The Best Comments Of The Month: May 2009 The Universal Language Edition
The very active conversation on my post asking, is English the universal language, quickly turned out to be my second highest commented post ever. The entire discussion is a nice, full read but in this special edition of the best comments of the month I’ve pulled some of the best excepts.
- “Yes, one can get by traveling with just English, but if one goes off the beaten tourist path and outside of major cities (even in Europe in countries like Spain, Germany, France, and in South America and Central America) it WILL be “an issue”.” -Soultravelers3 (Reply to this comment)
- “Regardless of how convenient or acceptable English has become, it can never substitute the local language.” -Final_Transit (Reply to this comment)
- “I never said that it isn’t worthwhile to learn another language. I’d personally like to learn Spanish. However, for any non-English speakers, I think it is pretty obvious in the 21st century that English is the other language you should pick up. -Gary Arndt (Reply to this comment)
- “I’m not at all sure that English is a universally understood lingua franca, and I’m not convinced that it should be.” -Bill Chapman (Reply to this comment)
- “You won’t find Spanish or French speakers everywhere, but you will always find someone who either speaks English, knows English literature, or listens to American music. It’s as simple as that.” -Deniz (Reply to this comment)
- “I agree with Soultravelers3, you need more than one language! I know it’s come very useful for me on many occasions.” -Marina K. Villatoro (Reply to this comment)
In case you can’t get enough of this question, you can read and argue (or agree) with my post, why English is the universal language.
[photo by: eye2eye]
Why English Is The Universal Language
If you were an alien and could only learn one language before your visit to Earth, which language would you choose?
English is the most pervasive language on the planet and the most universal language on Earth. When I asked is English the universal language, most of you polled agreed it is and in the comments you all made your cases well and brought up some insightful points but couldn’t sway me.
I’m not saying that English is the only language worth knowing or useful in every situation, but it doesn’t have to be.
English Answers The Question Above
My question above demonstrates the point I was getting at with my original question. English is the most universal language that will put you in contact with the widest range of people during your travels. Our alien friend would want to pick up the language with the most influence to get around the world and so would most travelers.
English Is More Than A Language
English is a culture and languages do not stand apart from their speakers. It’s why we have variations and dialects of the same language and across populations that gradually diverge over time. A visiting alien could learn a great deal about the Western culture that is exported widely around the world through movies, books, and music.
- Iconic – This exportation of English doesn’t just help the speaker, it helps the other non-English speakers around the world understand you too. Try using the icons “Elvis” to someone who doesn’t know the word “music” or “Hasselhoff” in Germany. It’s not just American culture, think Shakespeare.
- It Has Relatives – English is a West Germanic language related to (obviously German), Dutch, Afrikaans, Yiddish, and the Scandinavian languages. (I’ve been studying Swedish recently and the similarities are glaring.)
Accepted In More Places
Not language with the most speakers around the world (that’s Chinese) but English has the widest geographic reach. You might find it difficult time finding English the further away you go from a big city, but most travelers don’t.
- It Hits The Big Spots - Most travelers stick to major cities, touristic sights, and don’t venture too far or long from the beaten path. English translations are available at almost every major tourist location and city around the world.
- Greets You At The Door – Almost all airplanes, airports, and GPS units have English translations. Airplanes, GPS, and other electronics and transportation vehicles are primarily made by US or European companies. English is the language of business and its in their best interest to manufacture products that speak the language. Again, flying isn’t the only way people travel but a very common one where English is useful.
- The Sheer Numbers – English has 350 million native speakers and around a billion total worldwide.
So The Locals Don’t Speak English
Whether you speak English or not, if you don’t know the local language you’ll be stuck using hand signals and gestures. Humans are visual creatures which is why you can still bargain if you don’t know the local language. You should always check your international faux pas before venturing to a new locale, but know that through evolution, some facial expressions and body language are common to our species. A smile may vary from one culture to the next, but the message is generally understood.
Knowing English is a very useful asset for travelers and it’s the Swiss army knife of languages. It may do you no good in northern China but you’ve got a better chance that just knowing French or Greek.
Even With English Our Alien Is Missing A Lot
Our intergalactic friend would be missing much of what Earth has to offer by only knowing just one of our languages. The same is true for the millions of people who don’t know anything other than their mother tongue. Traveling, and actively traveling forces us to strip down to the essential tools, gear, and technology we need to get around and English is the best lingual tool for the job.
[photos by: bbaltimore, Claudio Matsuoka]
Is English The Universal Language? [POLL RESULTS]
Aside from the poll, there was an excellent conversation about the question, is English the universal language? While the poll showed most of you said yes, English is universal, the comments showed the complexities of that question.
Is English The Universal Language?
- Yes (75%, 12 Votes)
- No (25%, 4 Votes)
Total Voters: 16
Loading ...Later on today I’ll be explaining to a space alien why English is the universal language to learn for a visit to Earth and for us traveling around the world.
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Check off places you’ve visited, restaurants you’ve eaten at, and a host of other activities on Diddit. The online service then recommends things for you to see and do on your travels and connect with others users who have similar interests. Diddit helps you find potentially new things to add to your travel itinerary and connect with other like-minded travelers.
I recently got to try out Diddit and think it’s got some great benefits for travelers.
No New Account Required
One thing that makes Diddit stand out against similar online services (see my TripSay preview) is that it integrates with your existing Facebook account so you don’t need to sign up to yet another Internet website. You can post the items you’ve checked off as done (“diddits”) and (“wanna dos” ) directly to your Facebook or Twitter page.
Get Specific In Each City
Diddit doesn’t create map of travel recommendations but will provide you with specific places to eat, sights to see, and other categories like arts and culture. (If you’re looking to create a customized travel map try TravBuddy). You can also create and add other experiences not that haven’t been added yet. Diddit is in alpha and it’s lacking a large number of options, especially in cities outside of the US but the list will grow if its userbase does.
Travelers can also rate their “diddits” and leave reviews or other tips for other people to browse through. Diddit is an open site and you can freely browse around without having to create an account.
Connect With Other Travelers
As you accumulate things you’ve done Diddit will begin to show you a pool of other uses who have done or want to do some of the things you’ve checked. You can ask others for their personal advice, give some of your own, and add them to your friend list. This feature could be a good way for you fellow travel bloggers to connect with more people and build a successful travel blog.
A Few Other Features
- Guilty pleasures – Add some of your party adventures, including drinking and smoking, to your Diddit list.
- Widgets for your blog or website – Let your users click relevant “diddits” from your pages.
Some of the other features I’d like to see are a live chat window and more Twitter integration to allow faster communication between your friends or other people following the same pages. Diddit is very intuitive and the quick process of clicking “diddits” and “wanna dos” can be quite addictive and worth a few minutes to check out.
On Diddit already or on another social networking site geared towards travelers – or are you done with any new networking sites? Personally, it would take a lot for me to join a web service that didn’t integrate into one of the big online services like my Facebook or my Twitter account.
