Top tips for learning a language before you travel overseas

From Duolingo to translation devices, here’s how to learn a language before you fly, writes Ewan McDonald

Q. As a fully paid-up member of the NZ state secondary school system, my only exposure to a
foreign language was failing School Cert French in the fifth form. Do you have any suggestions for easy, basic (menu, taxi, directions) communication overseas?

A. In a word, yes. How much foreign language you’ll actually need depends on where you’re going. Many northern European nations have come to consider English as the lingua franca and students have to learn it from primary days until age 16 (Norway is just one example).

It goes without saying that you’ll get a lot more out of your trip if you can muster a few basic phrases with the locals in their own language; even if they do politely switch to English after hearing a mangled “Buongiorno”, they’ll appreciate the effort.

One way is to take a crash course in, say, French or Spanish – more on that later, although your mention of “School Cert” and “fifth form” suggests we might be attempting to educate mature canines in novel skills.

Perhaps the easier way is to use a language translator device. Essentially, there are three versions: handheld voice translators or pocket translators, translator earbuds or headsets and pen translators.

Handheld voice translators usually have two buttons. You hold one button, ask the way to the railway station in English and the device will translate what you said into Italian. The accommodating local holds the other button as they speak Italian and the device will translate “go 250 metres, take the first street on the left and it’s straight ahead of you” into English.

In two-way translator earbuds, you can share a pair of earbuds, speak, and hear live translations on each earphone. In one-way earbuds, the other person can speak into your mobile phone while you use the earbuds.

Most translator earbuds need to be paired with a mobile app. Many can also be used to listen to music, podcasts and make or even translate phone calls. Probably the best way to go – literally.

Pen translators are probably best for learning a language or translating lengthy documents at home.

Remember, you’re likely to need Wi-Fi, a hotspot or local SIM to use many of these devices.

If you’re likely to be in technologically dead air, you’ll need an offline language translator. And they do have their limitations. Unfortunately, no one has yet been able to design an artificial intelligence system that can cope with the subtleties of the king’s English as spoken in Australia or the Southern States of the US.

If you want to try your hand at total immersion and learn some words and phrases before you head off, the most popular tool is Duolingo, a US-based app where you can practise vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and listening skills for 40 languages, usually through short challenges and games.

All the heavy hitters are there – Spanish, French, Italian, the Gaelic languages, Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese, as well as a few more esoteric tongues. You’re unlucky to come across someone wanting to chat in Esperanto or Haitian Creole, but if you’re heading to a cosplay convention you may want to pick up a few words of Klingon or High Valyrian.

The company claims that 34 hours of Duolingo are equivalent to a full university semester of language education but retired language professor Steven Sacco tested it by studying Swedish on the app for 300 hours, took UCLA’s Elementary Swedish exam – and got an F.

Options worth considering are online communities, an easy way to get tips from a native speaker, practise conversations and maybe make a friend at your destination. Popular communities include Fluent in 3 Months, Reddit’s r/Language Learning and The Polyglot Club. Mango Languages is a game-style online learning platform which prioritises conversational skills in more than 70 languages; Memrise is a similar programme.

The HelloTalk app takes a one-to-one approach, connecting you to other people around the world who also want to learn a new language. You teach each other your language, helping build comprehension, communication, and hopefully understanding, one conversation at a time. It claims more than 18 million users in more than 150 languages.

Podcasts worth checking out include the Innovative Language 101 Series, with each podcast providing an overview of the language, tips and more; Coffee Break Languages aims to do what it says on the tin. You listen to a new podcast for your language each day and you’ll learn a new word or phrase. Short, to the point and your coffee shouldn’t have time to go cold.

Your first port of call, however, should be YouTube. In its most useful corners, you can learn how to do almost anything from growing vegetables to fixing the differential on a 1964 Triumph Herald, so it goes without saying there’s nowhere else online offering so much access to native speakers talking about any subject imaginable.

The First-timer’s guide … is a fortnightly column where we’ll answer your travel-related questions — anything from roaming around Rome to reining in roaming charges. Send your queries and travel tips to [email protected] with “First-timer” in the subject line