Quote:
Originally Posted by masraum
Being able to speak a language even if it's at a grade school level would have to be hugely useful if you were traveling in a country even without being able to read/write. Reading and writing another language that does not use the roman alphabet would be a pretty big ask, I would think (at any age). Especially in places like Japan, China, and Korea. I know that Japan has 3 different "alphabets", 2 that are what we would think of as an alphabet (character = a sound) and then kanji which is more like (and based on) the Chinese characters. I don't know if Chinese has anything analogous to katakana/hiragana or if they only have the characters that stand for words/ideas. And I'm not sure about Korean at all other than that I can say "that's Korean" when I see it.
|
It would be and the locals all are appreciative of even modest efforts.
That said, pretty much everybody in Japan studies English at some point so they are already miles ahead of me. Pretty common in the EU, as well. I've always gotten by, one way or another. Sometimes I learn a few key phrases, like asking for ice in my glass of Coke in Germany. Huge. Can't drink a room temp Coke.
I intend to spend some time in Japan in the coming years. I may take along a buddy who speaks it or just hire a local to drive me around and interpret, when needed. Best case, I hire an attractive female wasian, although my fallback is a motorcycle racing mechanic that spent a decade or two in So Cal and hasn't got enough going on right now to fill his days. Some friends and I use him for occasional transactions that we do in Japan. If his wife lets him out of the house for a few days, I can probably work a deal.
The wasian would be way better, though.