If you’re traveling to a destination where the main language is not your own, it’s a wonderful opportunity, but it’s always good to at least know some basics. Most people are fairly patient when a tourist slips up on the grammar and pronunciation because it’s just nice to see someone make the effort. You can quickly learn some of the basics for French, Spanish, German, and Italian by visiting Babbel. They have an online language learning center that will teach you some of the important things you might need to say in another language while you’re traveling. They are also currently working on creating a set of phrasebooks that will be programmed for download to your cellphone or other mobile devices, allowing you to take your “new language” with you.

As a nice bonus, there’s also a bit of a social network feel to Babbel which will allow you to connect with other people to compare language notes and even chat with those who are local to your destination, so that you can get travel tips (who better than a local to suggest a must-see spot or great out-of-the-way restaurant?).

I love language sites, they’re fun to use!

Post from: Geeky Traveller

Phrasebooks are a great idea and I remember traveling around with one, but they can be a bit cumbersome, especially if you’re already carrying a camera bag and some souvenirs. However, an iPod is nice and tiny and can fit right in your pocket and you may have it on you anyway. Collins has put together collections of approximately 500 different phrases and you can buy them for French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, and Spanish. Created to be handy you can skip to the appropriate section for your needs, such as emergency, food, tourist info, and more.

With the iPod’s screen, you get a visual translation along with the audio in your ears so you can hear how to pronounce it and have a reminder as you try to stumble your way through your request to know how to get back to your hotel after a day of wandering. And everyone should know how to ask, “¿Donde está el baño?” (where is the bathroom?).

They cost approximately ten dollars each and are perfect for people who don’t want to add heavy books to their travel necessities. It’s unfortunate that it’s not available for other media players but maybe they’ll get around to it soon.

(source)

Post from: Geeky Traveller

It’s currently only available in English-Spanish, English-Italian, and English-French, but hopefully they’ll be expanding that over time, especially if it gains popularity. When you enter a sentence into the application, it not only spells out the translation, it will also speak it for you so that you can hear how it’s meant to be said – or you can even let the person you’re trying to communicate with listen to it if you’re not confident enough.

You can download it directly from the site to your phone and start using it almost right away. When you start using it you get a one day free trial after which you can license it for 3 days (approximately $3USD), 3 weeks (approximately $12USD), or an entire year (approximately $37USD). Prices are listed as approximate because the payment is in Euros, so it depends on the exchange rate.

(Photos used with permission Cellictica)

Post from: Geeky Traveller

I did pretty well, having taken a bit of Spanish. I also brought a little travel phrase book for some of the times I needed help. However, it would also be great to leave the book behind and bring along the Lingo Voyager 5 Talking 20-Language Translator. For $249 you get 46,000 common phrases that can be translated into 20 different languages.

Available languages: English, Arabic, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovakian, Spanish and Turkish. That covers a lot of destinations!

It also includes a nifty world time clock and currency converter. When you use it, you can either use the included earphones to hear the translated phrase to give it a try yourself or you can just let the translator say it for you if it’s a little beyond your pronunciation.

It sounds pretty fun to me!

(Source // Product photo from X-Treme Geek)

Post from: Geeky Traveller

If you’re already planning a vacation or a business trip to a location where you’re not comfortable with the native language, this awesome site could prove very helpful. Mango is a very well-done language site that can teach you the basics of several common languages (even Pig Latin, which is not particularly useful, but hilarious nonetheless!) right on your computer – completely free of charge.

Right now you can learn Spanish, Russian, French, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, German, Japanese, Brazilian Portugese, Greek, and English for Spanish or Polish speakers. All 11 languages have at least 100 lessons, starting from the simplest essentials like “hello, how are you?” all the way up to informal conversations between friends.

Each lesson includes both the English version and the other language, plus text written in that language. The voices are nice and clear, making it easy to hear each word, and you can replay as many times as you’d like before moving to the next slide. Scattered throughout each lesson are mini-quizzes where you are asked how to say a word or phrase, before clicking to hear the answer to see if you were right.

The site is still in Beta mode, but it’s just unbelievable that it’s free. If you need to learn the basics of another language or want to brush up your skills, this site might be just what you need. While checking it out last night, I accidentally spent 20 minutes reviewing my Spanish when I really only meant to look around for a couple of moments. Oops!

Have fun!

Post from: Geeky Traveller