Conversations with the Locals

It sounds like you had some wonderful experiences. IMO, often, younger people are more likely to speak English than older folks. They often want to practice their English and sometimes, they want to learn about life outside their city/country.

What a great report. Even though I'm not a people person, I find those interactions to be the most memorable experiences, even if language is an obstacle. More interesting than yet another church, museum, painting, or restaurant meal.

Still vividly recall a fascinating discussion with a German man my wife and I met at the Erfurt museum that was the former STASI East German prison. He was noticing that I was translating the German language display descriptions into English and I think was impressed at some Americans visiting a quiet museum a bit out of the way. He was from Nordhausen in the former East Germany and had actually been expelled from East Germany for being a protestor (fortunate not to have been imprisoned) in iirc that late 70s or 80s.

For me, it has actually been middle aged to older people that I have had conversations with. It has almost always been in small towns, but there are exceptions. I was have a mug of gluhwein in Dresden in January, so a pretty dead time, and a local lady came and sat at the same table as me. We started talking and an hour later were still there. We had a great time learning about each others daily life etc. We even did a selfie together at the end, her idea, lol.

Another time in the north of Iceland, we were at a guesthouse and there were 2 couples from Reykjavik about my same age. We were all in the room that served breakfast in the morning, but in the evening people would relax. We sat there for hours talking with them and sharing wine. I finally went to bed, but our kids stayed and talked with them for much longer.

Yet another time was doing laundry at a campground in Iceland. An Icelandic lady was there too and we chatted all the while our laundry was in process.

I can think of other times in Eze, Antibes, and Isafjordur immediately come to mind.

Going to small festivals, even in big cities, you may find yourself in conversations with people. In Germany, you may find a lot of older people who do speak English if you are in towns where the US had bases. A lot of them worked there. Have met so many seniors here who speak perfect English.

Was at a cafe the other day by the main cemetery, having a snack. The woman at the next table had a book, called the Hummer Frauen. (Lobster Women) I couldn't resist, so asked her what it was about. We chatted for about 10 min. about lobsters, which she had never eaten. That was a fun exchange. Short, but interesting. So, my tip is to carry a book with an interesting title, and someone may ask you about it on the bus, train, or cafe.

Casual meetings and conversations are among my favorite travel experiences. My husband and I have enjoyed chats with locals on public transportation, in informal restaurants, the breakfast room of b&b's, historic sites, museums, and often just because we needed to ask for directions. Most of these encounters were not initiated by us.

The most unlikely "chat' occurred years ago in Budapest when an older woman loudly chastised me for unknowingly taking the seat on a bus that is reserved for handicapped or elderly people. When I responded in English, her tone changed completely as she seemed to understand that I was a foreigner who couldn't read the sign above the seat. She pointed to my camera and began pointing to places on my map where I could get interesting pictures. Then she pointed to my wedding ring and my husband and next pulled out wallet photos of her husband. That was followed by both of us sharing our family photos and by using gestures, offering commentary on the photos. She named a number of likely tourist destinations and with facial expressions told me her opinions on each. Before we parted, she pantomimed eating, marked a spot on my map, and carefully wrote the name of a restaurant. I don't understand Hungarian and she knew no English. We tried other languages but had none in common, so a 30 minute "conversation" consisted entirely of pointing and gestures.

One of my most pleasant memories was wandering into a scarf/hijab shop in the non-tourist side of Antalya. The proprietor wanted to practice his English, and I wanted to practice my Turkish. We sat down for a cup tea, and he spoke in English, and I spoke in Turkish. Fortunately his bilingual sister worked in the shop, and she could help out when we got stuck.

I recently had a long "conversation" with a lady at a train station in a small town in Portugal. I was waiting on the wrong side of the tracks for a train back to where I was staying. She motioned for me to follow her to get across safely, which I did, then she proceeded to tell me all about the scarf she was knitting and showing me pictures of other things she'd made. I made it clear from the start that I didn't speak the language beyond a few basic words, but she didn't seem to mind. I think she just wanted someone to admire her handiwork, which I was happy to do. Thinking of that conversation always makes me smile.

I tend to get into conversation with Europeans a bit less than I used to. I've had hundreds of chats with locals in Europe over what is probably approaching 20 trips. So many of them follow a similar boilerplate conversation that is a bit like the conversations you hear Rick Steves having with locals on his show. It's all a little obvious and vanilla and down the middle.

