german and french are useful

as are italian and spanish

turkey …well ur on ur own there lol

i got a combo..a little book for central europe when i travelled to prague vienna and croatia

i really love having a few basics and practising..i dont know ..it just makes me feel like im making an effort and it empowers me just a little..i always try to ask locals about pronunciation etc..that breaks the ice and seems to pave the way to broken / hilarious ‘conversations’..its extremely humbling…u really get the sense of what migrants must feel like when as adults they cant communicate or pronounce something…the frustration is sometimes really an eyeopener

otherwise just write words and phrases from the internet

ull need to know the words for:
hello goodbye thank u excuse me please
which way ? how much? that kind of thing so im sure u can just jot these things down as u do ur research on the internet

i dont know how many times i used ‘excuse me’ in all the crowded places of europe …often ‘scusi’ is acceptable as is ‘ciao’for g’bye
carry a little pad so u can draw stuff too..
always greet and acknowledge the shopkeepers and say hi and bye
we aussies tend to be so casual that we dont do this as automatically as say canadians do..i know this is a huge generalisation but there is truth to it

good luck have fun !watch how ur spanish will blossom!

I agree with Sparks.
Also, some phrasebooks are really handy with explanations on menu items and lodging terms.
It can be humbling indeed.

If you want to carry it around… otherwise, i think this is the best suggestion:

"otherwise just write words and phrases from the internet "

The phrasebooks from Lonely planet are pretty small, so they really wouldn’t take up much room. But in Europe, I think you’ll be fine without it. I have never ran into any serious problems.

I do have a phrasebook for Thailand, which I think will be very useful when I get there.

I took one of the Lonely Planet Phrasebooks and they are pretty small but I never used it, not once!!! I looked over it sometimes on a long train ride. You will probably be better just "winging it" you will learn words like(thank you, hello, goodbye) just by listening. It is unlikely that you will remember most of the phrases in the book to make it worth it.. unless you carry it everywhere with you which can be a pain!!!