Speak my Language

During the Summer of 2007, I could be found in Asia with a few of my closest friends and other students from Suffolk University. We were on a 2 week condensed business course to learn about the Chinese way of culture, business and people. After a long flight covering a significant part of our planet, we finally land in Beijing, China. Luckily, we had a guide to translate our language and communicate with the local population to help us get to our destinations. However, after the flight, we had difficulty sleeping.

We all woke up and decided we would take an adventure, at Midnight, to find some familiar food. We were on a mission to find McDonalds.

As we walk out of our dorm and onto the busy, congested streets of old Beijing, we find it effortless to flag down a cab. The cab driver did not speak a drop of English. "Great", we thought. "What do I have to do around here to get a Big Mac?" Even after drawing a large "M"on a piece of paper, we knew we would have to cater to his language. After all, this was not America (and it was clear that our effort to draw an international corporate symbol was not successful).

We turned around, walked into the dorm, and spoke to the gentleman who was working at the front desk in an effort to communicate with the cab driver. He was able to write "Take us to McDonald's" in Mandarin. This was exactly what we needed.

I learned several lessons from this and will remember this experience for the rest of my life. If I recall one thought from this night, it was this: If we do not know the language, how can we get around?

Fast-forward four years. I am out of school and part of the "real world". I realize that international travel has several road blocks. Off of the top of my head, I can think of three main challenges. Money, Time and Cultural Barriers.

As a part of the Cultural Barrier, most would include the notoriously difficult language barrier. As a solution to this challenge, we have several options, but two of the main choices consist of "doing it yourself" by learning the language or "deferring the efforts" by hiring a guide. If you are planning a trip to another country where the language is completely different, it really pays to do your homework and, if anything, memorize a few key phrases that will get you to your locations and needs. Travelling with a guide is great as well. This method provides a guide to assist you with the culture and the language. However, which is the right choice? The answer: There is no right or wrong way.

 When travelling, I prefer to explore and learn by doing. This is easier said than done as I usually have a local (even when travelling in the States) to assist me with the new surroundings. However, if you are looking to do some independent travel without a guide, the approach will merit a new method that will give you the ability to communicate with your own language. That's right. Let me introduce Vocre...

"Vocre [voh-krey] is a new translation app from myLanguage that allows anyone to communicate instantly with anybody from anywhere – without language being a barrier" - vocre.com

I have not yet experimented with this new and exciting method, but it really appears to be an excellent solution to the ongoing language barrier. As the above video will illustrate, you simply speak your own language into your phone through use of an application, and it will simply convert and play the sentence. Genius. However, if you are in Paris and meet the woman of your dreams, I cannot say that a relationship can exist through use of a cell phone translator.

-Dave