Arrive able to actually talk
Don't land with a phrasebook you can read but can't say. Rehearse the exact conversations your trip will throw at you — out loud, 30 seconds a day.
Rehearse the scenes you'll actually hit
Yap's daily role-plays are the situations travellers walk into — so by the time it's real, it's a rerun.
The café
Order, ask what they recommend, handle "we're out of that" — the conversation you'll have three times a day.
The wrong street
Ask for directions and — the part phrasebooks skip — understand the answer coming back at you.
The front desk
Check in, ask about breakfast, get the Wi-Fi password, request a taxi. Five minutes of talking that sets up the whole stay.
The market
Prices, sizes, "just looking, thanks" — and the small talk that turns a transaction into a story you'll tell.
The four-week countdown
Start the habit. Greetings, please and thank you, numbers. Thirty seconds a day — the streak does the remembering for you.
Food and drink week. Order coffee, ask what's good, get the bill. The scene changes daily so the phrases generalise instead of memorise.
Directions and transport. Ask where things are — and practise understanding answers, because locals don't reply in flashcard format.
Hotel, shopping, small talk. By now you're not translating in your head — the sentences just come out. That's the whole trick.
Want the words on paper too? Grab a free phrase cheat sheet for your destination — then say every line out loud in the app.
Where are you headed?
Free cheat sheets with pronunciation, for every Yap language:
Questions, answered
How long before a trip should I start learning?
Four weeks of 30 seconds a day is enough to arrive able to greet, order, ask for directions and handle a checkout — because you'll have said those exact sentences out loud dozens of times, not just read them.
Isn't a phrasebook enough for travel?
Phrasebooks are great for recognising words and hopeless for producing them. Reading 'l'addition, s'il vous plaît' is not the same skill as saying it to a waiter who answers back. Yap makes you rehearse the actual conversation, replies and all.
Which languages can I prepare in?
Fifteen: Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, English, Swedish, Danish, Dutch, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, Hindi and Turkish — each from complete beginner up.
More: the 20 phrases every trip needs · why speaking beats studying
Your trip is the deadline
Start today and the streak carries you to departure day. First 5 yaps free.