Not Every Country Speaks English?

Posted by Mike Richard on March 30, 2007
Filed under: Pre-Trip, Tips, Travel

Like what you see? Subscribe to the full RSS feed.

From the I never even thought about that department, Vagablogging points us to a free virtual keyboard that takes the guesswork out of having to type on foreign language keyboards. It’s a simple and painless concept:

  1. You visit the Gate2Home.com website
  2. Type your new e-mail, blog post, etc. with your mouse using the onscreen keyboard
  3. Copy-and-paste that text into your e-mail software, blogging admin console, etc.
  4. Send or publish your e-mail or blog post as usual
  5. Voila!

When it’s neatly pointed out to me, it seems obvious that internet cafes in China (or Peru, Russia, et. al.) may not have English language keyboards. But it’s not something I even stopped to consider.

This really underscores how impossible it is to plan for everything when embarking on a RTW trip. There are so many mundane, daily tasks we take for granted to the point that they no longer spark any conscious thought or concern. Let me guess: not all toilets around the world are identical to ours here in the States either?

If you liked this post, subscribe to our full feed RSS. You can also subscribe by email and have new posts delivered directly to your inbox daily.

Vagabondish editor Mike Richard lives in Rhode Island - a small patch of land in the northeastern U.S. He is a professional web designer and travel junkie with an unhealthy addiction to backpacking, camping, hiking and seeing the world. He enjoys knit hats and speaking in the third person.



Like This Post? You Might Also Like:

On the Nightstand

The best travel books recommended by Vagabondish contributors and readers.

Comments

Dave
March 30th, 2007 - 7:27 pm

I can see myself being stubborn and trying to use the foreign keyboard. Sometimes I tend to learn things the hard way!


Mike
March 31st, 2007 - 12:54 pm

Lol … it makes me consider packing one of these just to be safe. =P


Amanda
November 14th, 2007 - 7:41 pm

Actually I think the worst keyboards are those that look like ours but have little surprises. The ones that swap the “z” and “y” (common in many parts of Europe) infuriate me the most; no, that’s not true, the most horrible foreign keyboards are the one with hidden or missing apostrophes. I HATE typing emails to friends and leaving out the apostrophes. What will they think of me?!


Mike
November 15th, 2007 - 10:48 am

Amanda: I’ve never even heard of that difference before. That’s odd.