“It’s nice when they speak back to you in Chinese!” Insights into linguistic accommodation in language travel

• Autor(a) principal: Carvalho, Inês
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/28294
• topic: Language travel; linguistic accommodation; serious leisure; persistence; intercultural encounters

Linguistic accommodation is a topic as quotidian in tourism practice, as neglected in tourism literature. This research note brings some insights into the topic of linguistic accommodation in language travel. Language travellers tend to have atypical patterns of linguistic accommodation, since they struggle to accommodate linguistically to locals, instead of expecting locals to accommodate to them. The purpose of this research note is to contribute to the understanding of the frustrations in the process of linguistic accommodation among a group of language travellers. Using the lens of serious leisure, it addresses the question of what “conquering adversity” in linguistic accommodation means for these travellers. Although the struggle to accommodate may entail frustrations, it also leads to a sense of achievement. This study contributes to a better understanding of the link between linguistic accommodation, intercultural encounters, and tourism behaviour in the specific context of language travel.