. let me ask you one thing, Benny: How many languages do you think that a person can easily learn (and succesfully maintain) without being, you know, like you, so focused on languages (because you are the kind of guy who can learn tons of languages and keep them good, as you travel and like it so much, and you even work with languages.
    I’ve heard some people saying that 6 is quite a good number, but I am not sure if that is a really easy-to-maintain number. I thought it would be probably three foreign languages plus your own, but i am not sure.
    Besides, how can someone maintain the languages? I mean, how often does a person would have to use the language to keep it fresh? of course the best option would be “just as often as possible!”, but it doesn’t really help to get an idea of what is the “cost”(I am SO sure you will hate this expression when you see it =p) of language learning.
    Sorry for such a big question.Enjoy your stay there in the Filipines, hope you leave the place only with good memories.

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

      I’m not focused on languages. I think I need to write a post to clarify how I see languages as nothing more than a means to an end. I’m also not the “kind of guy” who can learn tons of languages!! I did very poorly in languages in school.

      When you are motivated you will learn whatever you need. There is no magic number, but if you decide to limit yourself to something in particular, then that will be your magic number.

      I maintain most of my languages every few days in real conversations using strategies I discussed in the blog a few weeks ago (any language anywhere hacks). Last weekend I spoke German and French, each for several hours, even though I’m in the Philippines. This isn’t because I’m a language genius, it’s because there was a French guy right in front of me.

  • Flor

    Benny, te escribo en catellano. Qué pensás? ;) Amé tu post! Ojalá, pueda llegar a hacer lo que vos estás haciendo y realmente comparto el tema de aprender otras lenguas donde uno vaya. Tengo varios amigos y conocidos expats, de diferentes lugares y siempre intento aprenderme alguna frase, aunque sea insignificante. Es maravilloso! Y obviamente, ellos disfrutan las barabaridades que dice uno! ;)
    Ojalaá pases por Argentina y por ahí, nos vemos! beso [Flor]

  • Flor

    Benny, te escribo en catellano. Qué pensás? ;) Amé tu post! Ojalá, pueda llegar a hacer lo que vos estás haciendo y realmente comparto el tema de aprender otras lenguas donde uno vaya. Tengo varios amigos y conocidos expats, de diferentes lugares y siempre intento aprenderme alguna frase, aunque sea insignificante. Es maravilloso! Y obviamente, ellos disfrutan las barabaridades que dice uno! ;)
    Ojalaá pases por Argentina y por ahí, nos vemos! beso [Flor]

  • Shayriley

    I learned about this website from the Zen Habits website. Good stuff. This website has inspired me to realize my dream of becoming multilingual. I have a question. I’ve taken French (6 years) and Spanish (4 years), but it was more than 20 years ago. I studied Portuguese for a few months, for a trip that I took to Brazil. I’d eventually like to be fluent in French, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, and a West African language.
    I know that I should study one language at a time, but which language should I start? Part of me wants to start with Mandarin Chinese (of which I know a few words) because I live in a Chinatown neighborhood in a major U.S. city. Thus, there would be many opportunities to practice my skills. However, I understand that Chinese is one of the hardest languages for a native English speaker to learn. Do I start with Spanish first (which would provide me with far more opportunities to use the language than French), and then work my way to Chinese? Or do I start with Chinese?

    • Dylrocks

      The language that is spoken in Chinatowns is predominantly Cantonese speaking. You might be ‘lucky’ and live in a Mandarin speaking one though, so I recommend to ask one of your neighbors.

    • Jon Anderson

      I would suggest that you start with the language that you find the most interesting. In that way, you’ll be less likely to lose heart and give up.

      I don’t study languages anymore because of how “useful” the world thinks them to be. The example I always use is, you might think that Lithuanian is not a useful language because of the few number of people who speak it. However, the day your company transfers you for an assignment in Vilnius will be the day you discover exactly how useful Lithuanian can really be!

      So, work on the language that sets your heart aflight. I’m doing Italian right now because it is the most beautiful language I’ve ever seen. (It is “la bella lingua”, right?) Can you think of a better reason?

      • Leitavis

        I just wonder why from the whole plethora of languages you have mentioned mentioned lithuanian.
        I`ve read that the “beauty” depends on the % of vowels in a language, so I wonder how Hawayan sounds like.

        Sekmes mokantis kalbu, net ir tokiu nenaudingu, kaip kad lietuviu!

