Language barrier. Have you had similar problems ?

hehe..funny story. It's true 5 is ha in Thai. That's why in Facebook if you see 555!! in their status all walls, it means they are laughing..hihihi.. Anyway, I live in Bangkok and I've had my share of language barrier problems. If I really can't converse with them, I'd recourse to the ever-dependable sign language.hehehe... Now is different though since I know a lot of survival words such as the thai term for a toilet, or hungry, or food. 555!!!

In Poland I was travelling by bus late at night. I was dark outside and I wasn't able to read the signs so I asked the driver for help, but he didn't speak English and I speak didn't Polish, so we weren't able to understand eachother. I didn't know how to find the right busstation, but I didn't know the area at all. Fortuneately one of the passagers spoke English and he helped me find the right busstation. I was very grateful for his help In Hungary I wanted to buy a discount card for the metro, but the shop assistent didn't speak English or German and she didn't understand what I wanted to buy. Fortunately a couple was waiting in line behind me, they spoke both Hungarian and English and they helped me translate. In Bulgaria wasn't able to read the signs in the streets so it was very difficult to find the places that I wanted to visit. I tried to ask for directions, but the people I asked only spoke Bulgarian so I wasn't able to understand their explanations. It took me a lot of time to get find the places I was looking for because I got lost so many times, but I kept trying and eventually I found the things that I wanted to see. In Greece I had the same problem. I thought that it would be easy to get from the train station to my hotel because according to map the hotel was very close to the station, but I was wrong. I couldn't read the signs and I had no idea which direction my hotel was, and the people I asked didn't speak English. I stopped using the map and walked around in area close to the train station hoping that I would be able to find the right street. That didn't happen, and I decided to take a taxi. The first taxi drivers didn't speak English, and I was so happy when I found a taxi driver who spoke English. He took me to my hotel and I discovered that I had totally misunderstood the map

Hello my friend Green Line. I traveled to Bulgaria and had many problems with the language barrier there. I went to a travel agent and tried to book a train ticket. The booking agent didn't speak English. It was challenging to get my ticket to Romania booked. I kept getting lost: my book had English road names and they had a different alphabet. I found the bus timetable in Montenegro was also written in that alphabet. I thought help! The funny experience I had was in Slovenia. I wanted to get the bus to Poland but couldn't find anyone that spoke English. I asked in a very loud voice if anyone spoke English. Luckily a 15 year old Polish boy did. He told me and I got over there successfully. At a lake in Poland I saw him again and his father. We exchanged addresses and become pen friends. He visited me in England a few years later. Eastern Europe is the place I can have many language barriers.

I just got back from France last week so yes that was an experience getting around because I don't speak French. When I travel to other countries I like to learn a little about the language before I go. I got some guide books from the library and a language book and did the best I could. I would ask in French if they spoke English. Some did some didn't. I think it's kind of fun and a little stressful to try to communicate just with my little language guide when I don't know the language. I went to Thailand a few years ago and just walked up to some random person on the street to ask for directions and luckily for me they spoke English. I didn't have a problem in Thailand because it seemed a lot of people there spoke English. I don't assume people will speak English so that's why I like to learn some of the basics. The problem I find is that it's easy to spit out a phrase in another language but if someone answers me back I have no clue what they are saying.

There was a little bit of a language barrier thing for me when I went to Japan. The people there were very kind though. Most of them had had a little English in school too so that was a huge help. I work with some immigrants and there are some that don't know any English at all. I really like to talk too..lol..so it was tougher for me. Over the years I have learned Spanish so that I could communicate with the ones that didn't know a bit of English. We used to play charades before that..lol...oh and draw alot.

One time while I was standing in front of our house in our subdivision , a cab pulled over in front of me and it had a foreign passenger at the back and the cab driver asked me to translate for him, I agreed, now the guy kept repeating a word that to me sounded like "schanitz"I could not understand so I just shrugged my shoulders and the cab sped off. Weeks later I saw the foreigner again in our subdivision with a young Filipina wife,so I befriended them being new in our place, I was even invited to their house and it turned out that the word he was uttering was " Garnet" a road just a few blocks from my house and the young Filipina wife kept laughing and I was so embarassed,it turned out he got lost that time, we started laughing and drinking and he became my friend for a long time until they went back to his native northern European nation where he is a sailor

It surely sound like she ws laughing, but in Thai, it means five baths. That is amazing, an English word can has differnt meaning in non English native language. Our world is full of amazement and surprises.

Hi there. Oh yes, I was in Shanghai in May and because I don't speak good Mandarin, gosh! It was horror to be on the streets! Well, I am kinda adventures so I actually tried to talk asking for direction etc. It was like chicken and duck talking to each other :)

Hahaha. That was really nice. I just had a big laugh and I surely will laugh again. I haven't experienced that when I was in Oman, Dubai and Hong Kong. But it was difficult in Hong Kong because I notice that the people aren't friendly. Maybe it is because I am Filipino. I'd go to shops and ask for something and how much and they almost don't want to look at me and I felt they don't want to answer. Some of them does talk but still their face would still look like they are angry. So I just go on and search for things by myself. I also noticed at Hong Kong airport, I asked for directions and the Chinese staffs seems like they don't even want to talk to me. I'm sure they can speak English otherwise, they won't be able to work there. So I just go to the European or American people because they seem really friendly and helpful. I still fell bad as to why they are like that.