You've won an all-expenses-paid trip to anywhere in the world. Where are you going? Wait - there's a catch...

Ukraine. I am definitely familiar with the language, but the biggest factor in my decision would be seeing family that I miss.

I would love to go to Romania or back to Italy.

For a month long trip, I would pick China for the beauty and diversity of a such a large country.

I would pick a country whose language I’m already familiar with. Language barriers ruin vacations. What’s the point of traveling if you can’t talk to people? Looking at ancient structures doesn’t really interest me. I guess I’d go back to Italy.

Figi

I’d most likely just go to Estonia. I think it’s a beautiful country and the people are great. I already know the language as well.

Japan! I don’t speak the language but I’d love to learn it and immerse myself in their culture. I’ve always wanted to visit Japan and the desire has only grown stronger because I now have friends that reside there that say they LOVE it!

Off to Tibet for me, no need for language when you’re meditating!

Slovenia, a gorgeous country that many have never heard of. It is full of beauty and culture. I know I can’t speak the language, but I am willing to try instant immersion.

It’s a toss-up between India and France. India because there is so much to see that it would take at least a month to get a real feel for it. France because of the beauty and the culture. Plus, the SO is taking French lessons, so it would give him lots of practice.

@shego, oh yes. I love Slovenia!

If we can pretend that nobody there actually speaks English, I would love to go to India.

The language thing wouldnt bother me at all. If I had an all expense paid trip anywhere though for a month, honestly id like to go to a deserted island in the middle of the pacific for a while and just escape society all together.

Marshall Islands.
I could go a week or two without talking to anyone except through interpretive dance,no matter where it is ;)

I think I’d choose a place completely foreign to me, like Finland. I’ve always wanted to go to a country like this, and I like places where there’s snow snow snow.

I don’t speak Finnish, but I think I’d be okay there.

Italy!

Definitely, Japan. All expenses paid for a month. That’s a lot of dough, so yeah.

Qo’noS.

This would be tough since English is taught in most foreign schools as a language of business. I’m trying to imagine a place where no one speaks English.

@Blondesjon Brooklyn? Lol. Ok, I deserve to be flogged.

I’d go to Costa Rica – loved it when I was there the last time.

Kentucky.

“Would you choose a country where they speak a non-English language you already know?”

Yep. I would go to France. I could get by with my French.

@Neizvestnaya That was my feeling as well. English is pretty much the language of business, and the language you need to learn if you’re going to get by in the world outside your borders. I have whole days spent with people who speak various languages but communicate with each other primarily in English. That’s just the world we live in.

My daughter went to Vietnam to teach English, even though she didn’t know any of their language. She found the people wonderful and charming. They were fascinated with her very pale skin, red hair and full behind. The girls had no problem patting her on the butt and giggling. She wasn’t fat by American standards, and they were not being insulting, they were just amused by a generous booty.

Italy or Thailand.

France, probably. I’ve always wanted to go there, and I have a little experience with the language. I only remember a tiny bit of high school French, but if I were there a month, some more might come back to me.

The SO and I spent a week in Marrakesh, Morocco, a few months ago. The primary language there is Modern Standard Arabic. French is their unofficial second language, and it is what they use in commerce and economics, as well as a few other circumstances. Spanish is also used in some parts of the country. Only recently, they started teaching English as a second foreign language in public schools. (French still comes first.)

It was an interesting week. The sites, climate, culture and people were fantastic. We got by not speaking their native tongue. There were times when I got frustrated by not knowing their language, as it would have been wonderful to ask the locals questions.

When the shuttle picked us up at the hotel to take us back to the airport, there was a mental sigh of relief to be back with English-speaking people. If I had gone there on my own, or if we had been there for a month, or if no one spoke English, it would have been a challenge for me.

Great Question!

With the addition of the catch, I would probably just pick Germany. Even though I just got back from a month-long trip there 2 weeks ago, German is the only language other than English I can speak, and I’m just not quite adventurous enough to go to a country where I have no way of communicating.

