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Advisable to travel in South America, without knowning Spanish or Portugesee Advisable to travel in South America, without knowning Spanish or Portugesee
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Photo by Marc Gibaud, Clouds on Tres Cerros and Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia

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Photo by Marc Gibaud,
Clouds on Tres Cerros and
Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia



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  #1  
Old 15 Feb 2021
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I did travelling 6 months in SA without spanish skills. Did a Transafrica without french, did travel in Idia, Thailand and Laos without local language skills.

You get what you can expect.

Travelling is possible. For socializing and fight against feeling lonely you can use Traveler Map, or visiting hostels where you can meet english speakers.

Getting in touch with locals is limited to the upper class, who was able to learn other languages.

So you will miss how helpful and nice the people are, even in remote areas.

To train a new language seems a good way to start a trip

If you like to see landscape, dont want to get in touch with locals - you can start without to know the local language.

Guess some of my most valuable travel apps will help you too..

Surfy
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  #2  
Old 15 Feb 2021
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If you don't do well with other languages(me), try to learn a few things--please, thank you, I need, I want, how much, count to 20, where is a motel, menu please, please(or whatever you prefer), I like your country, everyone is so friendly, like your food, I speak very very very little Spanish, do you speak English? Be polite, do not show disgust with the local situations, do not talk politics-you are a visitor, not a voter. I went from Louisiana to Bolivia and lived in Lima for a year with that amount of language skill. Smile a lot , even when you want to hit them with a hammer. I found people who spoke English at a cross road in Bolivia. Carry a dictionary. Have fun.
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  #3  
Old 15 Feb 2021
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If you want to try an online language course in Spanish then there is a voucher for Babbel.com where you get 6 months extra tuition if you go for the 6 month course. The voucher code is “FISH”. I have no idea how long the voucher is valid for. The voucher is from a podcast called “No Such Thing As A Fish”.
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  #4  
Old 16 Feb 2021
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I would hazard a guess that 99% of people who have travelled in South America do not speak any of the native languages.

And they did just fine.

However, your experience will be richer if you make the effort.

You're never going to speak fluent Spanish after a few months or even years of classes and home learning. So don't beat yourself up about it.

I spent years learning Spanish before I went to South America.

And when I got off the plane, I couldn't understand anything nor they could understand me. It was quite disheartening.

Because everyone talks in slang or with very strong accents.

Most hotels or hostels will have a decent grip of English. And all other foreign travellers will mostly speak English.

Technology now means that you can easily translate anything with a smart phone. Even a conversation.
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  #5  
Old 16 Feb 2021
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Quote:
Originally Posted by *Touring Ted* View Post

Most hotels or hostels will have a decent grip of English. And all other foreign travellers will mostly speak English.

Technology now means that you can easily translate anything with a smart phone. Even a conversation.
...and English is the most common second language taught in school in much of South America. A lot of young people speak English quite well.
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  #6  
Old 18 Feb 2021
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Originally Posted by Alanymarce View Post
...and English is the most common second language taught in school in much of South America. A lot of young people speak English quite well.
True. In several South American countries the English taught in schools is British English but with the prevalence of youtube and social media many of the youth pick up some American english.

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  #7  
Old 19 Feb 2021
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Don't worry too much. Just go there.
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  #8  
Old 16 Feb 2021
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Quote:
Originally Posted by *Touring Ted* View Post

Because everyone talks in slang or with very strong accents.
Same happen to me at some places and with some people for communicate in English at UK, specially with some of your fiends at your area!!! Still thinking they speak a dialect...
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  #9  
Old 16 Feb 2021
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Javier, it's been well established that "English" is just an exotic dialect of "American." Take it from me.
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  #10  
Old 20 Feb 2021
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Originally Posted by Surfy View Post
For socializing and fight against feeling lonely you can use Traveler Map, or visiting hostels where you can meet english speakers.


Surfy
Do enough people use this App yet, to make it helpful?
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  #11  
Old 21 Feb 2021
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Surfy View Post
I did travelling 6 months in SA without spanish skills. Did a Transafrica without french, did travel in Idia, Thailand and Laos without local language skills.

You get what you can expect.

Travelling is possible. For socializing and fight against feeling lonely you can use Traveler Map, or visiting hostels where you can meet english speakers.

Getting in touch with locals is limited to the upper class, who was able to learn other languages.

So you will miss how helpful and nice the people are, even in remote areas.

To train a new language seems a good way to start a trip

If you like to see landscape, dont want to get in touch with locals - you can start without to know the local language.

Guess some of my most valuable travel apps will help you too..

Surfy
Staying in a Lima hotel used by North Americans and European travelers, one night it was decided "No more English, lets use something else". Good intention, started with French, moved to German, later Spanish, then settled on the one language all of us could speak--English. When in non urban areas, I got along fine with my limited Spanish and talking to people who wanted to improve their English.
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  #12  
Old 21 Feb 2021
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Thanks.

I can see the meaning of 'piñon y corona cardan' (crown and pinion) in terms of a differential or CV joints, however I was referencing the driveshaft rather than the joints, as in a broken GS1200 shaft. The prop shaft on my Spanish Panda 4x4 broke and the garage referred to it as 'arbol de accionamiento'. What would you call that in South America?

And I'm not sure what you mean about the reference to front and rear sprockets which surely would be 'piñones delantera y trasera'.

(I can see my Spanish word for sprockets in the vocab is wrong, somehow in editing 'wheel spokes' was used instead.)
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Old 21 Feb 2021
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In Mexico, in a parking lot, changing out the front sprocket on my DR650...



A young moto rider stopped by to watch and help. I asked him for the names of things as we went along: chain....cadena; screw....tornillo; sprocket...sprocket; I turned to look at him and said, 'no, en espanol.." He grinned and said, 'Sprocket.'

..........shu
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