Which is fine, but maybe 2 years ago I did find myself sitting on a train chatting with a nice Swiss guy counting off the predictable subjects and predictable takes and observations we were both expressing. Not faulting him at all, I think it's a product of who I am and who I end up talking to. I need to figure out a way to interact with some more different thinking people when I'm traveling alone.

Traveling with family is harder, when you have parents and kids in the group you're less likely to get into extended conversation with locals. It happens but less.

I love conversing with others when I am traveling, especially when traveling solo! I like to travel to the smaller and less touristy towns, so that’s the context for most of them. And staying at B&B’s naturally lends itself to many conversations, too. Most hosts are happy that I am interested in their city and their life. My last host in Tivoli was sharing interesting, fun stories about his generational home where I was staying. And, he also liked that I didn’t treat his city as just a day trip.

Another way I’ve enjoyed talking with locals is during cooking classes. Depending on the size of the class & the situation, chefs tend to love sharing beyond food information, although that in itself is a cultural tie to memorable conversation.

I do read the local news on-line at least a month ahead, so I am aware of what’s happening in the local area. Returning to Puglia two years in a row, I was able to have a deeper conversation with a young olive oil farmer which he appreciated since I knew some of the current challenges in the Salento region.

Sometimes when I am waiting for the next train, it’s convenient to have a chance to talk to someone. I started a conversation during my last trip at the Ostuni train station because the wife had the same ORI brand as my purse! They were traveling from Scotland, and we had time for a nice conversation about Scotland.

Something that’s changed over the years is that more people are staring at their phones when they’re waiting some place & also on the trains. It’s lessened some of the opportunities to talk together.

I was in Paris (RS tour) for my first time. I had no French and stayed away from any conversation. One time I caught the bus after walking around the Arc de Triomphe and a woman got on frantically saying "street name, street name" where I recognized it from the map showing the bus connections on the overhead.

No one wanted anything to do with the frantic woman so I just repeated the name she was saying, drawing her attention to me, then put my finger on the overhead map of the stop we'd just left, said it, then pointed back out the rear window and said it again. Then I put my finger back on that map spot => then stabbed, one (stop), two (stops), three (stops) further on the Bus route. Left it there and repeated the street name the woman was saying as I moved my finger up and down showing that the street she was after ran across the route we were on.

All without a word of French. It was the longest conversation I had with a local person in Paris.

In Italy, we hound (yes) anybody with a dog the same Italian breed of dog as ours, and 90% of the time we are soon looking at photos of our dogs and discussing their temperaments and so on. Even speaking zero Italian (due to my mild case of xenoglossophobia), I do this when out and about by myself without Italian-speaking husband.

Also will approach a total stranger (what in my family we call a "pidek" -- "Person I Don't Even Know") to talk about a flower or something interesting in a painting.

Generally, though, I don't go out of my way to talk with "locals" abroad any more than I do at home. Well, except when I'm doing my volunteer job --- then I'm as chatty as all heck.

I love Hank’s take - the locals are boring.

There are 775 million people living in Europe. I think it’s worth staying hopeful that at least one or two of them might be worth talking to.

If speaking to the locals is an important part of the trip, it seems like Slovenia is the best place to go: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Foreign_language_skills_statistics

Interesting, as usual, how we all have different takes on a subject. Our experience is different than Hank’s as we’ve found traveling with our kids and grandkids has opened up the door to more natural conversations than we’ve ever had with locals, traveling with tour members or by ourselves. It’s amazing how children, even with the language barrier can so easily interact on a playground or even on a tram or train and how that naturally leads to conversations with their parents or grandparents.

I was telling a couple of US tourists I met in a wine bar yesterday that I really dont like talking to strangers. They understood, and we discussed our similar dislike on the subject for over an hour.

Having dinner in Healesville, standing in line at the bar to order, making general small talk while doing so. Then I walked outside to put my drink at my table, to be invited to come sit with the couple I had been in line behind. We ended up talking for a couple of hours. Now Facebook friends and staying in touch.

