3 Phrases You Should Learn in a Country’s Native Language When Traveling

Photo by Yiran Ding on Unsplash

As much as we all might like to speak the foreign language of our travel destinations, it’s just not possible. Especially if you are a frequent traveler, you’ll often find yourself unable to speak the native language with people in the place you’re visiting.

Fortunately, with the internet and phrase books, we can now learn some of the essentials in any language even if we don’t speak it. Here are the three phrases you should learn in the language of your next travel destination.

“Please” and “Thank You”

A little bit of politeness goes a long way in this world, and if you learn to say “please” and “thank you” in a country’s native language, it will go a long way in shops and restaurants.

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“Hello!”

Even if you don’t speak a place’s language, knowing a greeting in their tongue is a great way to demonstrate your friendliness. Walking into a French shop and saying “Bonjour” is a lot more likely to elicit a smile than saying “Hello.”

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“Sorry, I don’t speak _______.”

In general, the natives of a language are usually very understanding that not everyone speaks their tongue. You’ll really impress them if you can tell them that you aren’t able to speak their language in their tongue.