Hello there! I’m Tristin, a linguist and anthropologist who is traveling the world exploring language, culture, and nature. I’m also advocating for doing what you can to live an adventurous life, even from home!
Why the name?
I chose the name Linguistic Traveler because I have a fascination with language and all that it entails. I also have a passion for travel brought on from a life spent camping and exploring National Parks. Video games have also inspired me in a myriad of different ways. The games that have left a lasting impact on me emphasize exploring the world and observing every detail around you. I love experiencing new things and going on big journeys to new places to explore the world around us.
I have a few goals as the Linguistic Traveler: promoting an adventurous lifestyle throughout your life (which doesn’t always have to be travel), learning languages as a way to facilitate more memorable travel experiences, and the amazing experiences that can come as a result of it all.
What am I going to use the Linguistic Traveler for?
Well, hopefully, a lot:
- Language-focused travel guides. This will go over everything you need to know to get around in your destination.
- Suggestions for hikes and other locations to visit in your chosen destination.
- Ways to be adventurous outside of just traveling. Traveling can get expensive and isn’t feasible for everybody. Luckily, you can be adventurous without going very far!
What is linguistics?
To put it simply, linguistics is the study of language. This is a lot more than just studying grammar though, don’t worry. While grammar is a vital part of language, it functions mostly to give language structure. The sounds, word chunks, and our own perceptions of language are all a part of linguistics too.
So, what am I going to do with linguistics here? I’m going to make it as approachable as I can. When I talk about language, I’ll avoid complicated terminology. I’ll keep things interesting and fun while I discuss what you need to know.
If you’re traveling to a foreign country, especially one that doesn’t speak the same language as you, it’s important to be able to communicate with the people around you.
Learning a language can provide you with entirely new ways of looking at the world, granting new insights and bringing you closer to those who speak it. Thus, language learning itself is also a journey, where you encounter new experiences and learn more about the world around you as a part of the process.
If you would like to know more, check out this article I wrote that goes more in-depth about linguistics.
More About Me
“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time”
– T.S. Eliot
This quote has lived with me for several years now. I think of it all the time, having left home and returned many times to go on trips with my family. I also moved away for college for several years and have only recently moved back home to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Of course, being in college, I was learning new things about the world around me. Now, I return home with a more profound understanding of not only myself but people as a whole, where we come from, and how much we have accomplished.
Coeur d’Alene, alone, is so surrounded by untamed wilderness and wildland to explore, that every time I return home I do so with a deeper appreciation for the region I grew up in. This informs a large part of my everyday worldview and I want to impart it to you as well: even in your hometown or local area there is always so much that you haven’t seen before, waiting to be explored.
I greatly enjoy creativity in all of its forms, but the art form I enjoy most is storytelling. In music, written stories, movies, or even video games, the thing I value most is the story being told. So, here I am, ready to tell some stories of my own and bring you along for the ride, while also providing some educational resources for travel and language!
A Quick Note on AI
I don’t want this to turn into a rant, so I’ll keep it short. I think that there are certain contexts where AI is useful, primarily in jobs like sorting or organizing: things many people don’t enjoy. Since I am doing something I enjoy, I do not use AI in any capacity for any of my work. Everything I write and every image I post will be the creative work of a real person.