Is this the future face of all our current favourite cultural havens?
We have all seen the stereotypical struggling tourist abroad, hands flapping, shouting and getting nowhere fast. Is this a responsible way to travel? Or by not trying to learn even a little of the language native to a country we are visit, are we eroding the culture of that country?
Entering a room in a foreign land and hearing the chatter of your own native tongue no doubt diminishes the authenticity of a travel experience, but the world is getting smaller and smaller and cities are becoming ever more international. In fact, most heavily touristy areas are now bi-, tri- and quadrilingual, thereby catering to the needs of the less linguistically capable visitors. A walk through these areas reveals restaurants with English names and hawkers shouting in English; you are even likely to be greeted in English in almost any hotel. But are we headed for a world where all cities are just a multicultural blend (in differing amounts) of the world’s cultures? If so, perhaps we have a responsibility to uphold local traditions, including use of the home language, and to protect the all-too-easily eroded ‘localness’ commonly being supplanted by a bland westernised monoculture.
Tourists can help slow this phenomenon, as well as learn more about the true local culture of a place by taking time to learn some of the local language. Learning a language is not only a very useful skill; it also instils confidence and opens doors to previously inaccessible worlds. I live in Buenos Aires, where one thing I have noticed is that in order to get to the roots of what being a ‘local’ in Argentina really is you need to be able to befriend Argentines and navigate the difficulties of the unknown. This is next to impossible without at least a basic working knowledge of Spanish.
Fortunately, in Buenos Aires, there is a harem of Spanish language schools spread throughout the city. One excellent place is Vamos Spanish Academy , located in the dynamic Palermo neighbourhood. Vamos really takes the notion of going local to heart by running useful workshops on things like how not to get scammed and how to navigate the labyrinth that is Buenos Aires; organising activities that cover Tango and wine tasting and bike rides; and, if you are feeling adventurous, extended excursions in Argentina covering everything from Bariloche to Iguazu. This enables the students to get out of the classrooms and immerse themselves in the culture, thus widening their social horizons both locally and internationally.
Last but not least, Vamos does its best to be eco-friendly and run various donation initiatives so students can participate and help make a difference while learning and travelling. Once a month Vamos even organises for students to participate in a grassroots community program. Past events have included planting trees, house painting in La Boca and assisting in a soup kitchen. Vamos also organises charity-themed special events, such as Food Drive Meet Up, where food is donated to charities.
Spanish-language students come to Argentina not only to learn one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, but also to understand Argentina. By doing this they are helping to preserve the rich local cultural treasure trove that is the magical city of Buenos Aires.
Language, interesting angle on Local Travel! Thanks!
Posted by Bart van Poll | August 27, 2010, 9:31 amnice work son….i wish i could spell like you .
Posted by john | August 28, 2010, 12:18 amReally enjoyed reading this article. The whole reason why people travel is to understand different cultures, the large corporates with the brand identity have had a great part to play in the erosion at a local level all round the world. Environments such as BA should resist these changes. Language school sounds really interesting.
Posted by Maria Cooper | August 29, 2010, 9:20 amI would settle for people learning some basic pleasantries such as hello, thank you etc in the local tongue along with some basic cultural behavioural guidelines. Yes, to truly understand a destination you need to speak the language, but you also need to spend a large amount of time in the destination, which is impossible for the vast majority of tourists. Would much prefer getting 99% of guests making a small effort, than 1% making huge efforts.
Posted by Lee Sheridan | August 30, 2010, 3:58 amGreat post. I get really frustrated travelling to countries where I don’t speak the language, but as Lee Sheridan said, I think the preference would be 99% of us making a bit of an effort. That said, as an English speaker it is actually a bit hard, as we can usually just be lazy as in many parts of the world people will understand us, even a little, which means we are not forced out of our comfort zone unless we really want to be.
Posted by Natalia | August 31, 2010, 10:35 pmI absolutely agree and I’m loving learning Spanish here in BA. Sounds like a good school. I hadn’t heard of it before so thanks for the tip-off. But one question: do you work for them? If so, I think you should make it clear. If not, I have jumped to the wrong conclusion, but it might still be worth clarifying so other people don’t make the same presumption.
Posted by Vicky Baker | September 4, 2010, 12:10 amThanks for all your comments, Vamos Spanish was where I first began to learn spanish. I agree it is great learning spanish in BA!
Posted by Luke Sewell | September 6, 2010, 3:37 pmI found just what I was needed, and it was enetrtaniing!
Posted by Idana | June 26, 2011, 4:40 pm