Following the Principle of KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid)

[Polaris Overland]

The Point It Book

Have you ever arrived in a country where you don't speak the language and struggle to get what you need understood whether it be a medical clinic or vehicle mechanic.

Throughout 2017 and 2018 on our long Overland journeys in our Land Rover Defender we crossed 3 continents, visited almost 50 countries and had to deal with numerous different foreign languages and foreign dialects.

Our solution was the plain and simple Point It book.

Put simply it is a book of pictures covering various subjects.



Find the what you need in the pictures and point to it. A simple solution where online language translation is not available.
Need a beer, find the picture and point to it.



Need toiletries or camera supplies, find the picture and point to it.



Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best and technology is not required.

Remember alway the acronym "Keep It Simple Stupid" (KISS)
Following this principle has served us well throughout our trips along with where ever possible keep your set up standard as it makes sourcing spares in far flung corners of the world much easier.

 

[grubworm]

Pretty neat....Amazon has it for $10. I used to work overseas a good bit and always relied on pointing to things and hoping menus had pictures to point to. Thats why I ate at McDonalds a lot overseas, I could see the picture and then hold up how ever many fingers for that item number. Then there is always playing schrades and trying to act out what I'm asking for. This book would certainly help a lot.

 

[Lex]

Awesome, used this method when I used to live over in Europe.

 

[ChadHahn]

In Japan some restaurants have plastic versions of the food in the window. If you have trouble making the waitress understand what you want, you can bring her outside and point at what you want.