One daunting aspect of travel is the barrier of a foreign language. It can be an opportunity as well, but being able to get to a hotel or order a meal on the first day can be challenging. If you’re coping with jet lag on top of it, it can make you question why you travel. You can smooth the transition by knowing ten words or phrases in the local language before you visit a foreign country.
I would love to learn multiple European and Asian languages but, being a prolific traveler, it’s not practical (I wish I could be a polymath with languages). If I’m going to be a foreign country for only a day or two, I won’t bother and will be the stereotypical American who muddles by, hoping for the best. If I’m going to be there for a week or longer, I’ll try to do better. And even though it’s not the focus of this article, I used the Babble language training app to up my game before a month in Indonesia. I loved having an expanded vocabulary, and it impressed the locals. I didn’t want to be fumbling with an app all the time, so I kept a written list of common phrases in my wallet for easy reference.
In an ideal world, I would learn ten phrases before I left home. In the real world, I might remember to flag these ten phrases in Google Translate for the first country I visit. Using the Google Translate app makes things easier, but if you want to go low-tech, write them in a notebook or on an index card.
Google Translate has 243 languages available. If you have access to the internet, just enter a word in one language and select a language to translate. To be able to use the app without internet, take the time to download the language.
I created a stored phrasebook of words that I can refer to quickly in the Google Translate app. When you translate a word or phrase that you’ll use again, click the star icon. This adds it to your list of favorites in a phrasebook. To find the phrasebook, get familiar with where it is on your version of the app. On mine, it’s the star on the upper left. For other versions, it might be a notebook icon on the top or bottom of the screen (if you still don’t see it, click the menu button).
For a trip to Spain, Portugal, and Morocco recently, it was helpful to have Spanish, Portuguese, French and Arabic downloaded (many Moroccans speak French). This year, I used Spanish and Portuguese when I was in Argentina, Chile, and Brazil. For Japan, I set up my phrasebook of Japanese words. Thankfully, the app provides both Latin script and the graphic kanji text. I appreciated hearing the pronunciation when I clicked the sound icon.
These simple phrases can open doors, earn smiles, and save you when Wi-Fi fails.
These can be helpful if you’re in a foreign country for more than a couple of days.
Once I have basic polite and informational words, my next needed set of words can help me find something to eat. Here are some words and phrases that cover the basics of ordering a meal.
The camera icon on the main screen is magical. Hold it over a menu or interpretive sign or any text and see a translation. It’s not always perfect, but it will provide enough information to order from a menu or understand the gist of a sign or paragraph. This makes museums infinitely more interesting if the interpretive text is in another language.
You can use the Live Translate option in Google Translate to speak to your device or listen to speech and receive a text transcription. The apps are getting better all the time, and this function is sure to expand.
Google Translate is an amazing resource, but it’s not perfect. It doesn’t have every variation or dialect, and it doesn’t always capture dense text. There are differences between Spanish and Portuguese spoken in South America versus Europe, for example, though I found people could usually understand my meaning even if it wasn’t quite right.
The app doesn’t contain such commonly used languages such as Quechua, an indigenous language of Peru and other areas of South America. Many words in Spanish and Quechua are intertwined in sentences, and in the Andes, menu items are often Quechua words. In Barcelona and eastern Spain, Catalon and Spanish are often used together. In Morocco, a blend of Arabic, French, and Berber, the indigenous language, is often used (sometimes with a little Spanish thrown in).
Knowing ten words or phrases in the local language before you visit a foreign country will ease any transition. Google Translate is helpful, but keeping a written list can be just as good.
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