What if I told you a person who speaks only English can communicate with anybody in the world?

First of all, I would like to state that I am an American and I have always been lazy to learn a second language for some reason. I can’t explain why. Maybe it was because English is so widespread, or whatever reason, but suffice to say I didn’t really care to learn a second language. For years, I was like that. It wasn’t until I got a job in my early 30s that required me to travel abroad a couple of times a year. The place was in a region of the world with 4 official languages. Suddenly, I was forced to learn them all because my job depended on it. <br><br>The four languages were German and Portuguese, and two Slavic languages.<br><br>Straight away, I went to Rosetta Stone and duolingo apps and started with Portuguese. I chose Portuguese because the grammar appeared to be very similar to English grammar. As I was going through the grammar, I realized I was able to understand the grammar rules very fast and easy without really having to do a lot of brain work. The reason was because the rules were very similar to English grammar rules. For instance, there are four verb conjugations, but the good news is that two of the conjugations can be discarded if you know English. You can focus on only two verb conjugations if you are an English speaker. <br><br>After Portuguese, I went on to German. I realized that although German grammar rules were more complicated when compared to Portuguese, I was still able to easily understand the rules without having to do a lot of brain work. Again, I concluded, German grammar rules were very similar to English grammar rules. <br><br>Both Portuguese and German were very much like English. Even better – both have a lot more common sense than English. For example, in English, you can say – “Yes, I don’t agree.” <br><br>In Portuguese, such sentences are not allowed. If you say yes, you have to agree, and if you disagree, you say no. In German, it’s also the same. There are no nonsensical sentences. <br><br>I ended up speaking Portuguese and German in a matter of weeks. <br><br>The two other languages were Slavic languages. I went on to the language that had the least difficult grammar. I say least difficult, but that doesn’t mean they were easy. I was shocked. The grammar was so complicated, and rules were so alien to what I had been used to since childhood. I spent months studying the grammar, but nothing really stuck except a few basic things like 1st, 2nd, 3rd person singular and plural. There were 7 cases that are also very difficult to understand. I basically had to memorize a whole table for the cases. I ended up studying the table for months, but it never stuck and I never understood the concept of the 7 cases. I still can’t understand them. I can barely speak the language. I literally can barely say a sentence and barely understand what people are saying. I just go through the motions. <br><br>After struggling to learn the first Slavic language, I realized something amazing. If I spoke English, German and Portuguese, I could literally communicate with anybody in the world. <br><br>Let me give you an example of how the communication can work. <br><br>Let’s say you are in Brazil. If you speak English, most people in big cities and tourist areas will speak English. But if you are in a small town and there’s no one who speaks English, you can easily find a person who speaks Portuguese and English. Ask the guy to translate and you’re done.<br><br>Let’s say you’re in Germany. You see the same scenario playing out. Most people in big cities and tourist areas are literate in English. If you’re in a small town and you don’t find anyone who speaks English, you can easily find a person who speaks German. Ask him to translate. You’re done.<br><br>Now things get interesting. <br><br>Let’s say you’re in London, and you run into a person from Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Bulgaria, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. If you approach the person and ask him if he speaks German, Portuguese, English, or Russian, he will say yes to at least one of those options.<br><br>Afghanistan – English, Russian <br><br>Syria – English and Russian <br><br>Iran – English, German<br><br>Azerbaijan – English, Russian, German<br><br>Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan – English, German, Russian<br><br>Tajikistan – English, Russian <br><br>Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Czech Republic – English, German, Russian, Portuguese<br><br>The same applies to countries in Africa like Angola and Mozambique. If you run into a person from these countries, he will speak English, Portuguese and other local languages. <br><br>All in all, I feel if you speak only English, German, Portuguese (or any Romance language), and Russian, you can literally communicate with anybody anywhere in the world. What do you think?