Speak Like A Local On Your Next Travel With This Guide To Common Foreign Phrases
5 min readExploring the sights and sounds of a country surrounded by foreign-speaking locals surely adds to the charm of traveling to an international destination.
If you availed of a package tour, you can relax, follow the lead of the tour guide, and worry less about getting lost in translation.
For most travelers, however, communication can pose a real challenge especially when navigating around town, making friends, or trying to make a bargain.
While Google translate can save you any time of the day, learning a few foreign words can get you a long way.
Pack yourself with key words and phrases to help you get around. Here’s a guide to common greetings and conversational essentials, sorted according to region. Take them to heart and travel like a true local. Who knows, you might even score great deals when shopping abroad.
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Spanish
437 million Spanish speakers worldwide; spoken majorly in 31 countries
Official countries that speak the Spanish language: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Uruguay, Venezuela
| English phrase | Say it in Spanish |
| Good morning! | Buenos dÃas! |
| Good afternoon! | Buenas tardes! |
| Good evening! | Buenas noches! |
| Hello! | Hola! |
| How are you? | ¿Cómo está? |
| Thank you very much | Muchos gracias |
| You’re welcome! | De nada |
| Excuse me | Con permiso / perdon |
| I’m sorry | Perdon |
| I don’t understand | No entiendo |
| I don’t speak Spanish. | No hablo Español. |
| What’s your name? | ¿Cómo te llamas? |
| Do you speak English? | ¿Habla inglés? |
| Can you help me? | ¿Me puedes ayudar? |
| How much does that cost? | ¿Cuanto cuesta? |
| Yes | Si |
| No | No |
| Please | Por favor |
Japanese
128 million speakers worldwide; spoken majorly in two countries
Official countries that speak the Japanese language: Japan, Angaur
| English phrase | Say it in Japanese |
| Good morning | OhayÅgozaimasu |
| Good afternoon | Kon’nichiwa |
| Good evening | Konbanwa |
| Hello | Kon’nichiwa |
| How are you? | Ogenkidesuka? |
| Thank you very much | Domo arigatoo gozaimasu |
| You’re welcome | DÅitashimashite |
| Excuse me | Sumimasen |
| I’m sorry | Gomen’nasai |
| I don’t understand | Wakarimasen |
| I don’t speak Japanese | Nihongo ga wakarimasen |
| What’s your name? | Onamae wa nandesu ka? |
| Do you speak English? | Eigo o hanashimasu ka? |
| Can you help me? | Tetsudatte itadakemasu ka? |
| How much does that cost? | Kore wa ikura desu ka? |
| Yes | Hai |
| No | Iie |
| Please | Onegaishimasu |
French
76.1 million speakers worldwide; spoken majorly in 53 countries
Official countries that speak the French language: Belgium, Benin, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, France, Gabon, Guinea, Haiti, Luxemburg, Madagascar, Mali, Moncao, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Switzerland, Togo, Vanuatu, Vietnam
| English phrase | Say it in French |
| Good morning | Bonjour |
| Good afternoon | Bonne apres-midi |
| Good evening | Bonsoir |
| Hello | Bonjour |
| How are you? | Comment vas-tu? |
| Thank you very much | Merci beaucoup |
| You’re welcome | De rien |
| Excuse me | Excusez-moi |
| I’m sorry | Excusez-moi! |
| I don’t understand | Je ne comprends pas |
| I don’t speak French | Je ne parle pas Français |
| What’s your name? | Vous appelez-vous? |
| Do you speak English? | Parlez-vous anglais? |
| Can you help me? | Pouvez-vous m’aider, s’il vous plaît? |
| How much does that cost? | Combien ça coûte? |
| Yes. | Oui. |
| No. | Non. |
| Please. | s’il vous plaît |
Arabic
295 million speakers worldwide; spoken majorly in 57 countries
Official countries that speak the Arabic language: Algeria, Bahrain, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Somaliland, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen.
