January 14, 2012
If you’re going to dine out in a Spanish-speaking city, you’ll need to know a few basic phrases to interact. While you can probably get away with nodding your head and cluelessly pointing at menu items, knowing these stock phrases should make it easier.
Getting a Table
When you get to the restaurant, tell whoever’s at the door, “Una mesa, por favor.” If you have company, you can say “Una mesa para dos, por favor.” Substitute the appropriate number in your party for dos (tres, quatro, cinco, seis).
Calling for a Waiter
If it’s a woman, just say “señorita,” regardless of what Spanish-speaking country you’re in. If it’s a man, then it will vary by place: in Mexico, you say “joven”; in Spain, “acamarero”; in Chile, “garzón”; and in Argentina, you exclaim “mozo.”
Ordering
Chances are, you don’t know what’s good. So, ask the waiter: “¿Qué nos recomienda? (Translation: What do you recommend?) Just to make sure you don’t get anything that you could be allergic, too, always ask “¿Qué ingredientes tiene?” (Translation: What are the ingredients?) If it has cheese and you’re allergic to cheese, just tell the waiter “sin queso” (no cheese). Just replace “queso” with whatever it is you don’t want included.
If you want a glass of water, just say “un vaso de agua.” Just replace the “agua” with whatever drink you want a glass of, whether that be “vino” (wine), leche (milk) or jugo (a fruit juice). Instead of a glass, you may want a bottle, so just replace “vaso” with “botella.” You can also order “cerveza” (beer), “refresco” (soda) or “trago” (a generic term for alcoholic spirits) if that’s more to your liking.
January 12, 2012
Regardless of what language you’re studying, there are some basic phrases that you will want to learn if you want to start interacting with people who speak it. There’s no way you’ll survive in a non-English speaking foreign country if you can’t string essential phrases together. This guide is meant to steer you towards those specific phrases that you should be digging up in your language software to memorize right now.
Basic greetings. Learn how to say the equivalent of “Hello,” “Good morning,” “Good evening” and “Good afternoon.” Also, find the most common informal greeting in the language — the equivalent of “Hi” for English.
Basic introductions. Learn how to introduce yourself: “My name is… I am from…” That way, you can meet people and let them know quick personal details.
Basic requests. Most important: “Please help me.” Other requests depend on what you plan to do in the country. For instance, I’ve always memorized “Please take me to my hotel” and “Please talk to them for me.”
Getting around. Learn how to ask questions for getting to and from places. Must-learn questions: Where is the airport? Where is the nearest hospital? Where is the police station? Where is the hotel? Where is the nearest toilet?
May 24, 2011
One of the problems with learning languages on your own is that there are a million possible places to start. This makes it especially daunting for first-timers to begin, as they could very well be wasting their time focusing on vocabulary terms that would end up unused in their inventory.
It’s especially difficult since not all languages are the same. The equivalent of a very helpful common word in English, for instance, may be a rarely used element in another language, so a direct comparison isn’t the best route to take.
Fortunately, there are other ways to figure that out:
- Survival phrases. Go online and look for a language’s recommended survival phrases. Those words and phrases are recommended as “survival” tools for a reason — they’re an absolute necessity for anyone visiting the country.
- Phrasebook. Go to the “basics” chapter of a phrasebook and you’ll find the phrases that are likely to be of greatest importance there.
- Check your language software. As with phrasebooks, many language software include a “basics” or “essentials” section, which lists the barebones words and phrases all beginners should know.
- Going by parts of speech. This is actually my favorite, especially if you have some time to learn. The idea is to study words by the most common parts of speech. I suggest studying pronouns first, then prepositions, then basic verbs (as in, super simple action words), then adverbs of time, then adjectives. Nouns and more advanced verbs are things you can probably pass up, as you’ll eventually come across them during your language courses, readings and practice interactions.
April 15, 2011
When you’re going on a trip abroad, safety is always a primary concern. Fortunately, there are many things you can do to help ensure this. Memorizing basic survival phrases that you can use to communicate with locals is one of them.
Choosing which words and phrases to memorize is the tricky part. Since you’re likely working on a limited time, you’ll have to pick language items you can end up getting the most mileage from.
If you’re hoping to learn phrases for staying safe, then looking for the equivalents of these words in your target language should be among your first order of business:
- Help
- Yes
- No
- Police
- Security
- Hospital
- Stop
- Get away
- Run
- Hands off
After that, a few complete phrases for getting directions and going around should be next. You will want to have the words you need to find a rest room, a police station, a restaurant, a hotel and other places, of course.
Additionally, try to read safety advisories from travel websites specific to the country you are visiting. That way, you’ll get familiar with the different things to watch out for, as well as integrate them (if appropriate) in the list of survival phrases you’re going to learn.
February 11, 2011
One of the questions we regularly get from people interested in learning a second language is how quickly they can learn survival phrases. Truth is, a week of working with a few phrases written down in a cheat sheet is probably enough to get you through most situations where you’ll need them.
Of course, the actual time you need will depend on the number of survival phrases you want to commit to memory. Most guides I’ve seen offer around 50, although I’ve known people who get by with just a dozen or so.
My suggestion is to consult your language learning software about the most common phrases used in that particular language. Start with a dozen of phrases that you feel you could really use and start building on top of it if you have more time.
The basic categories of the most common phrases typically fall under:
Basic Salutations. This involves simple greetings (“Good morning”), giving thanks and designations (“Mr.” or “Ms.”).
Introducing yourself. You want, at bare minimum, to be able to introduce yourself, so learn how to tell people your name and where you are from.
Asking for help. Make sure you memorize some stock phrases you can use when you need help. They’re called survival phrases for that reason, afterall. Think stuff like “I’m lost,” “Can you help me?” and “Which menu item has chicken?”
Asking for directions. A lot of your time will probably be spent going around, so learn to ask people the way to airports, toilets, pharmacies, hospital and, if you’re tired of exotic cuisine, the local McDonald’s.
August 18, 2010
Lazy about learning a language? While we’d rather you memorize survival phrases for use when visiting a country, we understand it may not always be possible.
Maybe, you were sent to Portugal on an impromptu errand. Perhaps, you have a memory problem and can’t remember words with more than five letters at a time. It could be you actually tried working with the best language software, but couldn’t find the mettle to stick through it in such a short schedule.
Whatever excuse you have, we’ve probably heard it before. We’ll let you judge for yourself whether yours is valid or not. The question now is: How do you survive a country without knowing a lick of the language?
- A phrasebook. Buy a phrasebook and carry it around. Make sure to choose one with well-defined chapters, so all you have to do is turn to the section on restaurants when ordering food and to the section on transportation when talking with a cab driver.
- A cheat sheet. For those who are too lazy to wade through a phrasebook, we love one-page cheat sheets. Write down the most common ones you’ll use and whip it out quickly as soon as you find the need. No need to turn pages!
- Talking translators. These dedicated single-purpose wonders are excellent for those who are even lazier than normal. Just find the phrase you want to say from the menu, push the Speak button and have it convey what you’re thinking with a perfect accent.
- iPhone apps. A new entrant into these things, this is for the laziest of the lot. Not only does it let you communicate without talking yourself, you don’t even have to carry an extra gadget to do it. Just your iPhone – the same one you use for calling and texting.
See, even the lazy have options for emergency language use. Of course, if you’d rather show some motivation, a good language software and a couple months of training should save you from all these extra hassles.
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