🇬🇧 Travel and foreign languages

Is it worth investing in travel and studying foreign languages?

I could answer with an emphatic yes. But I prefer to ask a few questions so that you can find out if your travel experiences were worthwhile, if your future trips can be used to the fullest or if your profile does not align with the maximum use of the experience, and others to reflect on the use of foreign languages  in your life. Then I will do a more in-depth assessment.

1. What are your long-term professional goals?
2. What is your interest in the culture of countries where the language you are considering studying is spoken as an official language?
3. How open to diversity and different ways of thinking and acting are you?
4. What do you know about the culture of the place you want to visit?
5. What is different, exciting and unique about that place?
6. How is the climate of the place? Are you prepared to face the climatic conditions in the period you plan to be there?
7. Have you read my text on how to create your own travel itinerary here on the blog?

When we invest in something, we want to have a return. Not necessarily a financial return. Most people I know who speak at least one foreign language well are because they have a cultural interest in communicating better with speakers of that language. If your motivation is not linked to the interest of opening your head to new cultures, the fruits that you will reap may not be very juicy. Unfortunately, many english speakers feel too comfortable because everyone knows english, so they don’t try other languages, but embracing this attitude is proper for narrow minded people. 

In the case of travel, there are those who travel just to enjoy a beach without compromise or to shop, but these motivations, although valid, do not add value to life. Knowing sights, in itself, is also of little value. What is the use of going to Paris and seeing Monalisa at the Louvre if you do not notice the differences between a mediocre work and a genius work? See just because it is a mandatory stop, something that is on the itinerary of every tourist and every travel agency? Don't be so muggle! Saying in a circle of friends that you went to Paris and visited the Louvre makes no difference, unless your friends don't usually travel. And if you need friends so mediocre to feel on top, your ego is too fragile. You need to evolve more as a human being.

What brings return in travel is to look for what is culturally interesting and unique in that place and to have a mentality of constant search for cultural enrichment. Do you want to go to the Louvre? Be consistent and get used to visiting museums in your city, exhibitions by different artists, then also visit other museums in other cities, observe the differences between the works, the details, follow artists on social networks and observe how their work is made. Each artwork has a story behind it.  Hence the importance of doing your own planning. In addition, making all travel decisions without agency assistance is an excellent exercise in self-confidence and maturity.

I mentioned the Louvre, but for any tourist spot, in any country, it is interesting to note the reasons why that place or monument is a tourist spot. I have been to many small towns with images that resemble Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro in a smaller size. What differentiates those statues from the famous Rio monument?

A cultural nomad is the one who makes the most of each place, enriching himself with the local culture, making friends with people from all over the world, exercising his brain without leaving his physical appearance aside. Are you making the most of the opportunities that open up when travelling?

If you like this post, buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/nycka

Nycka, the nomad