Since setting out on this adventure almost two years ago, Trish and I have come across quite a few different languages and regional dialects.

Beginning with the local differences between East Anglia, Cockney London and the West Country, we then left behind the English of the UK for similar regional differences in France and Spain.

From the Breton of  Brittany,  down the coast to the Vendee and the Charente plus a quick stopover in Paris and on to the Galician of  Spain’s North West and Atlantic coasts then the Andalucían of Cadiz, Seville, Jerez and Grenada.

Not forgetting  Portuguese as we worked our way down Portugal’s  Atlantic and Mediterranean  coasts.

Back to English in Gibraltar, a sea change to Arabic in Morocco, back to Spanish in the Canaries, English again when we made landfall after our Atlantic crossing to St Lucia and then a see saw journey through the Leeward and Windward islands with French, Dutch, English and each islands own patois.  Spanish again as we passed through Venezuela’s off lying islands, Dutch in the ABC’s, Spanish in Ecuador and Colombia, the unique Kuna language in the San Blas islands and back to Spanish for Panama and the Galapagos.

The Marquesan’s have their own Polynesian based language although all are bilingual with heavily accented French as their second language.

All of this is quite apart from the confusions caused by the people we meet.

The havoc wreaked on the English language by Americans, Canadians, South Africans, Australians and New Zealanders, the incomprehensible (to me at least) Polish, Slovakian, Slovenian, Norwegian (sorry Terje) , Swedes, Danes, etc, etc.

It’s not as if I haven’t tried....I like to learn at least a few words but when the response for even the simplest request is a look that suggests you have just landed from Mars you do think that it is not worth the effort.

But Trish tells me that I should try to learn just one language.....French, so that I can speak to any grandchildren that Katie and Yann may bring in to this world at some stage.

But even if I did would they understand my Mancunian French? Would I? and what sort of any language would the kids of tomorrow speak if 30 seconds of EastEnder’s is anything to go by? .

It would be easy to fall back on the well proven British technique of simply speaking slowly and shouting at all foreigners in English or to just hark back to times of Empire and help the locals learn the one true language for their own benefit (they can understand pop music, TV and get jobs in the tourist industry).

But if you do not speak the language used in the places you visit you do miss out on the culture, social differences and the detail of all of these interesting and beautiful places...... so with at least as many variances still to come, I’ll keep trying even if I keep failing, it’s worth the effort!!