Or riding the crowded, standing room only train in England when my reserved seat was on a car that didn’t make the train that day. By finding that out in a very polite way, the ones sitting where my seat WOULD have been managed to save me a seat with them at the next stop when a few people got off. Then the couple headed to their vacation house in Spain pulled out a bottle of wine and plastic cups and the four of us at the table had a wonderful chat till time for me to get off.

I love people.

My friend and I were waiting for a local bus in Lecce in Italy last year when an older lady came along.
She started chatting and asking us where we were from.
When my friend said she was Scottish, the lady pretended to swoon and pat her heart, saying Sean Connery over and over.
We garbled back and forth in our limited Italian till the bus came.
She elbowed us out of the way, telling the driver not to charge us, she would use her bus pass for us, then kept chatting.
When we were getting off, she hugged and kissed us, and waved till the bus was out of sight.
I love Italians!

I was sitting at the outside tables at a wine bar in Budapest. Yes, hard to believe but true. An American family also enjoying the evening and I started talking. In the conversation I learned that he worked at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. My son does too I said. We exchanged names to discover he works with my son.

As for conversations with locals, what choice do I have? I live here. What i have discovered is that they are very human-like.

Some of the highlights of our travels have been engaging locals in conversation.

I love Hank’s take - the locals are boring.

There are 775 million people living in Europe. I think it’s worth
staying hopeful that at least one or two of them might be worth
talking to.

Uncharitable take, but I suppose it is yours to have. I didn't say the locals are boring exactly. I've spend years travelling in Europe, over a period of decades. I've had hundreds of conversations. Spent weeks with people I've met, stayed at family homes, been taken camping, all levels of intimacy. What I'm saying is I seem to meet the same sorts of people much of the time, somehow my European counterparts in one way or another, and we tend to have somewhat Rick Steves-ish moderate pragmatic conversations that highlight some broad differences. So sometimes I sit there and think "it's 43 minutes into the chat, here comes the guns talk," or "our lifestyle is less harried, we sit down for our coffee," or "the trains used to be good," or "I am a Nordic feminist, and as such I chose men to have sex with separate from considerations of a relationship." Etc etc. I used to be thrilled at this sort of chat. But lately it's become somewhat stale hearing similar stuff for the 20th time.

Which is not to say the locals are boring. Just that I need to branch out a bit in whom I end up chatting to.

Mignon I'll take you up on that beer someday down the road, thanks. Literally just this afternoon I was ruing that we weren't going back to Munich this trip. I suppose you can't go to Munich every trip, but then again pretty nice to go to Munich :)

I've wanted to get a haircut in a foreign country. Well, on my last trip to Poland I did just that (a month ago). A great way to meet a local?

In Krakow, Olah gave me a haircut for a fair price. She is from the Ukrainian region where Russia has heavily bombed. Russia currently occupies it. She moved to Poland with her brother a few years ago. We had a nice chat, she did a great job and got a nice tip.

We have always enjoyed speaking with local people in shops, restaurants, and on public transportation. It's always easier when you can frequent the same places; you become friends. And use whatever knowledge of the local language you can.I knew that my Italian was acceptable when our driver understood a joke I made.

Hank: Fascinating. I've never had talks that interesting. Usually we're on a train, or maybe briefly engaging a college student at a restaurant of on a walking tour. I like asking people about themselves and really don't care to talk about myself, which I find is unusual. I mean, I know what I've done so that's boring, but asking someone about their college major and what they plan to do with their lives is interesting.

Mignon, same with me. I would never just randomly walk up to a total stranger and try to talk with them lol, but it's a funny thought! But sure on a park bench or something I might. I try to read the room of course, and I'm not going to talk someone's ear off.

Mignon, I was laughing when reading your post because in Northern Germany some people including travelers make the experience that locals do not talk to them, hardly greeting. So the "together grumbling" is often very short - or just sitting together. Complaining is less part of these people's communication because their attitude is very pragmatic. Good expample is the saying: "There is no bad weather, only bad clothing.".

Similar effects and people you will find in Denmark's Jutland and in Norway.

Just as heads up for visitors: if someone in Northern Germany (esp. on the country side) reacts on your "Hello" in which way ever this is meant as politeness and respect. Some of them are sometimes not keen to talk but this is not meant in a negative way against you. A typical "Moin" is the Northern "Hello"; some people not knowing say "Moin Moin" and are perceived as text machine or "Schnacker". Btw: "Moin" is the all daytime greeting, also in the evening although "Moin" is sometimes supposed as "Good morning".

