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List of common phrases in various languages
When you are in a country whose language you do not understand it is possible to get along with a surprisingly short list of phrases, combined with pointing, miming, and writing down numbers on paper.  Here is such a list.

You are invited to add more languages to the list. Please use the minimum number of words that would be understandable and put the pronunciation in slashes as shown (separate syllables with dashes and use English words that sound like the syllables if possible, the stressed syllable in ALL CAPS). '''Note: there seems to be a bug in the edit conflict screen which damages HTML character entities. If you get a conflict when editing this page, please make sure everything is in order before you save the page.'''

The [[language families and languages|language family]] of every language is listed in parentheses.

See also 
http://www.elite.net/~runner/jennifers/language.htm

=== [[Arabic language|Arabic]] ([[semitic languages|Semitic]]) ===

''If you speak Arabic, you can edit this page right now!''

=== [[Euskara|Basque]] ===
*Basque: ''Euskara''
*hello: ''kaixo''
*good-bye: ''agur''
*please: ''mesedez''
*thank you: ''Eskerrik asko''
*that one: ''hori''
*how much?: ''zenbat''
*English: ''ingelesa''
*yes: ''bai''
*no: ''ez''
*generic toast: 

=== [[Mandarin|Chinese, Mandarin]] ([[Chinese language|Chinese]]) ===
''Note: tone 1 is high and level; 2 is rising; 3 is dipping; 4 is falling. The capitalization of the pseudo-phonetic transcription attempts to represent the tones.''
*Mandarin Chinese: &#26222;&#36890;&#35805; (''pu3-tong1-hua4'') /PoO-TONGUE-HWa/
*hello: &#20320;&#22909; (''ni3-hao3'') /KNeE-HoW/
*good-bye: &#20320;&#22909; (''zai4-jian4'') /T'SIgh-JEn/
*please: //
*thank you: &#35874;&#35874; (''xie4-xie4'') /SHyeah-SHyeah/
*that one: //
*how much?: //
*English: &#33521;&#25991; (''ying1-wen2'') /EEN-wAN/
*yes: &#26159; (''shi4'') /SUre/<sup>4</sup>
*no: &#19981;&#26159; (''bu4-shi4'') /BOo-SUre/<sup>5</sup>
⏎
*generic toast: //


=== [[Czech language|Czech]] ([[Slavic languages|Slavic]]) ===
*Czech: ''&#268;esky'' /CHEHskee/
*hello: ''dobry' den'' /DObree den/
*good-bye: ''na shledanou'' /nas KHLEdanow/
*please: ''pros&iacute;m'' /PROseem/
*thank you: ''d&#283;kuji vam'' /DYEkooyi vam/
(contracted; show full)or between white and black people, "Shikamoo" (reply "Marahaba") for a young person to an elderly person, "Hodi" (reply "Karibu") when in the doorway of a house. There are additionally numerous informal greetings such as "Mambo", "Safi", and many more. Curiously, farewells are abrupt or even non-existent.

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