25/09/2009 0536UTC 17 40.828S 177 23.159E Day 836 Up at 0615, 25C, Clear, Wind Calm.

[To read our book, Family Voyaging - Ak to nZ, and receive voyage planning assistance (VIP Service), go to the Family Voyaging website at www.familyvoyaging.com.]

"I would not have guessed America." It seems we're picking up an accent. If that remark were unusual maybe I'd think otherwise. People generally suppose that we're from Canada; they sometimes even think New Zealand after first conversing with us. There is an 'international' accent, based on British English, prevalent among the yachting fraternity. Perhaps Alaska's closeness to Canada instilled the Canuck accent in our family's voices. Of course, we don't notice it, but others definitely do. Rarely is the US ever the first choice when foreigners presume our nationality. We've been in close association with a great many Kiwis during our travels across the Pacific, so possibly their inflection has begun to rub off on us, too.

English is the leveling language of the South Pacific; most islanders speak it once you've put French Polynesia astern. There, it's French and Polynesian, with few locals speaking the King's English. Yachties, sans the French, also converse mainly in English. We've found that the vast majority of Europeans -- from Holland, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Poland, et al -- have a good command of English. The French seldom do, which is unfortunate because their children are isolated from the other boat kids. And we have, I believe, missed what could have been fine relationships since we were unable to communicate with cruisers from France.

People from India and Japan also know sufficient English to get by, as do the yachties we've met from South America and Asia. For most of the rest, where English is the native tongue, we now swiftly and seamlessly understand them when they speak, and they, us. In fact, Australians and New Zealanders no longer sound much different to our ears than inhabitants of the United States.

Ship's bridges and airline flight-decks employ English when communicating over their radios; overseas telephone operators know English; and English is the worldwide language of business. Though an official international language does not exist, English is surely becoming one, de facto, which is unquestionably auspicious for single-tongued Americans.