Word for the Travel Wise (08/21/06)

My mother always bags on me when I talk about moving overseas, because she doesn’t think I could do without some of the things I love most. For instance: egg nog. One time she created a story based in the Philippines where I order a young village boy to go down the river and fetch this unusual drink. Later, his twin brother shows up at my residence and I find his brother didn’t make a successful trip. It’s a rather cold story on my mother’s part I think. I admit, I’m a huge fan of the holiday beverage, but I could live without it to be in some place cool like the Philippines, India, or Sri Lanka for a while. Besides I try to get into the local flavor, but in the event I want something with a familiar taste in Bangalore then I can rest assured ordering this drink will deliver just that! Ha!

Today’s word is a Hindi word from India:

nimbu pani – lemonade

There are several awesome resources online to learn Hindi for free and a fee. Wikitravel Phrasebook provides many useful phrases to remember for your journey. Let’s Learn Hindi is a colorful place to pick up the basics and some additional tools. Those interested in reading Sanskrit can click here and Pimsleur has great audio books. To purchase a Lonely Planet phrasebook for the road, click here to head to Amazon.

Past Hindi words: pankhaa, Ravivar, lajawab, paisa

Word for the Travel Wise (07/19/06)

Please tell me I’m not alone with this one, but remember when you were a kid and you’d go to the refrigerator open it, over and over again, always hoping your favorite sugary snacks or beverages would magically appear? I can’t lie – I still catch myself doing this on a regular basis, but more so with my American Airlines account online. Right about now I have enough miles to take me anywhere in the Carib or North America, but I want so badly to go to India! Until I get either the money to jet over or enough miles to get me there for (what feels like) free, I guess I’m just doomed to website clicking syndrome. Sigh…

Today’s word is a Hindi word from India:

paisa – money

There are several awesome resources online to learn Hindi for free and a fee. Wikitravel Phrasebook provides many useful phrases to remember for your journey. Let’s Learn Hindi is a colorful place to pick up the basics and some additional tools. Those interested in reading Sanskrit can click here and Pimsleur has great audio books. To purchase a Lonely Planet phrasebook for the road, click here to head to Amazon.

Past Hindi words: pankhaa, Ravivar, lajawab

Rough Guides Travel Phrasebooks

Thanks to Amazon.com updates I’m now in-the-know about Rough Guides Phrasebooks. They work much like the Lonely Planet
one’s I blog about almost all the time; small enough for your pockets, cheap enough for your budget, and filled with
thousands of words to practice on the locals. However, a quick glimpse at the Rough Guides language guides online shows
the publishers have a slight one up on my beloved LP books. Based on the language you are trying to learn you’ll find
awesome audio downloads of travel scenarios recorded by native speakers before you even make a purchase. They cover all
the widely spoken lingos in addition to some of the least spoken languages out there and have a pretty decent selection.
According to Amazon.com their latest edition of Hindi & Urdu is
scheduled for release on May 29, 2006. So if you’re eyeing a trip to India then you should probably be eyeing this book
just as much.

Why I wasn’t in-the-know before is beyond me, but I can guarantee I’ll be purchasing one to
test out for my next big adventure abroad.