Depending upon your point of view, attempting to communicate in a foreign language can be the boon or bane of international travel.

There's no arguing, however, that even timid attempts to parlez vous will open hearts and doors in unfamiliar lands. Whether you travel independently or in an entourage of fellow English-speakers, mastering key phrases in the language of your host country will add immeasurably to your pleasure and confidence in globetrotting. Even the smallest efforts towards communication will reap huge rewards, in any tongue.

Learning a language intimately takes time, diligence and dedication. If you're primarily interested in adopting foreign phrases useful to travelers, there are a number of programs and aids on the market that are geared towards teaching language quickly for practical purposes. You may not master idiomatic nuances of a foreign tongue, but you'll certainly be able to seek help, order from a menu, give taxi instructions, haggle at a flea market, ask directions to a museum and generally gad about on your own.

There are four basic categories of language-learning techniques, one of which should prove compatible with your (un)natural linguistic abilities or inclinations.

The "think-speak" method is based on the way children appear to learn their native languages. Speech precedes reading. The Berlitz Method is the best known of the think-speak school.

A close cousin is the "drill-speak" method in which the goal is to teach one to think in a foreign language without simultaneous translation. A great deal of pattern-response drilling is used to evoke reflex reaction. The major exponent of this theory is Audio Forum, whose courses have been developed by the Foreign Service Institute to instruct diplomats.

"Total immersion" is the most immediate and hands-on approach to learning. You live with a foreign family and participate in cultural and sightseeing activities while taking in-depth language courses at a local institute or in your host's home.

The fourth category is the "tutorial" method, a one-on-one learning environment where what you want is what you get. Private, native-speaking tutors can focus on any aspect of language that interests you — grammar, conversation, literature or even business terms. Check under "Instruction" and "Services Offered" in the classified ads of your newspaper for listings by foreign language tutors.

Access the Internet for Web sites that provide vast resources and links for the wannabe linguist: Worldwide Classroom, www.worldwide .edu; Foreign Languages for Travelers, http://travlang.com; and Foreign Language Learning, www.foreignlanguagehome .com.

For mastering another lingo, check out the venerable Berlitz, (888) 523-7548 or www.berlitz .com, which offers more than 50 languages in its Self-Study online programs or Audio Forum, (800) 243-1234 or www.audioforum.com, which teaches 106 languages, from Apache to Zulu, in guide-and-cassette format. Both companies provide a variety of language-learning programs: abbreviated for travelers, in-depth for business people and serious students, plus special courses geared towards children. Pimsleur Approach, (866) 204-7139 or www.pimsleurapproach.com, used by the FBI and CIA, guarantees that you will learn a new language (out of 39 choices) in 10 days by participating in natural conversations on CDs.

Consider combining an extended overseas vacation with language study in the "total immersion" method. Many of the best programs that provide an intimate, inexpensive home-stay plus language instruction and cultural focus are affiliated with the highly regarded National Registration Center for Study Abroad (NRSCA), (414) 278-0631 or www.nrcsa.com. This agency helps to match individuals of all ages and groups of all proficiencies with the most appropriate language learning center, from the 39 countries and 23 languages offered.

Well-reputed total immersion courses are arranged through Louise Harber's Foreign Language Study Abroad Service, (800) 282-1090 or flsas.com, one week or more study and home-stay programs in nearly 45 countries worldwide; Swiss-based Eurocentres, (703) 684-1494 or www.euro centres.com, 3-week to 3-month curriculums in seven languages throughout Europe and Japan; Center for Bilingual Multi-cultural Studies in Mexico, (800) 574-1583 or www.uninter.edu .mx, two weeks or more intensive Spanish; and American Institute for Foreign Study, (800) 727-2437 or www.aifsabroad .com, worldwide programs for college students.

The fourth edition of Evelyn Kaye's "Travel and Learn: 1001 Vacations Around the World" details, with descriptions and prices, more than 2,000 learning-vacation programs of many language courses offered by universities around the world as well as of special interest study programs offered by museums, environmental groups, and other nonprofit cultural, historical and educational organizations. Find this excellent guide on the shelves of your local bookstore, or at www.ama zon.com.

And, yes, there is emergency help for the severely linguistically challenged. Kwikpoint's Visual Language Translator, a wallet-sized picture pamphlet featuring more than 600 color internationally recognized illustrations, is designed to help a hapless traveler communicate without language, by simply pointing to the visual vocabulary. Covers all the essentials that a traveler is likely to need. Clever — and cheap at $8 — but a lazy substitute for learning a few foreign phrases. Reach Kwikpoint at (888) 594-5764 or www.kwikpoint.com.

Irene Croft Jr. of Kailua-Kona, Hawai'i, is a travel writer and 40-year veteran globetrotter. Her column is published in this section every other week.