by Erin

As I stand here in the Fumicino (Rome) airport, awaiting my transfer to the ship, I am spending my time by observing the Information Desk.  People are coming and going from all over the world and no matter what language they speak at home, 95% are coming to the desk with questions in English. It may be broken, not perfectly grammatical or involve a lot of directionary hand gestures, but everyone knows to try to start the conversation with the Italian Information Desk man in English.

We sometimes take for granted how lucky we are that our native tongue is spoken so freely throughout the world. In many countries, English is thought from a young age so no matter who you talk to, you can at least have the semblance of a conversation. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been walking down the street in a foreign country and kids hear us speaking English so they come out to say “hi” and are excited to practice their English with us.

We are often ignorant to others languages and customs, assuming instead, that others should bend to meet us where we are, but the beauty of international travel is that you get to learn new customs, meet people who are different from you and push your comfort zone.

So while my go-to language is English, I try to learn a few key words or phrases of whatever country I am traveling to, so at least the locals will know that I am trying – which is often met with a smile and a response back to me in English.