True. In several South American countries the English taught in schools is British English but with the prevalence of youtube and social media many of the youth pick up some American english.

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Don't worry too much. Just go there.

Do enough people use this App yet, to make it helpful?

When are you going? If you want to experience the sights and people of Latin America off the beaten gringo/tourist path, vs seeking out English speaking travelers at English speaking hostels, then start learning Spanish now. What's your level of commitment to preparing for your trip?

Yes, you can travel in Latin America without Spanish, but it is so much richer if you have some language skills. It's lonely as a solo traveler when you don't have minimal language skills. Without local language skills you will seek out English speaking travelers at English speaking hostals and bars in the big cities.

Use a travel/verbal oriented study method to learn Spanish. Forget reading and flashcards. Pimsleur and Rocket Spanish are two study programs using a verbal approach. Bring a language translation app to fill in the gaps, plus one of those picture books. Prep your language skills with the same gusto as you prep your moto! Both are equally important for a rich experience. With covid restrictions in much of Latin America, you have the time.

With some Spanish skills, I've been invited to dinner with the hotel proprietor and family more than once. Been told of places to visit that the locals know about (oil bird cave, ancient ruins where I'm there solo, local small operation mine, several awesome hikes; waterfalls, petrified forest, vistas, jungle paths...) Found some of the best prepared and fresh fish - several. Watched as a llama got skillfully skinned and butchered for Easter dinner. Because my moto chain terminally broke, I rode down steep, narrow, windy mountain roads in an overloaded potato truck (with bad brakes) and learned about the drivers life and his boys. Got invited by the senior ladies to the community building (I'm an older fellow) to watch the indigenous school kids and singles dancing, plus shared fermented pineapple from a gourd cup. Found places to stay when there appeared to be nowhere to stay. Enjoyed soda with a fellow while admiring his racing quad in his shop. Been informed of several detours around land slide, washed out bridge, road construction delay. Admired dirt bikes with a bunch of younger local fellows over sodas. Be part of a translation string from a Quechua speaking fellow to a gal who translated to Spanish, and through me who roughly translated to my English speaking companera....

That's a taste of how a bit of language skill enrichens your trip (and my Spanish still sucks)!

Is anything like this, available as a app for the phone?

I speak basic Spanish, also have translation app on the phone so I can speak in English and have it repeat in Spanish, but some things just don't translate.

So you Google the word of phrase you want, switch to images and show them the image.

I've attached a PDF of my biking vocabulary for Spanish and French which might be of use (print out and trim off the edges).
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Staying in a Lima hotel used by North Americans and European travelers, one night it was decided "No more English, lets use something else". Good intention, started with French, moved to German, later Spanish, then settled on the one language all of us could speak--English. When in non urban areas, I got along fine with my limited Spanish and talking to people who wanted to improve their English.

Thanks.

I can see the meaning of 'piñon y corona cardan' (crown and pinion) in terms of a differential or CV joints, however I was referencing the driveshaft rather than the joints, as in a broken GS1200 shaft. The prop shaft on my Spanish Panda 4x4 broke and the garage referred to it as 'arbol de accionamiento'. What would you call that in South America?

And I'm not sure what you mean about the reference to front and rear sprockets which surely would be 'piñones delantera y trasera'.

(I can see my Spanish word for sprockets in the vocab is wrong, somehow in editing 'wheel spokes' was used instead.)

In Mexico, in a parking lot, changing out the front sprocket on my DR650...

https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...080&fit=bounds

A young moto rider stopped by to watch and help. I asked him for the names of things as we went along: chain....cadena; screw....tornillo; sprocket...sprocket; I turned to look at him and said, 'no, en espanol.." He grinned and said, 'Sprocket.'

..........shu

Tim, I'll have to add that to the HU Motorcycle and Vehicle Tech Terms Translation section that's been growing since 2003 or so. LOTS in there, but can always use more.

If anyone wants to add to it, please check it out!

Currently we're pretty good on: English Deutsch Francais Italiano Portugese Espanol Romanian Russian Japanese Greek Turkish Korean Polish

Wow, didn't realise that existed. Great resource. :thumbup1:

thanks Tim! I need to be better at promoting these resources that are scattered all over the place!
Would you be interested in downloading the spreadsheet and adding your information to it? I'm sure your Spanish is better than mine!

Hi Grant

I've downloaded the spreadsheet. Two observations...

1. It's very English-biased in that the items are sorted alphabetically by the English word. So a German speaker wanting the French word for 'Gaszug' would have to read all the way down to row 138 (throttle cable) to find the French 'cable d'accelerateur'.

I did try to sort the spreadsheet alphabetically by German but encountered an Excel error, 'All merged cells must be the same size'. I couldn't work out what was causing this.

I might be biased but I think my way of grouping like items together (all 'wheel' items, then all 'tyre/tube' items, etc) is easier to navigate.

2. There are some weird colonial English expressions. I couldn't find 'brake disk', but there's an entry for 'rotor'. Similarly 'turn signal' instead of 'indicator'. :smartass:

The solution mentioned above of grouping like items together would get around this.

I wonder how many on here went the route of learning Spanish before or during a trip?

I signed up for a Spanish course at a local college here and decided it was probably more effective and affordable to take a course in Latin America instead.

Either way, I agree that putting some effort in a local language adds a lot of value.

Noted - Working on it now with a couple of updates, will get back soon.