Most of the times our fears limit us from the best experiences in life. A lot of people want to travel around the world and they might have all they need for the trip but they change their mind because of the fear of not speaking the language. So what we do not know the language? Though it might be frustrating to think about traveling without knowing the language, it can also be a great opportunity to learn something new. From my personal experience I can say that learning the language is the best part of learning the culture. I went to Belgium 3 years ago for a study abroad. I don’t have the slightest knowledge about french but that didn’t freak me out. Instead I had fun trying to order food in french and learning basic words from the locals.
When it comes to Amharic (the national language in Ethiopia) it can be a little difficult to master it in a very short time but you can definitely learn the basic words in a week if not less. As an example Selam is a very common word used in Ethiopia. You can use it whenever you approach a person and it means hi. Approaching people first using their language show them that you value their culture and that you wanna learn more. Generally, I would like to say take every advantages in life instead of letting the fear stop you.
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