When you travel abroad it's best to know the language.
When you travel abroad it best to know the language. But that takes time and study and patience and you don’t have any of that. But it’s okay cause you’ve got a backup plan. You’ve got a friend that speaks the language. But she’s not coming. Work. You’ve got friends who live in the country. They can definitely show you around. Well they would, except that they’ll be out of town. And then there is always your plan of last resort. You’re just gonna talk slower and louder until they finally understand you.
Where is the bus station!? Bus! Do you speak English? Great plan.
This is definitely the point at which you stop making a good impression on our world neighbors.
What are you some kind of idiot!? Bus! The wheels go around. People ride in it. It’s usually called being an ugly American. But ugliness transcends nationality. When we say ugly we mean on the inside. Because as an ugly foreigner you arrogantly expect everyone to be like you.
I pay all this money coming to their country they could at least learn the language.
I know it’s a stretch but if you want people to stop spitting in your food and stop giving you directions to the local slum instead of the opera you might want to take a different approach.
Collectively The guy behind the camera and I have been to France, Switzerland Mexico, Canada, England, Belgium, Luxembourg Holland, Germany, Korea, and Japan. And if there is one thing we’ve learned from going all over the world it’s that locals like to see you show a little effort. You see, when you try and fumble around with their language you look like the cute, lost, little foreigner who needs so desperately to be taken under there wing and cared for. Not the dirty arrogant power monger who is just visiting the country but pretends like he owns the place.
So to help you fit in you’ve got to learn a few catch phrases. Not to help you get by to help you get in on the inside. I mean, with the people. You’re already in the country.
Now you might be tempted to learn something like “I’m hungry” or “where is the bathroom.” But that’s a complete waste of time. There are universal signals for all that. Trust me, they’ll understand. Learning how to ask for directions might be tempting but think about it for a minute the answer you’ll get will probably sound like this. [made up language]
So we’ve done a little digging to help you get started. Here are some of the most important and useful phrases you can find for different countries. We use the term useful very loosely. If you ever find yourself in Russia the first thing to tumble out of your frozen lips should be: [Russian] “It’s so cold. Can I borrow a coat?”
Camera guy wishes he would have known this when he was in Japan: [Japanese] “Take me to your newest technology. I wan to buy a robot.”
Still kicking yourself about that, huh? Yeah, well, don’t worry about it. We’ll pick up a whole crate full of robots next time we go to China. Just make sure you know how to say: [Chinese] “How many do I have to buy to get the factory discount. Show me with your fingers.”
Spanish is a really wide spread language. So to cover that one we are going to have to cover more than one region. For those heading south of the border
you have to know how to say: [Spanish] “Is there any water here I can drink that won’t make me sick?”
But you know they are going to say yes. Even if the water is churning with bacteria. So while your at it you might want to throw in: [Spanish] “Do you have any Double A batteries for my SteriPen?”
But if you are speaking Spanish in Europe you’re more than likely in Spain and the phrase that will save your life is: [Spanish] “Which direction do the bulls come from?”
If you’re planning to visit Italy it is very useful in between mouthfuls to be able to say: [Italian] “This food is so good! Adopt me!”
Or if you are not ready to form new familial bonds yet, just try: [Italian] “More please.”
You’ll be glad you know that one. And in France you only need one phrase: [French] “I’m not American. I’m Canadian.”
Just make sure you say it to everyone you meet. And for you the adventurous types when you wind up in Mongolia you should definitely use: [Mongolian] “Which part of the animal did this come from?”
Or you might need: [Mongolian] “Is this really fresh yaks milk?”
Just to be safe.
You don’t have to speak perfectly. I didn’t. Heck, you don’t even have to make sense. They just have to know you are trying. Just make a little effort on your part and you never know you might get a little more at dinner make a new friend
or avoid a savage goring from an angry bull. Either way I think your vacation will be better. And if you think you can say it any better you probably can. So post a phonetic link to your favorite foreign phrase and teach us all how to say it too.
Here a little treat from a yet to be published audio book called “Mongolian you can actually use”. [English/Mongolian] I’m lost. Where is the nearest camel dealership? [English/Mongolian] If I teach you English, will you give me your daughter? [English/Mongolian] Let’s take over the world.
