Linguaphile Experience of a Lifetime
If any of you have been wondering where I have been for the past two months, since normally I comment regularly in this community, I was walking the Camino de Santiago (Way of Saint James) across northern Spain.
This walk is a linguaphile's dream. People from all over the world, speaking many different languages, finding ways to communicate even if there are no languages in common.
I utilized every language I know or have studied during the course of this journey. Yes, even Latvian, and also English, French, Spanish, Russian, Korean and more.
The languages spoken are mostly European ones, though not exclusively - Korean and Japanese made appearances as well, since there were many Koreans and some Japanese. Then there is also the situation of dialects, particularly in the cases of Portuguese and German.
Every day you meet new people, and as a result everyday there were new language adventures, in finding out what people speak and what the best language to communicate is. It is an interesting day when you speak to the Dutch in English, the Swiss German in French and the Italians in Spanish, because those are the languages of optimal communication for that day.
Curiously, even though I was in Spain for most of that time, the language of mine that improved the most was French, because I ended up being around a lot of French speakers.
So anyone looking to challenge themselves with languages, I'd highly recommend going on the Camino! You might end up using everything you know, and learning more along the way!
This walk is a linguaphile's dream. People from all over the world, speaking many different languages, finding ways to communicate even if there are no languages in common.
I utilized every language I know or have studied during the course of this journey. Yes, even Latvian, and also English, French, Spanish, Russian, Korean and more.
The languages spoken are mostly European ones, though not exclusively - Korean and Japanese made appearances as well, since there were many Koreans and some Japanese. Then there is also the situation of dialects, particularly in the cases of Portuguese and German.
Every day you meet new people, and as a result everyday there were new language adventures, in finding out what people speak and what the best language to communicate is. It is an interesting day when you speak to the Dutch in English, the Swiss German in French and the Italians in Spanish, because those are the languages of optimal communication for that day.
Curiously, even though I was in Spain for most of that time, the language of mine that improved the most was French, because I ended up being around a lot of French speakers.
So anyone looking to challenge themselves with languages, I'd highly recommend going on the Camino! You might end up using everything you know, and learning more along the way!