Skip to content
Last Updated on 26/06/2026
Going on holiday soon? Wondering how to brush up your English fast? I have some cool tips for you!
Tip 1: Learn some basic phrases in the language of the country you are going to
It is a very good idea. From my experience, people really like when you say ‘hello’ or ‘thank you’ to them in their local language.
Learn some basic phrases:
- greetings (‘hello’, ‘good morning’),
- saying ‘goodbye’ (‘goodbye’, ‘see you’, ,
- saying ‘thank you’ (‘thank you very much’)
- saying ‘please’ every now and then is also a good idea.
It may also come in handy to learn numbers to be able to understand the prices and, of course, the most useful vocabulary on a trip – food. Learn the names of the products and local dishes.
Great Resources to Use:
Lonely Planet Phrasebooks (various languages)
Collins English Conversation – it’s a brief guide teaching you plenty of necessary vocabulary and basic sentence structures in a practical way. Very handy! (and btw, they have similar books for other languages too)
Perfect English Phrases – this is an international bestseller teaching you all the necessary basics of English conversation. There are real-life examples and cool stories to help you learn in context. It’s a very educational read.
Speak English like an American – it’s a more advanced book, but it has great dialogues on everyday topics, and teaches you real-life conversational phrases. I have found it pretty useful for my students.
Tip 2: Practise your English for travel with local teachers
But if you are going to use English in your travel and if you are worried a little bit about the lack of speaking practice, it’s a good idea to prepare a little bit.
My students (and me myself) often go to www.italki.com, a website where you can find any individual tutor for any language. And guess what is a good idea: choose an English teacher from the country where you are going.
For example, if you are going to the Czech Republic, you can find a Czech person who teaches English. If you take a couple of lessons with this Czech English teacher, you will get used to their accent because some non-native accents are sometimes harder to understand than the native speakers’ ones.
I really think that it could help you gain confidence in communication.
Tip 3: don’t worry about English native speakers – they are the best!
But what about the countries with English as an official language – for example, if you’ve decided to go to Great Britain for your holiday?
English native speakers are extremely positive about their language. I mean you don’t need to speak perfectly for them to like you and help you.
From my experience of speaking different languages, in some countries, native speakers are quite cautious about your language skills. They want you to speak either none of it or perfectly. I will be not telling such negative examples but this is definitely not true about any English-speaking country.
Tip 4: Concentrate on speaking and listening
Anyway, English is the main international language of communication and if you just use English in your travels, there is no need to become fluent in it. You can simply pick up some phrases, perform basic communication functions (like how to ask for help or to ask about price, how to buy things, how to communicate in the shops), this will be more than enough.
Tip 5: Listening should become your main priority
If you are preparing for a trip to an English-speaking country, your main focus in preparation for this trip should be listening. Grammar and writing skills are not so important in English for travel.
You need to concentrate on speaking as I said before but listening will be even more important for you.
Practise listening to dialogues, watch movies and Youtube channels. They seem difficult at first but you can watch them with subtitles, of course. Regular practice can help you improve your listening skills very much. .
And if you are sure that you will understand what people are telling you, you will be more confident in communication. This is the basic principle of communication.
Great Resources to Use:
ororo.tv (for watching films and TV series)
Easy Languages Youtube channel
Tip 6: Practise English in your trip – it’s a great learning opportunity
First of all, don’t be afraid – be kind to yourself. Nobody is angry about bad English especially if you don’t communicate in this language every day.
But what’s also important – you really have to push yourself to practise. Don’t only communicate with the guides who speak your language. Try to use your travel as a real learning opportunity.
What you can do…
You could try to talk to the hotel staff in English only, even if they speak your mother tongue – learn from this experience.
Find the free walking tours
In many cities now, you can to go to the free excursion around the city and the guide will be speaking English to you. This is great. My students use this and they always say it’s very very useful.
You can also find the local language exchange community
If you travel to Europe, practically in every city there will be one: people who like learning languages get together and just learn through speaking. In this communities, the biggest group will be of people trying to practise their English and, again, for you it will be a great learning experience and an opportunity to make new friends.
I hope this helps and please let me know how you’re preparing for your travel, where you are going, or maybe you need some kind of help from me. I will be very very happy to answer your comments and questions.
Thanks a lot and happy travels!
