Around the World in 80 Words

What an amazing collection. The basic communicaton needs in 25 languages, in their alphabets and all. I never got to keep this book for long because my friends were always borrowing it. Berlitz organizes the languages very well and includes commentary on a few idiosyncrasies of the languages. A fascinating study.

Berlitz approach is useful because it allows you to learn the 'the 80 words you'll want as a traveler in many countries EVEN THOUGH THE SPELLING AND ALPHABET CAN BE DIFFERENT, and to look ACROSS 25 languages easily. It lets you travel light and the phonetic spelling is very easy for English speakers to read and pronounce. It's also widely copied by others like Fodor's language guides, my second favorite guides. BTW, my favorite software program is called 'Language Now!' because it's interactive on every single word, idiomatic and has multimedia sound and video. Also recommended: Fodor's Guides; Rick Steve's Travel Guides; other Berlitz titles; Gesprochenes Deutsch, Francais Parle', Italiano Parlato (the Gimmick series on Norton paperback, wwnorton.com) are my favorites -- and I've bought most of them :)