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Those that travel know that the greatest souvenirs are not tacky trinkets or overpriced memorabilia, but the stories, trivia, and memories. Some people love to travel so much that they've amassed a wealth of knowledge about other countries and their experiences there, and naturally, they share them to anyone that wants to listen. Which is most of the time, because many people find these facts interesting. One of such people is Malachi Ray Rempen, a half-American, half-German born in Switzerland (that's about as international as a birth can get), who creates comics about the things he's seen and heard about many other cultures, their language, and customs. Considering how sensitive the topic is, the author of the comics does pretty well to avoid sounding rude or negative, and portrays his insights in a funny way. Funnily enough, the United States, the leader of the free world, is the most frequent butt of the joke, but that's alright, as Americans are usually able to take some banter. Anyway, here's the "Itchy Feet" comic about "Travel and Language," as the title describes.

More info: Instagram | Facebook | itchyfeetcomic.com | tinyview.com

As the comic is just as much about travel as it is about countries and languages, let me bomb you with all kinds of fun facts. Let's start with some traveling trivia. Did you know that traveling does not only help make new memories, but also makes you smarter? Turns out being in a different environment boosts your creativity and improves problem-solving skills! If you love to travel together with your soulmate, there's some benefits to that too, and if you don't, then you should consider doing it—couples that travel together report higher levels of intimacy with their partner. And traveling isn't just great for the soul, as it's shown that traveling strengthens cardiovascular health due to lowering your general stress levels.

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Artist Hilariously Illustrates The Differences Between Different Countries And Languages (New Pics)

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S.
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

One tip for learning languages is that you speak it with other people. I'd love to learn Italian or French, and I even tried several times, but I realised I could not easily remember them as Bangla or English is because I had no one to speak in Italian or any other language with. :(

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The author has given an exclusive interview to Bored Panda and told about his colorful background, and, of course, the comics. "My background: I was born in Switzerland, moved to the USA when I was a baby, grew up in New Mexico, and went to film school in Los Angeles. After that, I lived in France, Morocco, Italy and now I'm in Berlin, Germany.

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We always traveled as kids - so it's in my blood. As for language learning, I come from a multicultural family so there were always lots of languages around - but I never grew up speaking anything other than English. When I lived in France I started to learn French and all the troubles and hilarities that come with language learning - after that I was hooked!"

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Artist Hilariously Illustrates The Differences Between Different Countries And Languages (New Pics)

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And now it's time for some facts about countries. Can you guess what's the most popular travel destination in the world? You might be surprised to learn that it's France, and if you guessed it—well, congrats! And what about the most visited city? It's Bangkok. If you love going abroad, but hate crowds, or people in general, Greenland's just the place for you: there are only 0.01 people per square mile, so you won't ever have to rub your elbows against someone. But perhaps Greenland's too big a destination; no problem, there's countries like Monaco or Vatican, which are even smaller than Central Park, though, of course, more crowded. And if you're an adventurer like I used to be before I took the arrow to the knee, maybe you're up to visit the world's tallest mountain, Everest? Trick question, because Mauna Kea in Hawaii is greater than that, the problem is that you'd have to rent scuba gear to see the rest of it.

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"I've been to about 45 countries in the world. My favorites have been Amsterdam, Victoria Island, the southern islands off Thailand, and New Zealand. Next I want to go to Quebec, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island. I've never seen that part of the world and I would love to."

And last but not least, here's some fun little linguistic facts about various tongues. While the point of language is to communicate between many people, English being the best one in that regard, some languages have less speakers than others. The Busuu language is reported to have been spoken by eight people in 1986 and by three people in 2005. Though some wouldn't agree that the USA is as diverse as it could be, it's one of the most diverse places in terms of language, over 300 languages are spoken there, and oddly enough, the US has no official language! But there's a caveat to this fact, and it's that very few of the languages originated in the melting pot of the world. Papua New Guinea holds the record for the most languages spoken: it has 841 languages, though many of them keep dying off since there's only one person speaking them.

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Artist Hilariously Illustrates The Differences Between Different Countries And Languages (New Pics)

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S.
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not Italian, but I'd also file for divorce. (What an unhygienic waste of pasta!)

Marika Miettinen
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The best way to make sure your pasta is perfect is to taste it, dunno why they keep teaching this throwing method in schools and such. Yes, I was told about this method in middle school as well. I've still never done it though, because it's stupid.

Eilen
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Having an Italian spouse I happily leave all of the pasta related things to him. Works :D

Vicky Z
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why so much trouble when you can put him on a bus and bye bye

Rench
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

At some point my son learned this trick in school. We ended up with a lot of spaghetti stuck to the ceiling....

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The artist has also given a few traveling tips. "Travel advice: don't pack too much. If you end up with too little you can always buy more along the way. But chances are you won't need it. Travel light!"

He also gave his opinion, about what unites all of these different cultures, languages, and people. "You can be in the middle of rural nowhere Vietnam, and if a kid smiles at you and you smile back, you've just shared a unique and universal human communication."

