Ectaco English
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The best translation tools for travel, whether for business or pleasure, depends on where you are going, how often you intend to go there, why you are going, and how long you plan to stay. If you will be staying in a country only for a couple of days, your needs will obviously be much less than if you are staying for a few months. Your needs will also be different if your business travels take you to more than one foreign language country
STAYING A FEW DAYS
Most business travellers tend to stay in high-end hotels, which have English speakers on the staff, and they attend meetings or conferences that take the language needs of the participants into account. In this case, there will be little need for English translation unless travelling outside of business requirements.
Translation needs for these business travellers are slight and a simple phrase book for the language of the country you are visiting may be the only translation tool you will need. If you are travelling to more than one country you may need several different phrase books.
An electronic phrase book can be an invaluable tool for any traveller, and can offer translation between multiple languages. One such tool is the Ectaco (http://www.ectaco.com/) which is available in many languages, and also up to seven languages in the one unit. Available languages include the common ones you would expect, plus less common languages such as Serbian, Norwegian, Finnish, and Hungarian. Another electronic translator is the Franklin (http://www.franklin.com/), which has twelve languages. Other translators are available for individual languages. These units generally sell for around $200.
Keep the phrase book or translator with you everywhere you go, and spend a little time familiarising yourself with the language (perhaps just on the plane over). Even if you cannot pronounce the phrase you want to use, you can always point to the phrase in the book or on the screen.
STAYING LONGER
If you will be staying in a foreign-language country for a few weeks or months, your translation needs will be greater because you are more likely to spend time outside of your business appointments exploring. The longer your stay, the greater your language needs.
In this case phrase books (hard copy or electronic) are also good tools to keep on hand at all times, but it can also pay great dividends to learn some of the language before you go. Since most business travellers take their laptops and have Internet access,
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