I'm in the process of making the Four Essential Travel Phrases home page multilingual in various major languages.
Doing all of the pages isn't practical, but non-English speakers will at least get an idea of what this site is about if the home page is in a language and writing system they understand.
The text to be translated is below, split into 3 sections: "index page text", a "request letter", and a "reply letter".
I already have translations in Amharic, standard Arabic, Assamese, Bulgarian, French, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Mandarin Chinese / Putonghua, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Portuguese (Brazilian), Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.
Here are some of the languages I'm still looking for: Bengali, Bhojpuri, Cebuano, Filipino, Hakka Chinese, Hausa, Igbo, Indonesian, Javanese, Khmer / Cambodian, Korean, Lao, Malay, Panjabi, Persian, Shanghainese dialect of Wu Chinese, Swedish, Taiwanese dialect of Min Nan, Thai, Tok Pisin / New Guinea Pidgin English, Vietnamese, and Yoruba
If you're a native/fluent speaker in one of these languages, and are willing to translate the text below, great!
Please email me (David McCreedy) beforehand just to double-check I don't have that translation already:
Instructions for translators:
1 | read this page in another language |
2 | read this page in: LANGUAGE1 LANGUAGE2 LANGUAGE3 |
3 | *Note: This is the only page in LANGUAGE. The rest of the website is in English. |
4 | The Four Essential Travel Phrases |
5 | in 999 languages + 999 dialects + 999 conlangs! |
6 | navigation |
7 | alphabetical index |
8 | Index by Language |
9 | Translation Index, Sorted by Language |
10 | regional index |
11 | Index by Region |
12 | Translation Index, Grouped by Region |
13 | writing system index |
14 | index by writing system |
15 | Translation Index, Grouped by Writing System |
16 | search for a language, dialect, or country (including entries not listed in the indexes) |
17 | search for a language, dialect, or country |
18 | Search |
19 | jump to a language at random |
20 | Gallery of UNICODE Fonts |
21 | go to the Gallery of UNICODE Fonts at its new home |
22 | go to the Gallery of UNICODE Fonts |
23 | Special thanks go to JOHN DOE for providing so many translations! |
24 | Special thanks go to JOHN DOE! |
25 | New |
26 | RSS 2.0 FEED of New Translations |
27 | Latest Travel Phrase Additions |
28 | What is this site? |
29 | Many years ago, I (HORNDINKLE@TRAVELPHRASES.INFO) started travelling extensively overseas while working for a consulting company. |
30 | While on these assignments, some of my colleagues and I decided that there were certain phrases we felt every traveller should know and in as many languages as possible, because you just never know. |
31 | I told my friend David about our simplified phrase book, and he was so taken with the idea that he created the phrases you see here in this web site. |
32 | David did extensive research on fonts, writing styles & systems, and other esoterica related to languages and linguistics, and presented me with a bound booklet on my birthday in 1995. |
33 | David has continued to update his original document, making corrections, and adding languages whenever possible. |
34 | As a tribute to all his hard work, I decided that the booklet should become a series of web pages, so that all sorts of people besides me could appreciate all the time and effort he put into this project. |
35 | I thought that by making a web site out of it, we could get many more suggestions and corrections, and get more languages represented. |
36 | top |
37 | What are the phrases? |
38 | The phrases we thought every traveller should know are: |
39 | The last phrase is obviously of the utmost importance, particularly if you've already had answers to the first three. |
40 | Wish List |
41 | Any language or dialect additions are welcome, but here are the ones that merit special mention: |
42 | Also, cuneiform for the Akkadian translations and traditional scripts for the Balinese & Javanese translations. |
43 | Suggestions and Corrections |
44 | Suggestions / Corrections |
45 | Please send additions or corrections to David McCreedy: |
46 | Note: David is an English speaker and does not know LANGUAGE. |
47 | contact information |
48 | contact |
49 | Contributors |
50 | "Thank You" to Our Contributors |
51 | We've created a list of some of the people and organizations that have contributed to The Four Essential Travel Phrases over the years. |
52 | As you'll see from our contributors list, David has no problem asking total strangers for the oddest things. |
53 | I'm sure it seemed bizarre to the people who have contributed over time, and this list is our small way of saying "Thanks". |
54 | Some on the list did the actual translations while others helped by providing corrections or passing requests to translators. |
55 | Without their help this site wouldn't exist. |
56 | Links to Other Language Related Sites |
57 | Links |
58 | Foreign Languages for Travelers |
59 | JENNIFER'S LANGUAGE PAGE, several words and phrases in hundreds of languages, with links to other "phrase collections" |
60 | The numbers 1-10 in over 5,000 languages |
61 | translation services |
62 | ETHNOLOGUE catalog of more than 39,000 language and dialect names |
63 | OMNIGLOT's guide to writing systems. |
64 | WIKIPEDIA's index of writing systems. |
65 | Unrelated, but interesting nonetheless: BRIAN HUDSON's clay creations |
66 | Copyright |
67 | home page |
68 | home |
69 | The four essential travel phrases, translated into hundreds of languages using their native scripts |
70 | travel phrases |
71 | language |
72 | language collection |
73 | translation |
74 | writing systems |
R1 | Greetings. |
R2 |
I'm looking for translations for four sentences in LANGUAGE to add to my web site: The Four Essential Travel Phrases at www.travelphrases.info The site lists over 500 languages in their own writing systems, everything from Afrikaans to Zulu, ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics to Braille. |
R3 |
I realize this request is rather odd... Please let me give you some background: My best friend from college has, since graduation, traveled extensively for her employer. So much in fact that she jokes she only needs to know four phrases in the local language to get by: 1) WHERE IS MY ROOM? 2) WHERE IS THE BEACH? 3) WHERE IS THE BAR? 4) DON'T TOUCH ME THERE! |
R4 |
Several years ago, as a birthday surprise, I compiled these "Four Essential Travel Phrases" for her in as many languages as I could find. She loved the gift so much that I continued to collect translations. To thank me, she put the collection online (www.travelphrases.info). |
R5 |
I am hoping that you can provide me with translations. Please tell me if they are in a specific dialect or from a specific area. That will help if I am fortunate enough to get additional dialects in the future. |
R6 |
If possible, please use the alphabet or script that is normally used to write the language, as well as the Latin alphabet. You can send me text as well as images. |
R7 |
Please note that I only speak English. I had a friend translate this letter for me. |
R8 | I will appreciate any effort you can make. |
R9 | Thank you |
R10 | Thanks for the translation! |
R11 |
It is now online at http://www.travelphrases.info/languages/foobar.htm Please let me know if I have everything right. |
R12 | And if you would like to be listed in the contributors page (http://www.travelphrases.info/who.htm) let me know under what name. |
R13 |
With so many languages/dialects already represented it is difficult for me to get new translations. So I really appreciate them. |