Bored Panda has tons more to offer if you love traveling and learning about other countries. Let's start off by offering you some traveling tips by master traveler Ryan Fila. Can't find inspiration where to travel to? Perhaps the best travel photos nominated by AAP will inspire you for an experience, or this list of the world's most scenic destinations by Marta Kulesza. Want to learn why something makes a country unique? Perhaps Iceland or Brazil might entice you to do that. Perhaps globetrotting isn't your thing, but you love cultures and languages? Most of us speak English, but there's millions of things that native speakers find frustrating, which you'll find in this amusing post here. Enjoy!

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Martha Meyer
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The Spanish in there is rather unrealistic. And I don't think most Swiss people actually even speak all the official languages.

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S.
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Children are brutally honest (emphasis on brutal) like that. 😂

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S.
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

TBH, eating at street stalls always seems more fun, especially while travelling.

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Ksenia M
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Honestly, what's happening with ladybugs? In russian it's a cow as well, божья коровка, "God's cow". How did this happen?

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Kelli Lindsay
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3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can’t speak for the Europeans servers, but as a server from the US this is, unfortunately, dead on. In fact, in many places it’s required. So exhausting, for the sever AND the guest.

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Juririn
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Happened to me with Jehovah's Witnesses. Except they had pamphlets in Klingon, too.

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#21

Artist Hilariously Illustrates The Differences Between Different Countries And Languages (New Pics)

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Ryan Deschanel
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Los Españoles hablan demasiado rapido... Yo pienso que solo es para joder a todos.

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#22

Artist Hilariously Illustrates The Differences Between Different Countries And Languages (New Pics)

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Martha Meyer
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That last one totally applies to Americans as well. They don't mean it when they "invite" you.

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Artist Hilariously Illustrates The Differences Between Different Countries And Languages (New Pics)

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Nicole Weymann
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Italy wanted to know (in advance) among other things the car's licence number (alright), where and when exactly we wanted to cross the border (hm-kay, just hope we'll be halfway on time...or else what?) and place of birth (huh?!)

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Artist Hilariously Illustrates The Differences Between Different Countries And Languages (New Pics)

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Nixxy
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And that’s another mistake, most snakes are not poisonous but are instead venomous (venom is when you inject it, poison is when you eat it)

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#29

Artist Hilariously Illustrates The Differences Between Different Countries And Languages (New Pics)

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SykesDaMan
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The opposite happened to me in the U.S : I ordered a medium pizza, and when it came it was so big, I thought it was a mistake, But they showed to me what a large looked like. Thank god for doggy bags, because I only ate 2 slices!

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Artist Hilariously Illustrates The Differences Between Different Countries And Languages (New Pics)

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ZAPanda
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

it's really simple. stop using a system based on 12 and 5380 or whatever other crazy numbers.

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#34

Artist Hilariously Illustrates The Differences Between Different Countries And Languages (New Pics)

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White Wolf
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

YASSS. I am from South Tyrol. Whenever you want to buy a hamburger from any street vendor, it goes like that: Hoila, i mog a Hamburger, con cipolla, aber senza scharfe!

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#41

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Erika
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Amtrak: maybe there is a train. If there is, it will drop you off at 2 am, pick you up to return at 4 am, and you really wanted to go to New York, right?

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Analyn Lahr
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I work for an international company and we write the date like this: 02NOV2021

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#44

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Paul C.
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Lets be honest, we all know what Sweden and Finland look like!

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Vinnie
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Danish here, no one actually does that, its mentioned in history books from the 1800, or used as a sketch in 2 movies. However the majority go stand on a chair or sofa, and at midnight we jump down. so we can "jump into the new year" ;)

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#51

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Kelli Lindsay
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3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In the US Halloween is just an excuse for adults to dress up, eat candy, go to haunted houses and get drunk; for kids, same thing except go to strangers houses to beg for candy instead of getting drunk. There is no “reflecting on the dead” unless you’re having a seance “for fun”. Its a lot of fun and entirely superficial with no depth involved. Our neighbor, Mexico, celebrates a proper Day of the Dead the day after our Halloween. There are a couple of religions practiced in the US that actually revere Halloween as a sacred day, but it’s overwhelmingly mostly a reason to party.

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Artist Hilariously Illustrates The Differences Between Different Countries And Languages (New Pics)

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#53

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Vorknkx
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Using the informal "you" is pretty much the equivalent of the English "on a first name basis".

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Artist Hilariously Illustrates The Differences Between Different Countries And Languages (New Pics)

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Fxnglhl
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

it rains a lot for a few months, then suddenly it gets hot.

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#56

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Kelli Lindsay
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When I was laid off and started receiving unemployment with the $600 extra it was the first time I had both time and money for an actual, real vacation (not camping) and, of course, the entire world was shut down.

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Jayne Kyra
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I find it funny to see Slovakia and Slovenia mistaken for each other in the media.

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