The first lesson is a lesson in speaking, in actual language production – that of pronunciation and of the relationship of speech to the alphabet. As with other shifts that we have identified so far, there is a concomitant shift from written to oral practice involved here for the tourist language learner. This raises the question as to what extent the relationship of the language to tourism is one of written or of oral modalities. As such this brings into focus different aspects, felt and learned, of making sense to others, and learning how to move around in a new language and it continues the discussions of orientation and attunement from the previous chapter. In this case, however, the attunement is to the language, rather than the directions opened out for movement by the environment. In addition, the question remains on the table as to why it is that such effort may be expended for such seemingly small reward, in the learning of a language for tourist purposes.

In the previous chapter I looked at ways of using tourist maps and understanding the tourist environment through the learning of a tourist language and the way in which this, as a languaging action, becomes a parable of cosmological change. Pronunciation is one of the first lessons in tourist language.