Going to Moscow and asking—in English—where to find an authentic local restaurant may just get you directions to the nearest bathroom. What do you say when your foreign travels surround you with equally foreign languages? English may be the international language spoken among airline pilots, but it certainly isn’t going to help you land the respect of the local waiter.
According to Ethnologue.org, publisher of the Languages of the World database, approximately 70 percent of the world speaks at least one of the tongues below, which also happen to be the six official languages of the United Nations. Here are essential phrases you don’t want to miss out on—or be misunderstood by—when traveling abroad. Bon voyage!
