Learning even just a few words of a local language can help travellers escape the well-worn tourist trail and enjoy a ‘more authentic travel experience’.

That is according to one expert commenting on the news that around six in ten Britons refuse to attempt to learn a foreign language before going overseas.

According to the research carried out by TravelSupermarket.com, 12 per cent of Britons feel there is ‘no point’ in making an effort to learn some common phrases, largely as they believe everybody speaks English.

However, Vanessa Lenssen, founder and chief executive of GoLearnTo.com has explained that a little effort in this department can bring significant rewards.

“You’ll meet new people and discover things that a tourist just wouldn’t be able to without trying to communicate with the locals,” she said.

This advice comes soon after the Department for Children, Schools and Families teamed up with Channel 4 to launch a campaign aimed at encouraging school pupils to choose a modern language at GCSE level.

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This feature is available by going to Gmail Labs (Click the little green bottle next to the sign out link) and scrolling down to message translation and selecting enable.

The new translation service is powered by Google’s existing Online Translation Service which utilises the cloud computing concept to roll out existing technologies to new applications and allows for rapid updates such as the addition of new languages or features.

This is a really exciting development in communication technologies and the idea that you can have 3 or 4 people involved in a conversation speaking entirely different languages is extremely apealing especially in a corporate context where a company has a global presence and many people in different countries needing to effectively communicate with each other.

There have been many other scenarios cited where this new feature could also be useful, particularly for holiday makers who find romance abroad and are looking for ways to overcome language barriers to communicate when they come home.

Many people also form friendships on holiday and are much more likely to maintain them if they can easily chat via email without struggling with a foreign language.

The problem is, although Google’s translation tool is better than many of the ones available online, it is by no means perfect and, with so much of language depending on factors like context and inflection, how long before you compare your new Albanian sweetheart to a rabid goat or invite that weird Russian guy who badgered your email address out of you to come and stay for the Summer?

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