During my international travels I always try to learn to say "hello" and "thank you" in the languages and dialects of the places I visit. I have received appreciative smiles from taxi drivers in Hong Kong, and waiters in Zambia for undertaking this small courtesy.
One of my colleagues in the UK has recently shown me this fantastic website, that contains videos of school children saying "first words" in a huge number of languages:
http://www.newburypark.redbridge.sch.uk/langofmonth/index.html
The words they speak and write are: welcome, hello, goodbye, good morning, good afternoon, thank you, sorry, please, yes, no, come here, well done.
I am certainly going to use this site to prepare for my future travels.
