On your way to Beijing? Thailand? or Japan?
Here’s a great travel companion if you don’t speak the language.
Me No Speak provides a way for travelers to simply point and speak rather than trying to use phrases that we can totally muck up. They currently have three pocket size editions in Chinese, Japanese and Thai.
I love the idea of being heard without saying a word. Their nicely done website gives you travel tips too!
abcpastor 
And yes, I could use one of these. thanks for the ref….I took 4 years of Japanese and visited there once…but it all goes away so quickly. Now I’d be lucky to remember 10 words, half the hiragana, and probably 2 letters of katakana.