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

      You should not be asking random people online like me which language you should learn first! The answer is always whichever you are most passionate about. I’m not going to take those numbers (6 years, a few months etc.) and put them into a magic equation I have ready for this situation ;)

      I wrote more about this here: http://www.fluentin3months.com/which-language/

  • Shayriley

    I learned about this website from the Zen Habits website. Good stuff. This website has inspired me to realize my dream of becoming multilingual. I have a question. I’ve taken French (6 years) and Spanish (4 years), but it was more than 20 years ago. I studied Portuguese for a few months, for a trip that I took to Brazil. I’d eventually like to be fluent in French, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, and a West African language.
    I know that I should study one language at a time, but which language should I start? Part of me wants to start with Mandarin Chinese (of which I know a few words) because I live in a Chinatown neighborhood in a major U.S. city. Thus, there would be many opportunities to practice my skills. However, I understand that Chinese is one of the hardest languages for a native English speaker to learn. Do I start with Spanish first (which would provide me with far more opportunities to use the language than French), and then work my way to Chinese? Or do I start with Chinese?

  • http://twitter.com/ykarabatov Yuri Karabatov

    Benny,

    I think you don’t meet language tourists because most people become not tourists, but expats. Few people are polyglots, and it takes significant time to progress in a language enough.

    Besides language there is culture, literature corpus and whatnot. Again, most people are interested in just one country and one culture, and when they go to that country they don’t leave it. Or leave it after, like, several years.

    This is also “language tourism” as such, only yours is on steroids :)

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

      One century ago the same could be said about travel in general. Except for the ridiculously rich, going to a different country for a short period of time was unheard of.

  • Jon Anderson

    Hi Benny! I’m a subsciber to your blog, though I usually just enjoy reading and not replying. Your recent “language tourist” post set something off in me, however. Let me tell you a quick story:

    I was once returning from Cracow, Poland on a work trip and an Asian fellow sat down next to me on the plane. He saw me studying my self-made Polish flashcards and asked (in English) why I was learning Polish. He then told me that he spent 5 years learning Polish and described the trouble he had went through to become fluent. I asked him where his final destination was and he responded “Tokyo”. I came back with “Nihon-jin desu ka?” (Are you Japanese?) and a look of shock came over his face. “Bikkuri shita!” he replied, (You surprised me!). I then reminded him, in a very polite way, that we are now in the 21st century. I didn’t act surprised when he told me he spoke Polish or when he questioned me in English. Why should he be surprised when I responded to him in his native language?

    He looked thoughtful for a few seconds and responded (in Japanese), “You know what? You’re right”. After that, I made a great friend while we were going to Frankfurt. I understand your mission and your frustration. But, when I get frustrated, I just remind myself that we change the world one person at a time. And the way we do it is by example, not by what we say. I see you doing that in your blog and it makes me smile. Keep your chin up. You’re among kindred spirits.

    Keep going strong and I wish you lots of success in Manilla. It is a great city! I don’t know Tagalog, but I enjoy listening to it and finding all the Spanish cognates. (There are sooo many!) Good luck!!!

    Jon Anderson
    Pennsylvania, USA

  • Jon Anderson

    Hi Benny! I’m a subsciber to your blog, though I usually just enjoy reading and not replying. Your recent “language tourist” post set something off in me, however. Let me tell you a quick story:

    I was once returning from Cracow, Poland on a work trip and an Asian fellow sat down next to me on the plane. He saw me studying my self-made Polish flashcards and asked (in English) why I was learning Polish. He then told me that he spent 5 years learning Polish and described the trouble he had went through to become fluent. I asked him where his final destination was and he responded “Tokyo”. I came back with “Nihon-jin desu ka?” (Are you Japanese?) and a look of shock came over his face. “Bikkuri shita!” he replied, (You surprised me!). I then reminded him, in a very polite way, that we are now in the 21st century. I didn’t act surprised when he told me he spoke Polish or when he questioned me in English. Why should he be surprised when I responded to him in his native language?

    He looked thoughtful for a few seconds and responded (in Japanese), “You know what? You’re right”. After that, I made a great friend while we were going to Frankfurt. I understand your mission and your frustration. But, when I get frustrated, I just remind myself that we change the world one person at a time. And the way we do it is by example, not by what we say. I see you doing that in your blog and it makes me smile. Keep your chin up. You’re among kindred spirits.

    Keep going strong and I wish you lots of success in Manilla. It is a great city! I don’t know Tagalog, but I enjoy listening to it and finding all the Spanish cognates. (There are sooo many!) Good luck!!!

    Jon Anderson
    Pennsylvania, USA

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

      Thanks for the great story Jon! Yes, you’re right – better to lead by example than whine about nobody else doing it! More inspirational posts coming up soon enough!

