Phrases to Learn for Traveling

[lpetrich]

Phrases you need to get by when traveling to foreign countries - Business Insider

Although most of us would love to have fluent conversations in every local language we come across, it simply isn't a realistic option. Still, I managed to get by in places like Thailand, Sri Lanka, and France by studying up on just a few key phrases in the local languages.

Here are the 11 words and phrases I recommend anyone learns in a new language before they travel to a foreign country.

1. "Thank you"
2. "Hello" and "goodbye"
3. "Excuse me"
4. "May I have …"
5. "How much does it cost?"
6. "Bathroom"
7. "Yes" and "no"
8. "Where is …"
9. "Help"
10. "I'm allergic to …" and "I don't eat …"
11. "Sorry, I don't speak …"

Any others?

 

[bilby]

Do not detain me, my good man. Do you not realise that I am the bearer of Her Britannic Majesty's passport?

 

[Politesse]

"Want to dance?"

 

[Sajara]

Basic counting.
Left, Right, Straight
Danger, Stop
Delicious

 

[rousseau]

'Je ne comprend pas' and 'Je ne parle pas Francais' got me by in rural Quebec, but eventually I got too good at pronouncing them in French, and people would mistake me for a native French speaker.

 

[DBT]

Is there a WC nearby?.....sometimes hard to find in European cities.

 

[Worldtraveller]

Is there a WC nearby?.....sometimes hard to find in European cities.

^ This ^

Also, "one more beer please", in as many languages as you can learn.

 

[Rhea]

Can you help me call a taxi
Another beer, please

(Maybe I got the order of those mixed up. )

 

[Politesse]

A note: in order to understand the response to some of those basic phrases, more words may be needed. "The bathroom is down the hall through the double doors that look like they're going into the next building, but just keep going til you pass the print of Tolouse's "Chat Noir" and then turn right into the little alcove" can be trouble in an unfamiliar tongue. Or for that matter "Just squat anywhere outside".

 

[steve_bank]

No!!!.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

A note: in order to understand the response to some of those basic phrases, more words may be needed. "The bathroom is down the hall through the double doors that look like they're going into the next building, but just keep going til you pass the print of Tolouse's "Chat Noir" and then turn right into the little alcove" can be trouble in an unfamiliar tongue. Or for that matter "Just squat anywhere outside".

Yup. Learning basic phrases isn't of too much use because you're not going to understand the answer. Please and Thank You are good to learn for politeness, numbers used to be very useful but with phones these days, so what? Everyone will understand how to use a calculator to communicate. The only numbers I would bother with are written ones if you are in a place that doesn't use Arabic numerals. (The only place I can recall like this is Iran but I would not swear there are not others. China has non-Arabic numbers but they are rarely important--they are only likely to show up in situations similar to where we might use Roman numerals--and how often do they matter here?)