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63 Comments
The Perspicacious Loris
My Social Studies teacher, Mr. Sirois, is French and speaks better Japanese than our school's French teacher, Mrs. Ibara. ...xlius
When in Belgian Limburg: Woe kin ich hiej een pint kriege?. (Where can I get a beer around here?) When in ...Richard Yudkiss
I know Russian and not to be rude, but your Russian accent was a little off. Please,I really don't ...Mati
guess hebrew fonts don't work on your site...works in the "post" box thoughMati
??? ??? ?? ??? ???? ???? ???????The Guy Who Knows
I live in france, so here are some Frence phrases: Ju Swee Amereeca (I am American) Oo est le twalet? (where is ...Perrygirl
When in Mexico(or Miami) probably the most important phrase you could know is: 'Tengo pantalones de diablo loco'.Christina
So, I'm a Peace Corps volunteer living in Mongolia and I can definitely help you out with some useful phrases ...dongkyun
@pkw I don't want to offend you or anything, but that was horrible romanization. If your at a patriotic event ...Tyson
Jesse's Mom, I had the privilege of living in France for close to 3 years. They don't hate ...AredhelCarnesir
Sorry, that should have been: Eigo GA dekimaska. Also, another good thing to know about Japanese is that most objects and ...AredhelCarnesir
The best things to know in any language are: Where is the toilet? and Do you speak English? In Japanese: Eigo ...meggiebean
I think this may be the best one yet! Wow! good work guys!Niya
A friend gave me the WYOTK DVD and this was one of my favorit videos I made my family sit ...Muircheartach
Concerning my earlier comment: The phrase is pronounced /tower may ooshkie baha/ in Irish GaelicMuircheartach
"Tabhair mé Uisce Beatha." in Gaelic. Pronounced /tah.hair may ooshkie bayha/. It means "Give me the Water of Life." or ...nick
CEDRICnumber23, what you said is not a question because there are not question marks, if there were it would be, ...CEDRICnumber23
"Que necessitas saver" Translation- What you ought(need) to know! . . . that might not have been spelled ...crimson_woe
My favorite Japanese phrase: Kodomo wa oishi dessneee (Children are tasty!!)waecool
yo puedo hablar español también (i can speak Spanish to)Demoness [22]
Saisinko lisää salmiakkia? = Could I please get more ammonium chloride candy?dawsman24
If your in Haiti and someone asks "how are you?" You say "m'ap boule!" Which means I'm burning or I'm ...Dee
Thank you so much for posting this. My friend and I felt embarrassed in Japan when we saw a ...Nospinplease
That was really funny! I really liked the spanish one. It was also informitive. It is like you guys got ...Ingrid [22]
Thank you VERY much Lobe! That makes everything very clear to me!lobe
you know what would be a nice video? if you could explain the hole american voting system. Because I don't ...Ingrid [22]
you know what would be a nice video? if you could explain the hole american voting system. Because I don't ...marc
Okay, So I know this is not related to the video, but I know a lot of people will keep checking ...Ingrid [22]
@theundecided Here are three: Ik spreek geen Nederlands (dutch) Je ne parle pas francais (french) Ich spreche kein(e?) Deutch (I think, I'm not sure)(german)theundecided [22]
one of my lifelong goals is to learn to say "I don't speak[insert language here] " in every language possibleRuss [22]
I loved the show. My wife thought it was very informational, very true... but... she'd like to point out ...pkw
"Hubby" here. If you find yourself in Korea, the best phrase for them to hear is, "Kimshee ga ahju ...Guin
i've watched this like five times already and it's still funny!!!Meandering {207}
Great episode. In the Philippines there are many languages and dialects. On the island of Cebu they speak ...effamy
that's really excellent language work! we met a lot of fellow Canadians on our trip to europe. Actually we found ...ivan47
brilliant! I just discovered this site yesterday, And I LOVE IT!! keep up the great work!dragonroka27
Fantastic as always! kristinadesignertoxophilite[22] [22]
Thats awesome, I have to agree with everyone else, the accents were amazing. I have to say though, directions in German ...threeofclubs
If you're ever in Bogota, you can say the common phrase: 'No hablo muy bien en espanol,' which everyone knows. ...Snowmanincave [22]
Re-commenting, Kudos on the wonderful show. In other news, I have succeeded in logging in again.Guin
@Jesse's Mom. I kinda did the same thing when we went to Marseilles,France. We had hit port for like 3 days. ...graceofbass [22]
And then you marry their daughter.Guin
DUDE!!!!! YOu speak spanish!??!! (yeah i shouldn't be surprised, u live in Cali) if you want a site that will ...Curtis [22]
Great show. Nice to see the shorter comments are back, too, as well as the "more" links. That's ...idiotonuni
Will clicking on the ads for you guys, even if I don't care about them, get me into 22?Rabble of Redheads [22]
"ach de leibe" german for " ah the love"graceofbass [22]
My husband and I watched this last night and literally laughed out loud, for several minutes. My very favorite was ...nick
wow good accents, nice showsteph {207}
Very funny show. Very nice accents Brett. Steripen is back! I now know how to say lets take over the ...pkw
Hubby seconds the "they like to speak your language", but he was in Korea. He says they say "I ...Jennifer McKenzie
I bow to the master. That was amazing. I went to Germany, Austria, France and Switzerland for a ...Soul Sister [22]
Ah! This is so true. And the Canadian thing? I've totally done that before to. YAY for Canada, they are ...Ingrid [22]
three cheers for Kel! ... Nice job, it's always nice to see people make effort to learn our language! And ...jeffinputnam
Whenever we traveled outside the US we'd always tell people we were from Canada. If we were in Canada, we'd always ...Kel [22]
Haha, that Russian phrase is what got me into [22], I had no idea you had a... practical... use for ...marc
You're right and wrong about Japan in a way guys. Japanese citizens, at least the young women, thought it ...Drecon [22]
What Ingrid said. Furthermore: bork bork bork!Lodinkinni [22]
There we go! I'd place this one up with some of the older ones, for quality. Though the phrases themselves ...Ingrid [22]
AAAAAH, you didn't do the Netherlands. Haha I would have loved for you to try and speak dutch :P. But ...Danielle G.
It's the return of Steripen! Yaaay! By far one of the funniest (and most useful!) shows on here. And agreed, the ...Glenn [22]
If you extend further out into the family, you could add other countries to the list like: China, Mongolia, The ...Jesse’s Mom [22]
Great show! And good accents Brett! I was especially impressed with the Russian, Japanese, French (obviously, as shown by the ...huscarl
That was hillarious! Great vid guys, keep up the great work! Oh, first to say first.