When you're on the road, you might feel compelled to learn certain key phrases that might be of importance, such as, "Where is the bathroom?" or "I am allergic to shrimp" or "Who are you and what are you going to do with that extremely large automatic firearm and menacing grin out here in the middle of the Cambodia jungle where my lifeless body would sooner be eaten by the unimaginably carnivorous bugs rather than be found?" Yes, these things might seem important, but I have found that one single phrase- one simple set of words- one easily passed-over idiom- has power beyond belief and can be used as a substitute in any of these delicate situations. All you have to say are the three simple words, "I love you."

English- I love you

Afrikaans- axe leaf fer-ee-yo
Akha (spoken by a northern Thai hilltribe)- na nong mon ya
Albanian- ta doo-wa shoom
Biafra (spoken in Nigeria)- emaselem
Cambodian- kee-om straw line
Chinese- whoal eye knee
Croatian/Serbian/Bosnian- voe-lim tae
Danish- ya-see elser gye
Dutch- ik hebyo leaf
Finish- meena racka sta see-nu-a
French- ju tem
German- eech libe deech
Greek- se agapo
Hebrew- ani ohevet otga
Hungarian- se-re klect
Ibo (spoken in Nigeria)- a faloon geh nanya
Icelandic- ee-ech elska thee-igch
Italian- ti amo
Japanese- eye shee-teh-roo
Korean- sa rawng hey
Macedonian- te sak-am
Mading (spoken in Ethiopia and Senegal)- bee feh
Norwegian- jeg elsker deag
Polish- coe-ham che
Russian- ya yooploo twa
Sodho (spoken in South Africa)- ke rate oo
Spanish- te amo (or) te quiero
Swedish- yawg elskahgr deeg
Thai- chan rak koon
Turkish- choc jeh zel
Vietnamese- van oo-ai mai
Woloof (spoken in Senegal and Gambia)- damala nope

I kept a list of all the different ways to say "I love you" as I came across speakers of different languages throughout my travels. These are all written in phonetics- as they sounded to my ears- therefore I'm sure some are far from accuracy- but they should get the point across! Now you're set. . . Happy traveling!