Well, our much awaited for holidays is now in sight and I have organised the airport parking and travel insurance. But I am the first to admit that in fact I know nothing of the destination in details. Nor do I know a single word of Italian.
In fact I’m hoping that with my in-laws coming with us and their previous Italian visits that they can get us by. And it seems I am not alone at avoiding learning the basics according to a recent study commissioned by Holiday Autos Car Hire us Brits are only able to speak just 8 words of the local language.
However, that’s 7 more than me.
Pizza is still Pizza in Italian, isn’t it?
A spokesperson for Holiday Autos, said: “This research highlights that Brits don’t make huge amounts of effort when it comes to learning languages when planning a holiday in country abroad.
“Saying that, if, of those eight words that the average adult knows is ‘please’, ‘thank you’ and ‘good morning’, you can’t go far wrong.”
So that being the case I have a serious amount of learning to do as learning new languages was never my forte at school and to be fair at times I struggle with correctly speaking and writing English … maybe I should have unlocked the stockroom door when someone in my class at school locked in the languages teacher? Well you live and learn.
However if you do want to make an effort to learn some of the important phrases before you fly off this Summer Holiday Autos Car Hire have produced handy language guides for anyone that is travelling to France or Spain this year that is available online and includes top phrases you will need to navigate your way around from restaurants to travel.
For now I fear I am probably going to one of those language limited people that while in Italy may land me in hot water when ordering food and drinks, following directions and settling a bill.
Although I refuse to be one of the one in 20 people who have resorted to drawing pictures to make myself understood. I fail at dictionary overtime so it’s a disaster waiting to happen.
If you fancy a grin at our fellow traveller expense the video below will certainly do that.
Are you off on your travels this year? If so do you know the language?
Disclaimer: This is a collaborative post.
Jossette Naiken says
Learning new languages is not my forte either 🙂 Good job on the blog.