The English Bridge and its One-Way Street By Maddie Topliff

I have had my fair share of excellent tour guides during my semester in Europe. Each one so far has gone the extra mile to include interesting facts, jokes and recommendations, and I always walk away feeling enlightened and a little more appreciative of history, a subject that tends to bore me easily.

Upon my first couple of weeks in Spain, I visited and toured many cathedrals and a good handful of museums as well. Our program was nice enough to elect the use of English-speaking guides so we were able to fully understand the historical context of where we were. This was something I appreciated greatly. Of course I always want to improve my Spanish, but I also didn’t want to miss out on intricate details due to my lack of vocabulary retention. But rest assured, if it comes down to Spanish grammar rules, I’m your girl.

But I got to thinking. Sevilla is incredibly popular with tourists, especially from other countries of continental Europe. And Europe hosts a lot of languages. Like, a lot. How do they find guides to lead tours in every single language?

The answer: they most likely don’t. When I traveled to Brussels over the first part of Semana Santa, my friends and I went on a Belgian chocolate-tasting tour that was conducted in English. And to my surprise, almost everyone else in our group was from Germany. Yes, electing to take a tour in English.

Tourism in Europe thrives on English competency. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a tour guide or serving gelato on a popular street in the city center. English brings many countries together under one umbrella, which is both endearing and questionable. So...I got to thinking. Is U.S. tourism elitist? In 2016, the top three countries that funneled the largest amount of tourists into the USA were Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom: the USA’s two neighbors and the UK, whose national language English.

Of course, traveling is expensive. But secondary language learning in the United States for native English speakers isn’t a given either. There’s a lot of room for growth in this area and a lot of potential in the tourism industry that would be an indirect effect of more diverse language competency among native English-speaking WEIRDos. And that starts with education reform: a whole other conversation