  • phil le fermier

    Hi Benny!

    Interesting post as always and I think in a way you answer the question yourself; very few people attempt what you do since so few even believe it possible!!!

    I also had a terrible school experience with German but the most damaging part was the expectation it created that 5+ years are required to get any skill in a language… It took me until my final year at uni (living with language students!!) to conclude self belief rather magic language genes made the difference.

    Anyhow, i started learning Spanish with podcasts, taught English in Madrid and did the dele c2 after ~12 months total learning. Since leaving spain 1 year ago I’ve been using Woof.org (farm work in exchange for food, accom and conversation) as a way to get emersion from day 1; challenge this year is c1 or c2 exams in Italian french German & Portuguese before starting work in the uk. It’s no where near ideal as you often have limited control over your routine but English teaching slowed progress too much and I dont know how else to support myself in a city. Still, an idea for anyone interested :-)

    Pues nada, mucho animo con el ultimo desafío y espero que consigas ahorrar lo suficiente como para llegar a Rusia! Tb tengo muchas ganas de ponerme a aprender el ruso – seria bueno seguir tu progreso.

    Alles gute von einer Bauernhof in der nähe von Lille!
    Phil

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

      Excellent to see someone else take on the C2 diplomas as a fun challenge. WOOFing is an excellent way to get immersed! Keep up the good work :D

  • http://polyphase.ca/kc KC

    Well, I was going to say that I have been (and am planning again in the near future a trip as) a language tourist…. but then I was reading through the comments and see that you’ve noted that a 3 month gap is only ‘a summer away’. Oops. :-)
    I leave in one week to Southern Spain to live in a village for 10 weeks with my husband, my sister and her two little ones. We are renting a place and will be putting my sister’s little girls into the local primary Spanish school for the time we are there. We are each taking a university beginner level Spanish course with us, with the intention to study and use what we have learned immediately in our day to day interactions. I have found that in my previous travels, this kind of study/immersion allows me to learn rapidly. I have also found that traveling and playing with children (local children) allows simple language skills to build rapidly. Words are repeated over and over, and I must say, it has helped me learn in the past.
    I am not sure what kind of tourist this makes me, but I expect that my Spanish comprehension and language skills will grow in leaps and bounds while in Spain. I’ll take it. ;-)

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

      Nah the 3 month comment is just about not really appreciating the depth of a gap year – it would be hypocritical to not call that language tourism, since I go for 3 months at a time (although I’m constantly away from home, so I get a sense of travel to learn about a different world much longer than 3 months provides).

      Have fun in Spain! Use whatever definition you like of your unique experience, no need to go with mine ;)

  • Bruce

    I’ve been saying it for years. We are all tourists. Unless you are there living amongst the common man, working amongst the common man, speaking the language and doing all this for at least a few years you are just scraping the surface of what a country/culture has to offer.

  • http://twitter.com/ichigoichielove Lisa W

    Well I’m laden with excuses with regards to learning other languages than the one I’m focusing on at the moment, but they’re not current goals either, so I don’t feel so bad about that. ^^ I definitely want to be able to do the language tourist thing, and have set 2012 to be the year I put it into action – this year is mostly prep and focus on Japanese. ^^
    Thank, as always, for a great post!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=10729673 Nina Boe

    How have I not found this site earlier?! This all speaks to me so much! While I still don’t know how to answer people when they ask me (at 24) “what do you want to be when you grow up?” :P   I now can say that I have finally found someone (albeit virtually) who is doing something that I can definitely add to my life-list of how to live ^^ Haha, and the story about Tagalog makes me think of myself plus Bosnian my first time in Sarajevo – happily my knowledge of the language has increased over the years, but before it was a feeble attempt at stringing things together and an optimistic/dazed look in hopes my point was conveyed :  I look forward to digging through the rest of your site! Keep up the awesomeness!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=10729673 Nina Boe

    How have I not found this site earlier?! This all speaks to me so much! While I still don’t know how to answer people when they ask me (at 24) “what do you want to be when you grow up?” :P   I now can say that I have finally found someone (albeit virtually) who is doing something that I can definitely add to my life-list of how to live ^^ Haha, and the story about Tagalog makes me think of myself plus Bosnian my first time in Sarajevo – happily my knowledge of the language has increased over the years, but before it was a feeble attempt at stringing things together and an optimistic/dazed look in hopes my point was conveyed :  I look forward to digging through the rest of your site! Keep up the awesomeness!