One of my favourite sections of any Lonely Planet guidebook is found at the very back. Just before the index are several pages of words and phrases in the local language, aimed at providing the reader with a basic grounding in the language. Armed with these selected phrases the traveller can confidently ask for a room, inform a member of the public that they have a headache or ask for lamb chop and chips in a local restaurant.

But how many of these nuggets of information do we actually end up using? Surely there are more useful phrases that we should be learning to help us in our travels. Here are 10 additions that I would like to see in the next Lonely Planet edition that I pick up. Other suggestions are welcomed.

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Accommodation

"I'm just curious; could you tell me what this strange stain on my bed is?"

"There's no shower in the bathroom. Oh that? I thought that was a leaky pipe."

Transport

"Yes, I can see there are 9 seats in this minibus, but I'd like to know how many people are you actually planning to squeeze in?"

"If God has wanted you to drive like Lewis Hamilton I'm fairly sure he wouldn't have given you an old American school bus."

Food

"If you insist that it tastes just like chicken, then actually, I think I'll just have the chicken."

"You want me to eat that? Can I just wait till it stops moving?"

Needing to go

"No I'm not paying a dollar to use your hole in the ground."

"It's your choice. Either stop the bus NOW and let me off or there's going to be a messy accident in here."

Bargaining

"Can you please explain how $20 for a T-shirt is lucky for you and lucky for me?"

"You're right, this is a very special price. It's more than double what the guy next door quoted."

 

Which phrases do you feel we should all learn before arriving in a foreign land?

 

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