Why Tourists should try and learn the local language of the people in the countries they visit

I know this sounds ridiculous to some tourists especially the foreigners who use different languages to communicate which are not common to the people where they intend to visit. The fact is that the only way one can enjoy a safari to wherever he goes is by knowing some few words in the local language. This does not only helps in communicating with the local people but also allows a visitor to transact easily for example when buying something from a local trader. In doing that, one avoids being cheated by increasing his/her purchasing power.

I had a chance to act as a guide to two Russian visitors who had come to Uganda for a 5 day Gorilla and Wildlife Safari. One thing was that these two neither knew English nor any local language spoken in Uganda. I was chosen to guide them because I knew how to speak and understand Russian. I picked them from Entebbe international Airport on our first day and took them to their hotel in Kampala. The trip started well and one thing am sure of, they had a thrilling life experience in Uganda from the beginning to the end of the safari. However, there was one challenging thing on their trip and this was language barrier. There was a moment when we were in Bwindi Impenetrable forest for gorilla tracking activity. I had left them with two rangers to go and pick some equipment when one of the tourists asked the ranger where he could go for a short call. For sure the ranger wanted help but he couldn’t understand what the tourist was saying. The signs he used were not easy to understand and for sure this visitor suffered. I later returned after 20 minutes and I felt so sorry for him and I wished I had asked them what they wanted before leaving. He told me that he wished he learnt some few English words before coming to Uganda; maybe he would have not had that bad experience.

Sometimes we take the small things for granted while organizing to go on a trip and in the longrun we get punished for them. What I have to advice you is that you should take time and analyze everything that will be of importance to you while in a foreign country.