If you have booked a holiday to a country where they speak a different language to yourself, it can be beneficial to take a little bit of time to learn some of the common phrases you may need to know. This will allow you to communicate with some of the local people easily and may help you should you find yourself in a situation where you require assistance from the police or in a medical emergency.

Often just learning a few main keywords is enough to get you by and although you won’t be able to have full conversations with people it can help you out if you need to ask a question.

If you are really struggling to get to grips with learning a different language, then you could even take a phrase book with you that you can refer to should you need to. 

Some languages are quite similar to English making it easier to communicate with people, but if the language is very different and you are staying in an area that is not host to a lot of tourists then you may find that many of the shop keepers and restaurant owners will struggle to communicate with you.