Dive into cross-cultural connections by bringing a bridge language to the table.
© Wavebreak Media/Thinkstock

Find Your Own Lingua Franca

My best travel connections have had little to do with making a flight and everything to do with making friends.

Like many, I was intimidated by the idea of traveling in a country where my language is not spoken. But I took off anyway and found ways to communicate with local citizens, establishing a kind of lingua franca, or bridge language, that neither of us spoke.

Soon I was breaking the language barrier and making the kind of personal connections that become the best souvenirs. Here are my top five strategies.

1. Let Your Smile Do the Talking

India is a country of many languages (780 recorded by People’s Linguistic Survey). When I encountered Bengali, Hindi, Punjabi, and other languages unfamiliar to me,  I learned the power of a smile.

From child to adult, everyone responds to a smile.
© Eva Boynton

This first “Oh, I see” moment happened in Amritsar, in a nook from which I was drawing the Golden Temple. After 10 minutes, a crowd encircled me. My grand view of the temple had shrunk to a sliver of gold in a sea of legs.

Suddenly, the crowd dispersed, and I looked up to see a Sikh temple guard wearing an orange turban, blue uniform, and a stern expression. He was waving a spear.

After the last onlookers shuffled away, the guard met my eyes and his intimidating frown turned to a magnificent smile. I smiled back. He continued his guard’s walk around the temple, and I resumed drawing.

It continued like this for the next hour: crowd formed, guard passed by, spear waved, smiles exchanged. Our smiles went miles to establish a connection that I’ll always remember—a connection between people from opposite backgrounds across a cultural divide.

2. Describe with a Drawing

Getting directions in Calcutta is easy. Everyone is willing to give their two cents, offering hand gestures and a grand array of “right!” and “left!” But I have a knack for forgetting verbal instructions. And in India, the person who knows the way may well speak Hindi or Bengali.

My solution became scrap paper and napkin maps. This proved to be an inclusive method: anyone—English, Hindi, or Bengali speakers alike—could draw with me, sharing a pencil and clarifying meaning back and forth.

Always keep paper and pencil in your pocket—handy tools
for drawing lines, connecting people.
© Eva Boynton

Not only did this strategy break the language barrier, but it also broke the ice. What started as a request for directions ended up as a way to meet and enjoy new people.

3. Greet and Meet

Sign of a global citizen: using greetings like these in  Swahili, Hindi, German, English, and Cherokee.
© Eva Boynton

My next sure-fire strategy is to meet people part-way.

When you visit another country, read up on its traditions, language, geography, and culture before you go, and learn words for common courtesies such as hello, goodbye, please, and thank you.

I find people are often pleased and surprised when you know phrases in their language. Often, they know some English and my hello opens the door to a further connection.

Europe is a tightly packed continent where one day on a train can mean crossing several countries (and languages). On a short trip, my efforts paid off even when I accidentally swapped languages.

On my first day in Italy, after visiting France and Spain, I thanked a waitress for dinner by stuttering, “Merci! Gracias! Thank you . . . Grazie!” My head was buzzing with different languages. Overhearing my bizarre effort, a table of locals invited me over and we talked until dawn about the flux of culture, language and travel in Europe. It was a night to remember.

4. Say It a Different Way

Traveling in Mexico, I relied on my rusty high school Spanish. There were times when, tongue-tied, I hit the wall. In an “Oh, I see” moment, I learned to try different ways to say the same thing.

My friend and I were at a market in Guadalajara shopping for dinner ingredients. The key was ground meat, and it was my job to find it. I searched my brain, but couldn’t find the Spanish words. At the meat counter, I asked for carne de hamburguesa (hamburger meat) and received a patty.

I took the patty to my friend, hoping it would suffice and I could avoid further chagrin. But no, he sent me and the patty back. I tried different descriptions: carne de espaguetis (spaghetti meat) and carne en tiras (meat in strips).

As I rambled on, the men behind the counter started guessing, and we began a hysterical game of charades. In this game, it was as important to listen as to speak.

When in doubt, try any words you know . . . and charades!
© Eva Boynton

Finally, we got to the answer together: carne molida de res. It felt like the buzzer went off—“Ding! Ding! Ding!“—and an announcer declared, “Step on up to accept your $10,000 prize!”

In the end, a little embarrassment was a small price to pay for the prize of connection. I returned to that meat counter throughout my stay in Guadalajara to visit, laugh, make mistakes, and buy carne molida de res.

#5 Make Friends with a Language Broker

When you meet fellow travelers or expats who speak your language, inquire what other languages they speak. This one question can widen your world. An invitation to a soirée where two people speak English, two speak French, and one speaks both languages means—thanks to the broker—everyone can communicate!

Call on a language broker to make connections.
© Eva Boynton

In Calcutta, I volunteered at one of Mother Teresa’s hospices. I learned by watching since neither patients, workers nor volunteers spoke English.

After several days of silently watching and doing, I met my language broker: a volunteer from the Canary Islands, bilingual in Spanish and French. We began a “telephone game” with the volunteers; from Spanish to French, French to German, German to Swiss, Swiss to Italian, Italian to Hindi.

Connecting the group through language brokers strengthened our team and friendships. We were a symphony of languages searching for the same rhythm.

Rewards of Bridging the Gap

The world is big and small at the same time. And the language barriers are real. Learning another language can take you farther into a culture, but try my five lingua franca strategies to move you out of the comfortable American bubble when you travel.

At the very least, you will crack the language barrier and come home with connections to people from around the world. That’s the everlasting souvenir.

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