What languages should I learn if I want to travel the world?

Languages and travelling work exclusively with each other. One doesn’t necessarily need the other on the surface. But speaking the local language can completely transform your travel experience. This article will focus on the most helpful languages for travellers, because languages really are the source of having a real cultural experience and finding like minded friends all over the world.

1. English

If you are reading this article without translating, you can either be one of the 360 million native English speakers, or one of the billion people who speak English as a second language. The broad majority of the world's population has at least a fundamental understanding of the English language, you are obligated to sharpen your Hindi for your next travel destination. It is an official language in the United States, the United Kingdom, Jamaica, Australia, New Zealand, Barbados and more.

2. Spanish

Learning Spanish will widen the whole world to you. It is one of the most widespread languages in the world, and Spanish is the official language in 21 different countries. The numbers say, there are approximately 500 million Spanish speakers all over. More personified as a Romance language, Spanish shares the same roots with Italian and Portuguese, for instance, which pushes you to open up to nurturing further language skills. Spanish is an ideal language to learn for budget travellers, partially because Spanish-speaking countries tend to be very affordable.

3. Chinese

Did you know? Almost 1.2 billion native Chinese speakers make up 16% of the world’s population. Having a stable knowledge of Mandarin and Cantonese will help you travel across the language’s vast geographic reach more conveniently. There are numerous places worth travelling to where speaking Chinese will be absolutely handy for you. Consider Hong Kong, Taiwan, Kuala Lumpur, Tibet and Singapore. 

4. Hindi

Spoken predominantly in India, Hindi is one of the ‘big five’ world languages. More than half a billion people speak Hindi, of which half are native speakers. India is already a backpacker’s choice and a luxury travel destination. India promotes delectable cuisine and yoga, and the native language, Hindi.

5. Arabic

When most people think of the Arab World and the Middle East, Arabic is naturally the first language that rings the bell. Surprisingly, there isn’t really a language called “Arabic.” Arabic is so vastly diverse in its respective dialects that they are often considered completely different languages, jostled as one for the sake of convenience.

Just so you know, there are almost 313 million Arabic speakers collectively with 25 countries that indist an Arabic language to be an official or co-official language. Egyptian Arabic has come closest to the standard Arabic which holds the record for being spoken by the largest Arabic-speaking population of around 65 million people.

6. Russian

Russian is the most spread Slavic language in the world with approximately 166 million native speakers spread all over the globe. Speaking Russian will send you from the Baltic Sea to the Bering Strait and it indeed is the sturdiest traveller’s tool for traversing Eurasia. Russian is formally claimed to be a minority language in Eastern Europe including Georgia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Turkmenistan, Moldova, and Romania. 

7. Portuguese

Portuguese is recognized as the official language of Brazil and Portugal with over 200 million speakers. But, did you know that Portuguese is also an official language in some parts of Asia? It is very actively spoken in Macau, where Portuguese is an official language. Not to forget Japan as Brazilian immigrants brought the language with them to Japan.

Portuguese is also spoken in a few African countries. Angola, for instance, is notorious for its complicated visa policy, making it next to impossible for Western travelers to travel there.