Travelling the world is an incredible thing to do, full of personality expanding experiences and people.
While it’s an amazing way to spend a year, it also however comes with it’s own very specific set of challenges.
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The biggest of these is the barrier of language. You learn quickly when you leave the big cities and westernised areas of the world, that without a single shared word, it becomes very difficult to make a connection with the people around you.
New company ICONSPEAK has figured out a way to help travellers get around this issue and connect travellers and locals from any part of the planet.
Their answer is a t shirt.
Based on the idea of a universal language that everyone can instantly understand, the company has created a t shirt with 40 symbols across the front of it.
“A shirt does not need to be recharged and still, you can have it on as long as you please.”
By combining these symbols, you can create a ‘story’ that tells the other person something about you, asks a question or asks a request.
For instance, by combining the symbols above, you can ask whether water in the area is clean to drink or not.
Pretty clever, no?
“Through a shirt you can – in the most rudimentary ways – combine gestures, vocals and mimics to create interaction” says ICONSPEAK.
“A shirt does not need to be recharged and still, you can have it on as long as you please.”
“Furthermore you won’t have to worry that we will send you software updates to your shirt which will make it uncomfortable to wear, slow to wash or any such thing. It’s a shirt
We love this inspired, yet super simple idea!
Next time we go to a far away country, we’re going to make sure that along with our guide books and gadgets, we also have one of these t shirts, to make sure we can always speak to everyone we meet!