| English phrase | Say it in Arabic |
| Good morning | Sabah alkhir |
| Good afternoon | Tab masayik |
| Good evening | Masa’ alkhir |
| Hello | Marhabaan |
| How are you? | Kayfa Haaluka? (m.) (kayfa Haaluki? (f.)) |
| Thank you very much | Shukran jaziilan |
| You’re welcome | ’Ahlan wa sahlan |
| Excuse me | Xafwan |
| I’m sorry | ’anaa ’aasif |
| I don’t understand | La ’afham |
| I don’t speak Arabic | Anaa la ’atakallam al- xarabiyya |
| What’s your name? | Ma ’ismuk? |
| Do you speak English? | Hal tatakallam ’ingilizi? |
| Can you help me? | Hal tastaTiixa ’an tusaaxidani? |
| How much does that cost? | Kam huwa th- thaman? |
| Yes | Ajal |
| No | Kalla |
| Please | Rajaa’an |
Chinese (Mandarin)
1,284 million speakers worldwide; spoken majorly in 37 countries
Official countries that speak the Chinese language: People’s Republic of China, Republic of China (Taiwan), Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau
| English phrase | Say it in Chinese |
| Good morning | ZÇŽoshang hÇŽo |
| Good afternoon | Xià wǔ hǎo |
| Good evening | Wǎnshà ng hǎo |
| Hello | Ni hao |
| How are you? | NÇ hÇŽo ma? |
| Thank you very much | Fēicháng gǎnxiè |
| You’re welcome | Búyòng kèqì |
| Excuse me | DuìbuqÇ |
| I’m sorry | HÄ›n bà oqià n |
| I don’t understand | Wǒ tīng bù dǒng |
| I don’t speak Chinese | WÇ’ bú huì jiÇŽng ZhÅngwén |
| What’s your name? | QÇngwèn nÇ jià o shénme mÃngzi? |
| Do you speak English? | NÇ huì shuÅ YÄ«ngyÇ” ma? |
| Can you help me? | NÇ néng bÄngbÄngmáng ma? |
| How much does that cost? | Zhè shì duÅshÇŽo qián? |
| Yes | Shì |
| No | Búshì |
| Please | QÇng |
Korean
77.2 million speakers worldwide; spoken majorly in seven countries
Official countries that speak the Korean language: Republic of Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, People’s Republic of China
| English Phrase | Say it in Korean |
| Good morning | Joh-eun achim |
| Good afternoon | Annyeonghaseyo |
| Good evening | Annyeonghaseyo |
| Hello | Annyeonghaseyo |
| How are you? | Jal jinaess-eoyo? |
| Thank you very much | Gomabseubnida |
| You’re welcome | Cheonman-eyo |
| Excuse me | Sillyehabnida |
| I’m sorry | Joesong haeyo |
| I don’t understand | Naneun ihaehaji moshanda |
| I don’t speak Korean | Naneun hangug-eul malhaji anhneunda |
| What’s your name? | Neo ileum-i mwoni? |
| Do you speak English? | Dangsin-eun yeong-eoleulhasibnikka? |
| Can you help me? | Na jom dowa jul su-iss-eo? |
| How much does that cost? | Geu biyong-eun eolmaibnikka? |
| Yes | Ye |
| No | Ani |
| Please | Budi |
**Statistics from ethnologue.com
Sources:
http://www.fluentu.com/spanish/blog/useful-spanish-travel-phrases-words/http://www.fodors.com/language/japanese/basic-phrases/
http://www.fodors.com/language/french/basic-phrases/https://landlopers.com/2013/02/04/foreign-language-travel
http://travel-made-simple.com/what-if-you-dont-speak-the-language/
http://travel.usnews.com/features/3-Tips-for-Traveling-Where-You-Dont-Know-the-Language/
https://www.ethnologue.com/statistics/size
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