I don’t know about you, but whenever we travel to parts unknown where languages are even less known, I tend to get a little freaked out by the possibilities of getting lost and no one understanding us … or the potential of Iain doing something crazy and offending someone! Soooo the first thing I do is concentrate on learning two key phrases … “Do you speak English?” and “I’m not with him!” I know, I know, there are better uses of a key phrase, but it’s a starting place.

Having had opportunity to travel abroad  on a number of occasions where language was a barrier, we admit that it made us a little uneasy. And while there’s no perfect answer to the dilemma there are coming to be more and more technological advantages to help the monolingual traveller (not monolingual? Don’t stop reading, there’s more for you later on).

A couple of months ago while watching Shark Tank on TV we learned about a handy new travel tool – “VerbalizeIt” – a real-time human (not machine based) translation solution for individuals and businesses that make sure nothing ever gets lost in translation. It’s available any time of day, anywhere in the world on any device with a free app, on the worldwide web and direct via phone – empowering businesses and travellers with the ability to translate a document, audio or video file, or connect with a live translator.

Because no one explains it better than the founders, check out their pitch to the Sharks here –  and read the story of how necessity became the mother of invention for this amazing new business.

Partnering with Skype, Rosetta Stone and Inspirato with American Express this isn’t a tool to overlook. Don’t take our word for it though – check out the VerbalizeIt website –  and see what the New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, Inc., USA Today, Entrepeneur, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Fast Company, Reuters and Forbes all have to say about this cool new travel tool that`s available to the personal user starting at just $9.99!

Heck even if you only ever use it in case of a medical emergency, it might be the best $9.99 you ever spend – it’s certainly great peace of mind if nothing else!

Multilingual?
So maybe you’re gifted and actually speak more than one language – check out the VerbalizeIt website, they’re looking for a few good men and women to help the rest of the tongue-tied monolinguals in this world … there’s money to be made! Become a VerbalizeIt Translator – learn more here.

About TravelBloggers.ca
Iain Shankland & Gail Shankland started blogging in order to inspire and motivate people to travel the world from their perspective – specializing in having the most fun while using the least amount of money, travelling on the cheap without sacrificing comfort.

Copyright © 2013 Iain & Gail Shankland / TravelBloggers.ca (at) Gmail.com
This original, copyrighted material may NOT be copied, used in whole or in part in any way, cut and pasted, published or otherwise reproduced in any form or in any medium – which means DO NOT post this on another website or BBS. If you want somebody else to see this, please send them a link or post a link to this page.