Should you find yourself lost on a trip to an English-speaking country, what words will you use to get around and communicate with the locals? How will you ask for help or get to your desired location? What if there is an emergency? Read on to find out and learn some essential and basic vocabulary and phrases that will assist you on a trip to an English- speaking country.

1, Help

Voicing a need for help is the first step to getting it, whether it is asking for directions or information “help” will be the key to getting someone to assist and letting them know that you will need something from them.

Useful examples:

“Please help me”

A request asking for help whether it be for directions or something more urgent like a

A medical emergency is a good way to grab the attention of someone.

“Please could you help me to find [insert my hotel, the train station, platform number]?”

By requesting someone to aid in giving directions or instructions to find your location. Using this construction “Please could you help me … ” is more polite than “Help me” which should only be used in urgent or emergency situations.

 

2, Go

“Go” is the verb used to show movement, what you do when traveling, moving from place to place. Going is almost always used with the preposition “to”.

 

Going + to + a place

Or

Going + to + action/activity

 

Useful examples:

Let’s go to the beach, park, museum

Encouraging words if you are with a group of people to move to a different location.

Remember to use: Let’s contraction of let us + go + preposition to + the place you wish to visit

I am going to visit New York on my trip

Going in this form indicates a future intention or plan to do something

I want to go to Australia

Expresses a wish to visit a particular place

 

3, Where is…?

Where is an important question word to enquire about the location of something. You will need to ask “where” to find different locations on your travels in an English- speaking country.

 

Useful examples:

Where is the bathroom, bank, airport?

Insert any location that you want to find on your travels it could be a hotel, specific street, or landmark.

Can you show me where the Statue of Liberty is?

This construction asks a helper to show how to reach a landmark or destination point.

 

4, How much does that cost?

Walking around you are bound to find something you would like to buy or are required to purchase, perhaps it is something to eat or a souvenir or maybe it is a train or boat ticket to continue your journey.

 

Alternatively, you could say:

How much does this ticket cost?

How much is that necklace?

How much will it be to go from Manchester to London?

 

5, Ticket(s)

What you will buy in order to travel or to gain entry to attractions. Tickets are used with the verb “booked” usually or can be used with “buy/bought”.

 

Useful examples:

Two tickets to the Natural History Museum, please.

I need to book my plane ticket to Auckland this week.

Should we buy some tickets to the concert in the park?

 

6, How did you get here? By boat, plane or train?

Describes the mode of travel. It can be by boat, plane, train, ferry, car or bus. You can use the verbs catch, take or travel (by) + the mode of transport to describe how you traveled.

 

Useful examples:

Did you catch the ferry over?

I am going to take the train to get to the UK

Will you travel home by plane, car, or bus?

 

7, Buy or rent

If you buy something you own this item forever, tickets, gifts, and some experiences like a holiday or trip to the theatre or art gallery are bought.

If you rent something it is yours only for a period to be returned to the original owner. Many things can be rented, for instance, it could be a house or an apartment or it could be something to be used only for that trip – like a bike or ski equipment for example.

 

Useful examples:

Can I buy coffee here?

Asking whether coffee is for sale at this location

We are renting the apartment for the week

This indicates that the apartment will only be occupied for a week but not forever. It is only temporary.

 

8, Trip, travel, or journey

Trip, travel, or journey are all nouns and synonyms that you use to describe your time away from home or on vacation.

 

Useful examples:

How was your trip to New Zealand?

On my travels through Australia I saw many kangaroos

The journey from Dublin to Belfast lasted 6 hours

 

9, Tourists/tourism

Tourists are people visiting a new place or country for a short time. On arriving in the country, you may be asked what the reason for your stay is. If you are not working and just there to travel and enjoy you will want to say “tourism”.

 

Useful examples:

There are always many tourists between August and December in Cape Town

A sea of tourists surrounded Buckingham Palace.

The purpose of my visit is tourism

I and my fellow tourists are headed to Scotland

 

10, Tea

With the exception of America, most of the English-speaking countries have tea as their national hot beverage. It’s customary to have tea with breakfast in the morning or a High Tea in the afternoon with a selection of sweet pastries.

May I have a cup of tea?

Shall I brew a pot of tea?

It is also believed that drinking tea can fix anything so make yourself a cup and enjoy your trip through the English language.