So you’ve planned your trip to Medellin, and you’re excited to take in the sights and sounds of this colorful city. There’s just one problem – you don’t speak much Spanish. This is a dilemma that most tourists in Medellin experience. They want to enjoy everything the city has to offer, but there’s a pretty significant language barrier in the way. Fortunately, there’s a solution to this problem: simply hire a bilingual guide in Medellin! A lot of Medellin Tours have bilingual guides, since so many English-speaking tourists visit the city each year. This is invaluable if you want to truly enjoy all the places you visit, but there are other advantages as well.
Why hire a bilingual guide in Medellin?
In a nutshell, it’s because this will open up the city of Medellin for you. Rather than having to stop every five minutes to type unfamiliar words into a translation app, you can simply ask your guide what something means. If you want to buy something, the guide can help you navigate the purchase. When you want to find the restaurants or bars that are preferred by locals, they’ll have plenty of recommendations.
Why language barriers get in the way of international travel
For some people, part of planning an international trip involves learning the basics of the other country’s language. They might use an app like Duolingo, or even take formal lessons. However, it’s estimated that to achieve even intermediate proficiency in a language, you’d have to spend about 240 hours practicing it. If you’re only going to be traveling for a couple of weeks, that doesn’t really seem like it’s worth the effort.
This is why most tourists who are headed to Medellin simply hop on the plane and hope for the best. While it’s true that you can still have an amazing time in Medellin without speaking Spanish, you’ll still be missing out on certain aspects of the experience. It will be a lot harder to understand and absorb the culture, for example. A lot of your communication will probably end up happening through elaborate hand signals, and vice versa. This will get the job done, but it will also force each interaction to be as basic as possible.
The main benefits of having a bilingual guide in Medellin
As it turns out, there are several important benefits to hiring a bilingual guide in Medellin.
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It’s like getting a new passport to a different culture
A regular passport lets you access other countries; a bilingual guide will work in a similar way with Colombian culture. When you can communicate in the same language as the people around you, you’ll feel more like you belong there. Even if you aren’t exactly part of a new social circle as a tourist, you can still feel like you’ve gotten to the heart of the culture you came to explore.
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It will help you build your knowledge of another language
Even though a tour guide is very different from a language tutor, you can still take advantage of their help to familiarize yourself with the most basic elements of Spanish. Just pay attention to words that come up regularly – these will likely be the most useful ones to learn. Assuming you’ll be navigating the city on your own as well as with a guide, spending some time with a bilingual tour guide can give you more confidence to keep cultivating your budding Spanish skills. This could eventually come in handy as you make purchases, ask for directions, inquire about restaurant or hotel recommendations, and much more. Even if you don’t know the first thing about conjugating verbs, the people you’re talking to will get the gist, and appreciate the effort you’re making as well.
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It will let you explore more than just the touristy parts of Medellin
There’s a ton of authentic Paisa culture to be found in Medellin, but there are also plenty of areas that are almost entirely designed for tourists. These can be fun to explore, but if you want to get the full experience, a bilingual guide in Medellin can take you off the beaten track. They’ll know about which restaurants will blow your mind, and which ones are just tourist traps. They’ll be able to recommend bars, bike rental companies, the best locations for day-trips out of town, and more. In other words, they can be the key that unlocks the city for you.
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It will keep you from getting scammed
Just like in any other major city in the world, Medellin has plenty of people who are willing to rip off tourists at the first opportunity. For example, you could be engaged in a seemingly friendly conversation while an accomplice runs off with your phone. To a tourist, being approached by a random local may not seem that unusual; to a guide, however, the scam will be obvious. Another common type of scam is nicknamed “gringo pricing”; this is where vendors hike up their prices for clueless tourists. A bilingual tour guide won’t be clueless, though. They’ll call out the vendor for their dishonesty, and also inform you about what common items typically cost, so you won’t be taken in by this scam again.
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It will give you greater awareness of your surroundings
Whether or not you’re always the designated map-reader of the group, it can be tricky to get acquainted with your surroundings in a new city. And when that city is as big and energetic as Medellin, it can be even trickier. If you’ll be spending more than a couple of days in the city, it can be helpful to know how to get around. Services like Uber or Didi will come in handy, but having a bilingual guide who can explain all the different neighborhoods would be even better.
If you want to truly experience Medellin, make sure you hire a bilingual guide
Taking an international trip can be life-changing, and a bilingual guide can be an integral part of making that happen. If you want to make the most of your visit to Medellin, you should consider an English-speaking guide as an essential part of the trip.
