Common Peruvian Phrases for Travel

"SONJIA CUHER: On behalf of Expert Village this is Sonjia Cuher. Spanish is the national language. Also it's Quichua. Quichua is a native language widely spoken in the Altiplano area or highlands. So if you decide that Peru is the place that you're going to visit next time, you should learn a few phrases, just to be polite, to impress, or to get around. Very basic things as thank you, "Gracias." My name is, "Mi nombre es," How are you? "Como esta usted?" "Una Habitacion?" "Do you have a room?" My advice, it will be just check out the library, basic Spanish phrase dictionary, and also it will help you when you bargain. If you go to open market and you try to bargain, they will be impressed by your language skills so you will get a better deal. Also, learn some Quichua words. If you go to the highlands, most of the ruins--most of the places are retained in Quichua so you will--you know will know like for example, if you go by a daycare center let's say and you read "Wawa Wasi," "wawa" means baby, "wasi" means house. If you go to a hostel and it says "Wasi"--I mean and something else, you immediately know that they are referring to "house of something else." So just learn a few words and those few words will take you a long way."