‘You can see both sides of the coin’ how the pursuit of language skills influences the travel experience

ABSTRACT

This study aims to understand how the pursuit of language skills influences the travel experience of those who travel with language learning goals as a primary or secondary motivation. Based on a review of the literature on language tourism and learning through travel, qualitative interviews were carried out with a heterogeneous sample of participants to capture common patterns in their experiences. Analysis of the responses suggested that participants’ language travel experiences were influenced by their pursuit of language skills in two main ways: by their communication ability in the host language; and by their process of striving to improve their language skills. This process frequently places them in environments where they could gain more contact with the locals, and a deeper understanding of local culture.

KEYWORDS:

• Language travel
• learning
• travel experience
• language tourism

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Universidade Europeia, Lisbon. The author would also like to thank Valerie Sheppard for her support and encouragement.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Tamang is a minority language in Nepal.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Universidade Europeia, Lisbon.

Notes on contributors

Inês Carvalho

Inês Carvalho is an Assistant Professor at Universidade Europeia in Lisbon (Portugal). Her research interests include areas such as tourism and gender, languages and tourism, and literary tourism. She holds a PhD in Tourism and a MSc in Management and Planning in Tourism (University of Aveiro), and a BA in Modern Languages and Literatures (University of Coimbra). She is an integrated member of GOVCOPP – Research Unit in Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies (University of Aveiro).