And of course as nearly all German regions the Northern parts have own language: lower German or "Plattdütsch" which is more comprehensive and deeper than a slang. Even public TV and radio are partly broadcasting and producing content such as films "op Platt" - funny-wise also talk shows.

Love this topic. Yes, just yesterday while on the FlixBus from Lisbon to Evora, 3 young ladies (17-20) were looking at the signs for where to go, just like me. We got on the elevator and all looked at each other questioning which floor. I pushed a random button, young ladies nodded yes. We ride up when it should have been down and all giggled at our mistake. On that same morning, I board the bus and look at another young lady with questioning eyes - she was sitting in my reserved seat. She moves over,I sit down and we strike up a wonderful conversation about concerts and festivals.

She and her 3 other friends were headed to a 3 day festival. We spoke of family, pets, concerts, festivals, university/school, and about her lovely manicure. It was a lot of fun and it distracted me from the travel fiasco my daughter and granddaughter were going through at the time (couldn’t land on Madeira due to high winds…. that is another story for another time).

Oh, also, recently while on a crowded vaporetto boat on the grand canal in Venice, my granddaughter had a lively discussion with a young woman from Spain. GD at first thought the woman was Portuguese but she started speaking Spanish and GD did quite well conversing with the woman in her limited Spanish - Google translate came in handy. GD felt a bit proud of herself for the conversation.

Mignon, appreciate those insights. Yes, talking in a doctor's waiting room is relatively unusual in America, although it does happen at times if you see the same people repeatedly. If I catch someone's eye I smile a bit as a type of comaraderie.

I have been in conversations in Europe with different nationalities, Belgian, Dutch, Vietnamese, Egyptian, Greek, Chinese, Polish, German, French, Austrian, men and women.

With the Austrians and Germans I use only German, unthinkable to engage in a conversation with them by lapsing into English. With the French that depends on their level of English, there are French who don't switch (bravo ! ) regardless of your difficulties with the language, especially when you begin to speak haltingly. Still they stay with French.

Obviously, I have made mistakes in pronouncing a word, never got a frown or was chastised for that grievous error. If that had been the case, ie the guy calling me out for messing up saying the word or the butchered grammar, I would see it as justified. My making the effort doesn't count.

With other nationalities I leave up to them mainly. If "they" would rather speak English, fine. If it is of no matter to them, then I speak German, likewise with the French. It all depends on the individual.

Do the conversations get into politics? Yes, a few times. I don't avoid it, not interested in leaving potentially provocative topics untouched and I leave that up to "them" if they want to ask me about that. I tell them I am from CA to make it specific.

Topics usually covered are travelling pertaining to my trip at hand, or theirs, etc, geography, language, history, some personal info, societies.

We agree that meeting new people while traveling is some of the most memorable times. We have found that when asking for help we have met many folks. Several in Sicily come to mind. A police man had us follow him to a local tourist information center several miles away in Agrigento,Sicily back when the TI’s actually helped you find a room. On this same trip we got lost in the countryside. We asked 5 guys sitting on a random corner how to get to town. One actually said he was going that way and to follow him. Then he stopped at a gas station with a bus stop and introduced us to a man who could help us find our room. When traveling we like to eat at community tables where the locals eat and visit at lunch time. They often can suggest the best lunch specials. Traveling independently seems to offer us more chances to interact with locals. We go to small shops for food and drinks, navigate the streets and transportation, and even go to the laundromat. Folks sitting by us at sports events explain all the rules. Who knows what you’re looking at during a rugby game.

I do read the local news on-line at least a month ahead, so I am aware of what’s happening in the local area.

Jean, this is such a brilliant idea!

"I do read the local news on-line at least a month ahead, so I am aware of what’s happening in the local area."

Never traveled much but it always seemed like a good idea. I started reading the Irish Times ahead of the trip I planned to one of RS's Ireland Tours. Then Covid. Still reading the paper.

@Hank I think you'd laugh (like I did) if you saw one of Danny Kaye's old routines. Two people have a short two-word back and forth, "Hurrumph... the weather" type conversation after meeting for the first time.

Then ten years later meet again and catch-up... with the exact same conversation. All done with Danny Kaye's inimitable voice and delivery that made it so funny.