How to Learn the Spanish You'll Need for Your Trip Even If Your Flight Is Tomorrow

You and your best friend get a little crazy when it comes to making vacation plans, but that's what vacation is all about, right? It's also why you've been traveling with your bestie since college. Never a dull moment would be an understatement.

Your friend kicks it off excitedly, "where should we go!?" Your imagination runs wild. "Europe!"

"Bold! I like it... Which part?" Looking at each other, you yell "Spain!" You've both had a thing for Picasso ever since your Art History class together. He didn't just push the boundaries of art with breathtaking work, he's cool, too.

So, you set a course for Madrid. Some of Picasso's best work is there, and the capital seems like an easy place to ease into the new culture. You'll just figure the rest out when you get there. They speak English there, right? No big deal.

Landing at Madrid-Barajas Airport, you look for the public transit to take you to your AirBnB. But the buses and tickets aren't all that clear. You ask the person at the information desk for help, but she just stares at you. "Habla Ingles?" She shakes her head.

What? Scrambling to translate what you need on your browser, you notice that 65% of the population doesn't speak any English, and very few speak it fluently. Even the tourism industry has a reputation for not always speaking English.

Getting around is going to be interesting.

There is nothing more frustrating than being on vacation and struggling to communicate and make your way through the city.

Most tourist destinations have English-speaking zones with attractions that have the English covered. But once you get outside of that, it can be tricky. And Spanish-speaking countries are no exception.

The good news is that it doesn't take much to get covered. You'll find you can quickly learn the essentials that you need for most interactions and situations.

And there's a lot of overlap between Spanish and English. Believe or not, you already know quite a few Spanish words. A couple other inviting things about learning Spanish: words are pronounced the way they're spelled, and the grammar is rather intuitive for English speakers.

Once you learn the fundamentals of Spanish, you'll get a lot of mileage from it. There are close to half a billion native Spanish speakers, globally. And over 40 million speak it as their first language in the US.

Here's a select sample of what you'll discover in Spanish Phrase Book for Travelers

• Chit-Chat 101. Being polite and friendly from the get go
• Get a running head start! See all the Spanish words you already know
• Spanish words you should say in one country, but absolutely NOT say in another
• Less "¿Cómo?", More "Sí!" Making sure you understand what someone is saying
• What's your story? Talking about your yourself to people you just met
• Great deals and delicious food. How to order and shop with confidence
• Fundamental rules so you get a solid foundational understanding to build on

And much more.

A lot of people resist learning the language of the country they're visiting. They assume they'll be fine with a translator. But life moves pretty quick. Anyone who's ever tried this, experiences a lot of impatient people. And you still have to understand what they're saying!

The good news: the essentials you need don't take a lot to master. In just a few weeks, you can be proficient.