Speaking English abroad

By Chen Jing

It is well known that English is the most widely used second language in the world. However, when traveling in a country where English is not the mother tongue, English may not be quite an easy thing. This was what I experienced in Russia,Cambodia, and Thailand.

The local tour guide told me that the Russians were not good at speaking English. I decided I would try to prove them wrong.I went to an underground mall in St. Petersburg to buy a doll with traditional Russian clothes. The boss, a lady in her 40s, told me about the details of the doll in Russian. I could guess her meaning roughly through her exaggerated body language. However, when I asked her a question in English,her expression appeared helpless. Then she left me alone.Fortunately, a 20-year-old college student volunteered to be our translator. At last, I bought my favorite doll. Later, he told me that he had learned English in school. He told me the elder generation did not have a chance to study it as he did. Moreover,most of them were not interested in learning English in their spare time.

In Angkor Wat, Kampuchea,you could see the kids begging for candies or cents in the scenic spots. To get these donations,they could only speak simple English words (eg. one dollar,candy, thanks)—but they could speak those words quite well. The tourists could meet their demands on that condition. However, while I tried to communicate with them in English, they quickly ran away.They would find another group of tourists and repeat their requests in the same way.

The experience of speaking English in Thailand was the most interesting. In Chiang Mai, a province of Thailand, speaking English to the locals was almost impossible. No matter how slow I spoke, and how exaggerated I behaved, the local people just shook their heads. My best friend who has been to Chiang Mai told me that Chinese was more popular than English here.Therefore, we spoke Chinese as we did at home. Between speaking Chinese and using Alipay, we practically felt like we were traveling in China.◆

英語是世界上最廣泛使用的第二語言。當我在英語非母語的國家旅行時，有時卻會為是否說英語的事情而犯愁。

當地的導游告訴我，俄羅斯人并不熱衷說英語。果真如此嗎？旅行途中，我決定驗證一下。在圣彼得堡的一家地下商場，我看中一個身著俄羅斯傳統服飾的布偶。店長是一名40歲左右的女士。她非常熱情地用俄羅斯語向我介紹這個布偶的特點，告訴我布偶的功能。通過她夸張的肢體語言，我大致能猜出一二。而當我用英語具體詢問時，她的表情瞬間流露出無奈，轉身就去做其他的事情。幸好，店里有名20多歲的大學生，做起了我們之間的翻譯，我才最終買到心儀的布偶。后來，這名大學生告訴我，他們這代人是在學校學習這門語言。年紀略長的一代，沒有機會在學校學習英語，而他們大多也沒興趣進行自學。

在柬埔寨的吳哥窟，每個景點附近都有索要糖果或紙幣的小孩。為了能獲得一些糖果，或者1美元，他們也把諸如“1美元”“糖果”“謝謝”等基本英語單詞說得很地道。看著那無辜的小眼神，誰也無法拒絕這小小的請求。可是，當我打算和他們用英語多交流時，他們就撒歡地跑了。轉眼，他們又用同樣的方式站到不遠處其他游人的面前。

泰國說英語的經歷最是讓我難忘。在清邁，不管是在大商場，還是路邊的小攤，說英語幾乎成了奢望。不管用多么慢速，多么夸張地表達，當地人基本都是搖搖頭。和我同行的閨蜜，來過清邁。她說，這里的漢語比英語更加流行。后來，我們就和在國內一樣，漢語走遍天下。隨處可見的支付寶，更是感覺和在國內旅行沒什么兩樣。◆