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Be understood in any language – 100 word hack







LiNGER - Enriching Life Through Travel    Stamps, Sapporo, Japan




Be understood in any language – 100 word hack

Not everywhere is English spoken well. Speaking even a little of the local lingo will not only help you to interact with local people, but will enable you to experience your destination more profoundly. Julia, our resident linguist, has compiled this language hack for you to be understood in any language.



How to blag a language:

  • Language apps and text books can help if you have the time to learn a language properly. However, you can cut to the chase by finding out what the following words are in your language of choice and learning to say them.
  • Knowing these ~100 words, irrespective of correct grammar, word order or honorifics, and amply accompanied by gestures and smiles, will cover many bases.
  • Understanding the answer is of course more complicated, which is where Google translate comes in handy. But making the first step and showing willing goes a very long way.

Pronunciation:

  • One tip to make the words sound right is to pretend you are doing an exaggerated impression of a native speaker of your chosen language speaking heavily accented English.
  • Use that way of speaking to say the words you learn. You may sound silly (or borderline xenophobic…) to yourself, but you’ll probably sound much more natural and intelligible to a local speaker.

100 Word Hack: 

Look these up in Google translate, ask a native language speaker or lean on your guide to translate these words. Even used in the wrong order, without any conjugations and with no proper semantics or grammar, you can make yourself understood and score brownie points for effort.

  • Hello, goodbye, thanks, please
  • I, you, he, she, we, they, this, that
  • Yes, no, maybe
  • Go, come, stop, walk, hike, eat, drink, stay, be, have, be able to, be allowed to, pay, buy, see, meet, hurt, like, speak
    • Learn these in the infinitive (the ‘to’ form) – you’ll be understood even if you don’t conjugate them properly.
    • Find out how to make these into questions (can I?)  and negatives (I can’t).
  • Beautiful, delicious, super, big, little
  • More, less/fewer, very, a lot, a little, too much
  • Hotel, restaurant, beach, mountain, river
  • Here, there, near, far
  • Train, bus, boat, car, bicycle
  • 0-10, o’clock, half past
  • How, where, why, when, who, what
  • Yesterday, today, tomorrow, before, after, later, day, week
  • Change, credit card, bill
  • Food, Chicken, pork, beef, fish, rice (any other key staples)
  • I don’t understand, I don’t know, I don’t mind

Even mastering a few basics can make a big difference, opening up opportunities for interaction and allowing you to get below the surface.

LiNGER longer and experience your destination authentically. Get in touch below to talk all things travel and plan your next holiday or sabbatical.


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