But with the right tools in your arsenal, you could get by.

Heres how to survive when you dont understand the native tongue.

To bridge the gap, youll need to rely on more than just a phrase book.

I recently spent a week in Japan without knowing the language.

Heres what I learned during my trip.

Some of the Most Useful Languages Are Universal

Not speaking the native language is immediately overwhelming.

Everything seems alien, and your first assumption is that no one will understand anything you want to say.

However, this isnt true at all!

They can often understand a lotjust not the words you use.

A number of languages are universal.

Pointing isnt just for menus, either.

A helpful passerby attempted to assist us.

From there, we figured out that the map wasnt just showing locations, but prices.

What we thought were station numbers were actually the cost to go to different places.

We had the information, we just didnt know where to look.

Pointing was the Rosetta Stone that got us there.

Of course, be sure to read up on gestures before you get there.

before you jump in playing charades however, learn the local meanings of common gestures.

In Bulgaria, for example, nodding means no, and shaking your head means yes.

Even if pointing is universally understood,howyou point matters.

Some countries accept single-finger points, while others will be offended if you dont use the whole hand.

In some cases, a four-fingered point means something different than a single finger.

Be sure to check out the customs for the country youre visiting before you travel.

Math Is The Same in Every Language

Math is one of the most universal languages we have.

Relying on numbers gets around a lot of surprisingly complex lingual problems like a.

As in I would like a Coke.

In English, the word a indicates the subject, but it also indicates the quantity: one Coke.

When in doubt, just indicate a number.

You also probably cant read the signs.

This gets even worse if the country youre in doesnt even use the same alphabet as your native language.

Fortunately, GPS works everywhere (providedyou have internet to download the accompanying maps).

While in Japan, I found that having GPS was the single most important tool for getting around.

As soon as we landed, I used the airport Wi-Fi to look up directions to our hotel.

While I lost internet for the entire journey, the directions were cached.

Most of the stations werent in English, so we had to count stops (thanks again, math!

This is a decidedly 21st century possibility.

Which is impressive given how large Tokyo is and how little none Japanese I know.

However, theyre actually insanely good…if you use them properly.

Before I left, I downloadedthe Android appand the Japanese language pack foroffline translation.

I anticipated using this any time someone wanted to talk to me.

As it turns out, this was a terrible idea.

Sticking a phone in someones face every time I had a question was not intuitive and probably offensive.

However, I did use it as a phrasebook.

Eventually I was able to memorize them, but having them in an app was convenient.

More helpful, however, was the image translation.

It wont give you an exact translation, but its good enough for tourist work.

This is one of those times thatgood enough actually is good enough.

Youd be surprised how useful even a few words can be.

In those instances, only one thing can save you, and its not an app.

Make it a priority to learn how to say things like Im sorry or Excuse me.

When I left, I anticipated using the phrase Where is the toilet?

and added it to my phrasebook.

However, everywhere I went, either signs or common sense showed me where the bathrooms were.

Yet, Excuse me became an everyday phrase when trying to move through crowded stores.

Of course we had no idea what they were saying.

Perhaps they thought our accents were adorably atrocious.

However, most people, regardless of culture, generally like it when others are nice instead of jerks.

Keep in mind that when you travel, youre in someone elses home.

Go out with a bit of humility and a lot of respect, and you should do well.