Holiday,Tips,Survival,Phrases, travel,insurance Holiday Tips: Survival Phrases for Travelling

Torres del Paine is among the biggest of Chile’s national parks, occupying almost 600,000 acres (242,000 ha) of land in the south on the border with Argentina. It is also among the most important, receiving a significant proportion of domes Like any American, traveling occasionally is just what I love doing and I bet you share the same stuff with me. But traveling does not mean that you would be safe. Escaping from our job and other stressful activities is just something that w

Most everybody is aware ofthe great stereotype of the English-speaking tourist. Whentravelling, he or she does not bother to learn a single word of thecountry's language, preferring to roar at ever-increasing volume'DO-YOU-SPEAK-ENGLISH?' In Spain or Italy, the unlucky natives may besubjected to an even more ridiculous take on this (something alongthe lines of 'Hallo-a! Speak-a you English-a?').This situation is, firstof all, embarrassing for all involved. Secondly, it is quite plainlyrude and shows the world that you simply could not be bothered topick up a pocket dictionary, or even take a quick look online andfind out the basic words to get your point across. You do not want tobe this tourist.I'm not saying you shouldaim to be fluent before you head off on holiday. Neither am Isuggesting you use up all your freetime studying and feeling guiltywhen nothing goes in. What we're aiming for here is a happymiddle-ground, which allows you to avoid being 'that tourist' andavoid putting your food in it wherever you go. Some countries aresurprisingly gracious towards tourists who do not speak the language,but many will go out of their way to be unhelpful and discourteous ifyou do not make a cursory effort to speak their language. This puts adamper on many holidays and can make things very difficult. Thereforeit is also to your benefit practically to have a try.What should I learn?If you are very limited ontime, these are the holiday phrases you will want to learn:HelloGoodbyePleaseThank youI would like...Can you help me?Do you speak English?This may not seem likemuch, but it is the absolute basics and you will be surprised how faryou can get with pointing and gesticulating. You may want to add agame or two or charades to your training schedule, in this case.If you have slightly moretime, you may then want to have a go at learning a bit morevocabulary:numbers from 1-20telling the timereading a menubasic directions eg:left, right, turnIn the case that you findyourself with a bit of spare time after that, concentrate on learningvocabulary and listening to exercises online rather than trying tomemorise phrases to speak. It is much easier to train your 'passivevocabulary' – phrases that you can recognise – than your 'activevocabulary' – words which you can actively produce when speaking.What is the best wayto learn?As mentioned above, if you are only trying to learn a few phrases foryour holidays to show that you're making an effort, you do not needto learn any grammar or do any writing. What you want to focus onhere is listening and repeating. There are several good onlineresources available in multiple languages that allow you to learnbasic phrases and listen to them online. Two of the best are:Lingq.comAbout.comWrite down the phrases in both the target language and in English andcarry them around with you to look at multiple times during the day.If you have an MP3 player, copy your listening material onto that tooand listen to it frequently. Good opportunities are while travelling,exercising or doing housework or cooking. Try imitating the phrases(probably not while you're on the bus though) until you feel you'regetting the sounds right. Afteryou've been practicising these phrases each day for a week, get afriend to test you on them. Ask them to ask you for the translationof each phrase. If you can repeat them all easily in your targetlanguage, you're doing very well. Keep up with this schedule untilyou head off on holiday. Still, be under no illusions: what you knowwill get you by and probably win you points with locals, but you willcertainly not be able to actively communicate with people in thelanguage. It is a very good idea to take a pocket dictionary with youon your holidays incase you get stuck or to prepare words you know will come in usefulon vacation.If you are aiming to learn more, make a list of your targets. If youwant to learn how to say you are from England, your name and yourage, then those are your targets. Maybe your targets are to be ableto read a restaurant menu in the target language, or perhaps to beable to recognise the numbers 1-20. Aim to spend a little timelearning every day. If your goal is reading-based, spend most time studying vocabulary orreading basic texts. You should be able to find many online,including on the websites mentioned above. If your goal is speaking-based, your time should be split betweenspeaking and listening. The best option is to seek out transcripts ofaudio files, so you can listen and read the text at the same time.Read and listen many times until you can understand approximately 80%of what is being said. If your goal is to simply learn more vocabulary, all of the abovepractice will help, but another tip is to write down the words inyour target language of coloured slips of papers with the Englishtranslation on the other side. Every day, go through theseflashcards, viewing each the foreign language or English side. Onceyou can easily remember what each word means, put those cards into aseparate pile or box. Look at these approximately every once a weekand the cards you have trouble remembering every day. The frequentpractice makes a big difference to what you can remember. Try tothink of words which you will need or use frequently on vacation orwhile travelling.Finally, do not forget that pocket dictionary! No matter how much youlearn, you may still be stumped once in a while. Overall it is handyto keep these things in mind:All progress is good. You should not expect to understand localsquickly or be disappointed if you forget words or don't understand.It is a process.It is not important at this stage to sound 'correct'. It is moreimportant to get your point across.You don't need to devote hours a day to learning: you can learnsimply by plugging in your earphones and listening to audio fileswhile you're doing other activities or taking five minutes each daybefore bed to review vocabulary.Have fun and enjoy your holidays! Language learning is aboutcommunication and broadening your mind, not making yourselfstressed!Finally, happy holiday. Or...bon voyage, gute Reise, buen viaje and buon viaggio!