Talking phrase books on your mobile

Talking phrase books that can be downloaded onto your mobile have been launched by a leading travel website.

Lastminute.com has teamed up with software developers CoolGorilla to create six talking phrase books for French, Spanish, German, Greek, Italian and Portuguese.

The applications can be used to search for a phrase in English, which can then be listened to on the phone in the foreign language, with additional text translation also provided on screen.

Each mobile phone phrasebook contains around 300 sound files covering essentials such as eating and asking for directions, as well as more quirky translation categories, such as a section on flirting.

"This is truly a break through in being smart on holiday. Instead of you having to flick through the pages of a phrase book to find what you want to say, you simply click your phone menu, select the phrase you need and voila!" commented Mark McCulloch, of Lastminute.

"It also helps with your pronunciation and ensures you are understood, which will hopefully put an end to being embarrassed to try out your language skills when on holiday and help you have a more enriching holiday experience."

For more information see www.coolgorilla.com