My second choice would be France in the Strasbourg region (right along the German border) since a decent amount of people there speak German, and I want to learn French.

I can’t decide between France, Russia or Japan.

Spain.

While it’s true that I have a head start on the language, the choice is based on the fact that I have always wanted to visit there and not because of the language.

Japan or South Korea. My main interest would be to spend the entire month learning martial arts from an old master, something for which words are completely unnecessary.

Mutuh Hutuh Hutuh it’s a small cluster of islands in the caribbean.
Living on an island in de sun, make a white man happy all day. Come on…sing along ;¬}

Madagascar for me……… The main reason being to see some of the rarest animals & plants on the planet, before it’s too late. :-/

Being Dutch I would choose Belgium.

Finland. I want to see the midnight sun. I’m sure that I could make myself understood without causing offence.

France or Spain as I can speak a bit of both languages. But I really want to go to the coastline east of Italy – Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia. i saw a TV programme recently about it and it looked amazing. A month all expenses there would be fab.

France or Italy.

@Neizvestnaya and @Mamradpivo – I only meant that it has to be a country where English isn’t spoken by the majority, and we’ll pretend that no one there speaks English. I just didn’t want a bunch of answers saying “I’d go to Japan, because you can always find an English-speaker in Tokyo”, for example.

I’m curious to know whether people would stick with a place where they know they can communicate or whether they’d take the plunge and see what happens.

Papua New Guinea.

There are groups of people that live there that still haven’t had any contact with the modern world and I think that is absolutely fascinating. The language part has no influence over my decision. I’ve just always wanted to go to Papua New Guinea.

Azerbaijan

Madagascar.

Me, @AmWiser , @bob_ , @redfeather , @Leanne1986 and @redfeather can all go to Italy together :D

I sense a gender imbalance in that trip.

Oh, but you would love that @bob_ . Admit it.

@jailbait That would be an awesome party!

@bob_ You LOVE it!

No, I’m saying, more women would be needed because I’m so manly.

^ See how the clever little devil turned it round?
Pah! Believe me, I think we’ll be enough ;)

Palawan, just look at it

@jailbait two @redfeathers? Lucky!

Ooops I forgot to tell you @redfeather, you have a long lost twin I met a few days ago…

@jailbait, I do?! Oh, this is great!

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard New Guinea would be so awesome! I was watching the different ways they fish there, it’s crazy. Just, please don’t get your head hunted, k?

@poisonedantidote Thanks for the link. Lovely place. But Filipinos’ second language is English?

@redfeather I’ll try to keep my head screwed on tightly. :-)

Russia and China.

Money speaks every language. I would pick a nice, warm beach resort.

Hmmn… I’d pick the former Soviet Union then so I could sample European and Asian cultures.

Spain. The last time I went there I spent two weeks in a little mountain village in Andalucia, where none of the locals spoke any English. When I arrived I didn’t know any Spanish at all. By the time I left I’d picked up enough to order food and drinks and ask basic questions. I think a month there, immersed in the local culture, I’d pick it up even better.

I think the moment I truly fell in love with the place was when I heard hoofbeats outside and looked out the window onto a narrow, steep cobbled street, and saw two scruffy little urchin boys, no more than eight years old, riding one behind the other, bareback, on a beautiful grey Andalucian horse.

I could go to France, since I speak the language.

But going to Germany would rock. I’d love to visit that place, check out their countless Industrial concerts and eat badass sausage constantly.

Too many places I’d like to check out though…Russia, Romania, Scandinavian countries, Japan. Maybe the many islands from the Philippines. Check out jungles and stuff, that could be cool. But I’d need a guide, someone who knows wtf they’re doing in a jungle.

I would be going to Sweden. I can’t speak the language (apart from a few scattered words, English is my only language), but the place has always fascinated me. Despite my lack of learning I actually pick up on languages fairly quickly, so I don’t expect that to be a problem.

@shego @KateTheGreat I would definitely join you on a trip to Slovenia. My grandparents emigrated from there in the late 1800’s, and I’m told we have family there that would love to see their American cousin.