How Learning a Language Can Improve Your Holiday

It's amazing how much of a change a little knowledge of someone else's language can improve your holiday and travelling experiences. I am one of these people who always like to try and learn some basics before going to a foreign country and it's never let me down.

I very often go to Vietnam these days for work and to see friends, but the other day I thought about the first time I went with a couple of friends. Now Vietnamese is not the easiest language to learn at all but I thought I would give it a shot and learn some basics for my first visit...

After about 6 weeks of about an hour a day I had just about mastered how to say some basic sentences and count to 1000 with any degree of accuracy. My main words and sentences of choice to master were...

HelloPleaseThank youHow are youI'm fineWhat is your nameMy name isHow do I get to...How much is...YesNoSorryCould you write it down please

Also bear in mind that the currency there is also a little bit mad considering now 1000000 VND is about £30 / $48, So if you have ever wanted to be a million air you could do it there quite easily.

So we arrive in Ho Chi Minh after 16 hours of planes and airports and get to the taxi rank. My two friends went up to our selected taxi driver and tried to explain where we wanted to go and ask how much, all in english. The taxi driver looked totally bemused, after watching for 2 or 3 minutes and after some deterioration in the drivers mood I thought I would give my basic knowledge a go.

I said hello and instantly his mood picked up, He smiled and said hello back. I then proceeded to ask him how he was and how much it was to get to our hotel. He replied with a price but as I was not use to the sound of the language so I couldn't make out what the price was so I asked him to write it out. My friends looked amused and thought it was funny I was trying so hard (Joke was on them later)

The taxi ride was good, I sat in the front and we managed to be able to communicate and he even taught me a few new words I could use over my holiday.This is what I like, If you make an effort most people you meet will try and help you learn more. Then we got to the hotel, he gave me his number and we both said goodbye. His name was Hiep and he lived just outside of District 4.

We got to the hotel and checked in, The hotel staff were all English speaking but that still didn't stop me wanting to practice my speaking skills. I got laughs, smiles and a few free drinks while I was there and nothing was too much trouble. One of the hotel staff even said they don't meet many foreigners who make an effort, Even in 2007!

Well night time came we went to the local clubs in District 1 and partied, My friends kept wondering off as I kept getting into small conversation with locals and obviously after a few drinks they were teaching me things I really should not of known! I got talking to the manager of the venue and he invited me out the next day for a meal as well.

After a few more days and nights many funny situations and knowing 10 times more of their language than when I got there to start with, it was time to go home but not until one last night out.

My friends ended up getting lost and I got a very drunken phone call early that morning. They had been in the pouring rain for about 2 hours, absolutely soaked. They called me and explained they could not even find a taxi on the roads, and the two numbers that they had found, they could not explain where they were to them. So after listening to them panic a while I called Hiep and got through to him and he came to the hotel. I managed to explain the situation after about 5 mins he signalled me to call them and find someone who was Vietnamese for him to talk to. I did just that and Hiep went and picked them up after 3 hours in the rain they were more then grateful. They admitted if they had taken my advice before the holiday they would of probably saved themselves that experience!

So just learning basics can get you a long way, you meet people, you build respect for both yourself and them, you experience a lot more with locals and you can get yourself out of trouble. Needless to say I am still learning Vietnamese now and still see Hiep and laugh every time I go back...

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