Cities to explore in Europe for a monolingual family (English)

[Anonymous]

When people say “use Google translate”, how do you do that exactly? Like type the English into your phone and then hold up the translation for the person to read? Or do you attempt to pronounce it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When people say “use Google translate”, how do you do that exactly? Like type the English into your phone and then hold up the translation for the person to read? Or do you attempt to pronounce it?

Both. Whatever the situation calls for. Or maybe you’re reading a sign or a menu and don’t know what it says- just type it into google translate. Easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When people say “use Google translate”, how do you do that exactly? Like type the English into your phone and then hold up the translation for the person to read? Or do you attempt to pronounce it?

Sometimes yes, show them the phone. Or if I know I am going to be asking a question in 30 seconds, I type it in, get the translation, and practice it a couple of times. I don't speak French, for example, but I understand the pronunciation enough that I can usually be understandable. In Spanish or Italian it's pretty easy to pronounce reasonably well. I think if I were trying German or a Slavic language I might pass on trying to say it.

[Anonymous]

All the Germans who can't speak Italian, and the Greeks who don't speak Spanish, and the French who don't speak Hungarian resort to English. Most signs are in local language plus English. In museums etc I just point my phone camera at the foreign language description and Google translate puts it straight into English for me.

You can also type or speak your questions into Google translate and it will translate it into the foreign language for the waiter or receptionist or pharmacist to read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When people say “use Google translate”, how do you do that exactly? Like type the English into your phone and then hold up the translation for the person to read? Or do you attempt to pronounce it?

Both. Whatever the situation calls for. Or maybe you’re reading a sign or a menu and don’t know what it says- just type it into google translate. Easy.

There's different modes - camera, microphone, and written. Practice with some Spanish signs in your town or some foreign language websites.

[Anonymous]

You can practice Google translate microphone conversation function with TV news to see how the conversation function works. It will transcribe the foreign language and put it in English, or vice versa.

The typed in and camera functions are even easier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When people say “use Google translate”, how do you do that exactly? Like type the English into your phone and then hold up the translation for the person to read? Or do you attempt to pronounce it?

The best use of google translate is the camera/written feature, I think. if you're at a restaurant that doesn't have an english menu, it's really helpful to just have google translate help you interpret the menu

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Literally anywhere in Europe is fine. A lot of people speak english, and if not, you have google translate. And if that doesn't work, a big smile, pointing, some charades, etc works. Learning to communicate across languages and cultures is a wonderful experience!

This

[Anonymous]

Seville and Granada, but not at the height of summer. Small towns of the Dordogne in France. The Romantic Road towns of Germany. Bern and Lucerne in Switzerland. Salzburg and Innsbruck in Austria. Try to get out to some smaller towns and rural areas away from the crowds that you'll find in Paris and Amsterdam.

[Anonymous]

This thread makes me sad. I get that you adults can't speak another language (but obviously try). But why would you want that for your kids? They aren't studying another language in school? You are ensuring that they are just like you.

[Anonymous]

You will be fine in any major city. English is what a lot of Europeans uses across languages. If you're going to a more rural or remote area you may struggle or need to rely on an app or google translate more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Literally anywhere in Europe is fine. A lot of people speak english, and if not, you have google translate. And if that doesn't work, a big smile, pointing, some charades, etc works. Learning to communicate across languages and cultures is a wonderful experience!

Literally anywhere in the world..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread makes me sad. I get that you adults can't speak another language (but obviously try). But why would you want that for your kids? They aren't studying another language in school? You are ensuring that they are just like you.

Let us know when you are able to completely shift the entire American educational system. Very few kids have access to bilingual programs, even in the DC area. And an hour a day in junior high and high school won't get you much, from experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread makes me sad. I get that you adults can't speak another language (but obviously try). But why would you want that for your kids? They aren't studying another language in school? You are ensuring that they are just like you.

Ok, my kids are completely bilingual but their German and Swedish is non-existent. My husband speaks six languages but is useless with Bengali and Greek.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When people say “use Google translate”, how do you do that exactly? Like type the English into your phone and then hold up the translation for the person to read? Or do you attempt to pronounce it?

Both. Whatever the situation calls for. Or maybe you’re reading a sign or a menu and don’t know what it says- just type it into google translate. Easy.

Or take a pix of it with google translate; some of the translation comes out funny, though.

I used it when we were in Korea. My Korean is passable, but I didn't understand some of the menu items or when I was conversing with a cousin who doesn't speak that much English.

I'm sure Google Translate is much better for Romance languages.