Travelers are having more “lost in translation” moments. What’s the fix?

If you’re reading this article in English, lucky you. You can travel the world and still be understood by many people because 20 percent of the world also speaks English.

Sorta.

Damian Comito remembers ordering a coffee at a restaurant in Rome recently. Instead, his server brought him a steaming plate of fried zucchini. Cominto, who owns a limousine company in Berth, Wash., has no idea how the server thought he wanted a plate of frittelle di zucchine instead of a cappuccino.

“Fortunately, a helpful local stepped in,” he recalls, “We laughed about the incident.”

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It goes both ways. Stephanie Rytting recalls her first visit to Paris after she learned French. She visited a cafe and confidently ordered a ham sandwich, called a croque-monsieur. Only, she called it a croque-madame, which is a ham sandwich with an egg on it. (Talk about having egg on your face!)

“The waiter politely corrected my faux pas,” recalls Rytting, a travel consultant who specializes in France. “And I sheepishly accepted the sandwich.”

Are we having more lost-in-translation moments? No question about it. More Americans are traveling to far-flung destinations where fewer people speak English. Places you wouldn’t dare go without a phone, a strong 5G signal and Google Translate.

Then again, maybe you would.

So let’s talk about what’s behind these linguistic meltdowns and how to fix them. I know, you’re already reaching for your translation app, but trust me, that’s only half the solution.

What’s causing these translation screw-ups?

Many translation problems don’t happen where you think they do. For as many funny “I ordered the wrong dish” stories as you can find — and you can find a lot — most restaurant orders are fairly easy. (Here’s a pro tip: Most dishes have a number next to them. Use the number to order what you want, don’t try to pronounce the dish name.)

Bill McGee, a frequent traveler and airline policy expert, says some of the worst translation problems are based on assumptions.

“Sometimes it’s nuts and bolts stuff, such as the metric system. Or 24-hour rather than 12-hour clocks in airports and train stations. Or dates written day-month-year. Or elevators that have a ground floor as well as a first floor,” he told me.

And too many Americans simply assume things are done like they are back home: That they use the imperial system, the 12-hour clock, that they write their dates month-day-year. (And the elevator? Heck, I don’t even know what the elevator is saying to me half the time.) 

“The stigma of the ugly American still lives on, and it will continue for as long as we fail to recognize that much of the world does things differently,” he told me.

Can a translation app help avoid a mistranslation when you travel?

Americans go through several phases when they’re abroad. First, there’s the assumption that everyone speaks English because people around them are trying to speak English — maybe they’re practicing their English? 

The second phase is a realization that the English they speak is often limited to “yes,” “no”, “please” and “thank you.” And that’s when they reach for a translation app like Google Translate.

“Translation apps are not a replacement for organic fluency,” says David Koo, the director of operations for Global Rescue. “But they can help cross important communication barriers when it comes to local navigation, reading menus, managing public transportation, shopping or getting help, even in case of emergencies.” 

Koo, who speaks several languages himself, also reaches for a translation app even when he knows a language fluently. That’s because he’s heard too many stories like the fried zucchini or the egg sandwich. And because he works for a company that specializes in security services, he knows that bad translations can be dangerous. 

For example, try telling a doctor at a hospital in Rome about your allergies to medications. If you get something wrong, I promise you won’t be sharing a laugh with the staff. (Related: Here’s what to say if you want to get the worst treatment.)

How to avoid getting lost in translation

Getting zucchini instead of a cappuccino is one thing, but sometimes clear communication is essential when you travel. I’ve almost made the day-month-year mistake when booking hotels in Europe. Always, always double-check to make sure you have the correct date, and remember that outside the U.S., they use the day-month-year format for bookings.

“There are situations when traveling where precise communication is a must,” says Aleksander Alski, who manages U.S. sales for Vasco Electronics, a developer of translation devices. “Getting lost in translation may affect our travel experience.”

That’s true. Last summer, while I was hiking around southeast Asia, I asked a pharmacist in Chiang Mai, Thailand, if they carried salicylic acid, a medication that helps remove warts. She nodded enthusiastically — and handed a box of Cialis. 

“Oh no,” I said. Everything is fine, you know, there, I said looking down. The problem was a little lower — my feet had blisters on them from hiking around. She turned several shades of red before finding the salicylic acid.

So how do you avoid a lost-in-translation experience?

• Learn the language. No, not the entire language — but enough so that you can say “yes” and “no” at a minimum. Another helpful phrase: “Where is the bathroom?” In Japan, my most-used phrase was “excuse me.” These small efforts can eliminate a lot of confusion.
  
• Don’t assume anything. Don’t assume everyone speaks English (even if the locals you meet pretend to). Don’t assume they do their dates and measurements the same way. Assumption is the beginning of a misunderstanding when it comes to language.

• Get an app and use it. Download Google Translate or buy a Vasco translator and use it when you travel, even when you think someone understands you. Remember, people will often answer your question with “yes” when they don’t understand what you’ve said, because they’re trying to be polite. Instead, type in what you want and show it to them.

Here’s what I think is going on: It’s English, really. Everyone thinks they know it, or they think they should know it because they took a few semesters of it in school. So people are muddling through their conversations and getting a lot wrong. At the same time, Americans often want to use their high school Spanish or French. And that sometimes works, except when it doesn’t.

As a result, it feels like everyone is talking past each other when they travel — even when they’re speaking the same language. It’s something to be aware of when you go abroad.

The trick is to take it all in stride. The next time you’re traveling and find yourself accidentally ordering a plate of fried zucchini instead of coffee, think of it as a culinary adventure instead of a translation failure. Who knows? You might just discover your new favorite dish.