Quick! What’s the local language in Mumbai?

Answer: Marathi.

India is one of the world’s most language-rich countries, with well over 400 living languages still being spoken.

Marathi is the official language in the state of Maharashtra and the capital of Mumbai.

Fortunately for travelers who want to try out Marathi on their journey, there’s a new, slick language guide by Daniel Krasa that’s slim enough to put in a small bag, yet packed with enough information, words, and phrases to actually be useful… a rare feat.

Krasa’s Marathi Dictionary & Phrasebook, published by Hippocrene, has a Marathi-English section and English-Marathi section, as well as short but comprehensive overviews of basic grammar and the Marathi alphabet. What makes this guide really stand out, though, is the phrasebook, which has tabbed sections organized by topic.

A quick flip and you can find handy phrases related to topics as diverse as camping, bureaucracy, and healthcare, as well as the standards: directions to the toilet, basic greetings, and tips for ordering food.

The price is also right: $14.95. But for the first person who submits a comment, we’ll send you our review copy for free.

Community Connection: Love languages? Check out Tim Patterson’s 7 Tips for Learning a Foreign Language on the Road and Felicia Wong’s 10 Steps to Becoming Fluent in a Language in 6 Months or Less.

Photo: natemeg2006 (creative commons)

Julie Schwietert

Julie Schwietert Collazo is a writer, editor, researcher, and translator who lives in New York and Mexico City. She is the managing editor of the Matador Network.