When visiting someone's home, Emily Post/Mrs. Manners would teach that you are a guest in their home, and therefore it is important not to get too comfortable. It would be respectful for you to try to operate by their rhythms, their schedule, etc.
When traveling, the same rule applies. You are not in your own country, you are in someone else's. Therefore, it is wise, polite, and extraordinarily helpful to learn a bit of the local rhythms, specifically, the language.
However, this can prove challenging when you're traveling through countries at rapid fire pace, sometimes one country in one day and night, then on to the next country with their language that hardly resembles the language their neighbors speak. Being a lifetime citizen of the United States of "We only speak one language and not always well", I will admit my lack of fluent languages under my belt, although this is something I intend to remedy in the years that follow.
So, in the event that you find yourself backpacking across Europe and don't have the opportunity to fluently learn German, French, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Czech, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Croatian, Slovak, Polish, Russian, etc, a simple suggestion I've found most effective is to learn at least one phrase, one specific phrase.
If you learn nothing else, this phrase, I believe, will speak volumes, and for multiple reasons.
My personal opinion: One of the most important phrases to learn how to say in a language is "thank you."
Scratch that. One of the most important phrases to learn, bar none, is the phrase "thank you." Trust me, not only will this make interpersonal interaction and communication as you travel run a whole lot smoother, but it also benefits your inner world as well.
First of all, you'll need it when the locals are patient with you, putting up with the fact that you didn't take the time to learn a substantial amount of their language. You'll need it when they take the time to listen while you wear them out speaking too quickly, as if speed helps the comprehension process at all. You'll need it when you ask for directions in broken sign language you just made up, and they kindly take the time to make sure you've understood what they've said. You'll need it when the man that doesn't speak a word of English at the French train station behind the ticket counter puts up with your Post-It communcation technique, requesting the train and times you need to get to the middle of nowhere. (True story.) When traveling, you will never find knowing how to say "Thank you" in the local vernacular to let you down or serve you poorly.
Second, and this is inevitable: we're going to need help. We can't completely traverse this world on our own and independently, and who would want to? There's such a blessing in the community and fellowship with others. You need the people that drive your buses, taxis, limos, and trains, the people that serve you food and stock the grocery story at which you shop. You need the fellow at REI or Barnes and Noble who helps you find that which you seek. You may not always utilize it, but when people offer to help, lend a hand, extend some advice, it's an act of kindness you may come to appreciate more than you realize, and should be received with a grateful heart and kind appreciation expressed.
As for the the inner scope, practicing verbally articulating a phrase that is indicative of a thankful heart will only serve you well.
We don't say "thank you" enough, these days. In fact, we're only really thankful for something when we think it's good, or it's fun, etc. But as we grow older, as we put more candles upon the cakes we eat to celebrate our birth, as we put more days and years behind us, perhaps wisdom teaches us to recognize that even the seemingly tough days, bad situations, disappointing circumstances can breed positive results, valuable lessons, strengthening of character.
Perhaps to live thankfully has little to do with things always being good, fun, or beautiful.
Perhaps, if we seek to be grateful for what we have, for what we get, for when our needs instead of our wants are met, well then we might just find something fantastic happening within our hearts.
When my dad was a freshman in college, the upperclassmen went about their usual business of employing the underclassmen to do their bidding, confident this method of harassment mixed with service was a brilliant means of ensuring their authority for the upcoming year. While most underclassmen groaned or complained at the command to carry an upperclassman's instrument, my father, a beautiful mix of inner peace and sarcasm, when confronted with an upperclassman's command, would energetically respond, "Oh, thank you sir! May I carry something else for you as well?"
Every time an upperclassman would arrive to order him around, my dad would respond this way, adamant about refusing to let the circumstances change the state of his heart, define the course of his mood or day, or let him be smaller in their eyes. To him it did not matter; the act of service put him at no loss, and in fact, it soon took all of the fun out of the attempted hazing the upperclassman sought to commit, and they soon began to treat my father with a respect reserved for equals.
Even the toughest of situations can breed strength, a great story to tell, and exciting adventures, if you simply go with the flow of things and, as the ocean does, let things just come on through. Gratefully accept what life, the Lord, the day, the situation has just given. Perhaps if we can learn to press in and take from a situation all it has to teach us, perhaps an attitude of gratitude can guide us to new levels of peace, understanding, and depth of character.
So, for this blog installment, I've brought you, the reader, a gift. In 21 different languages, I give you 21 different ways to say "Thank you."
Spanish: "Gracias"
French: "Merci"
Italian: "Grazie"
English: "Thank you"
Croatian: "Hvala"
Czech: "Děkuji za pozornost"
Danish: "Tak dig"
Dutch: "Dank u"
Finnish: "Kiitos"
Flemish: "Dank u"
German: "Danke"
Greek: "Σας ευχαριστώ"
Hause: "Na gode"
Hungarian: "Köszönöm!"
Norwegian: "Takk deg"
Polish: "Dziękujemy"
Portugese: "Obrigado" (European) or "Obrigado" (Brazillian)
Romanian: "Va multumesc"
Serbian: "Hvala vam"
Swedish: "Vi tackas"
Turkish: "Teşekkür Ederiz"
I may not always be able to speak the language you speak...
...but by helping me when I'm lost, bringing me my food, offering advice when you think I need, listening to me when I vent, just being there standing beside me, or by simply existing, you have done something good in this world, and I'll want to know how to thank you, how to show my appreciation. I'll want to know how to thank you in a way that you really hear it.
It is my belief that gratitude and a thankful heart can heal us of our selfishness, our discontent, and our tendency to mistake an adventure for an inconvenience.
So come, let us live gratefully.
"A person's greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated."
"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." -Melody Beattie
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