i always try my best to learn a few phrases of the language of the country i'm going to

i have never mastered it on any attempt

i've found it works as a bit of an ice breaker when saying hello how are you to someone in there native tongue

i have always found that most are always willing to attempt to put you right and are never offended and always very polite trying to teach you the proper pronounciation, then they almost always end up walking away with a few words of english (well how i speak it) that they pick up from me

my fondest memory was in bulgaria, and i spoke to a man who had a paper with the football results in it, we spoke fo ages about football and it was clear he didnt understand a word i said and i was the same with him, we only understood the mention of players names it was absolutley great, every time i saw him after that he waved and shouted hey up mate at me

i have always found that most are always willing to attempt to put you right

you've obviously never been to Belgium then...
As a child I was there with my best mate and his family, going for icecreams. We mimed, gestured, drew in the air... they knew what we wanted but just stood there blankly until we eventually remember the French for icecream.... (as we didn't know any Flemish).....

As for icebreakers.....
for years we would go on holiday with my brother and his family which made for some great times. However with both myself and my brother being well over 6 foot and looking like the usual football hooligan types (we aren't but short hair, big and such like gives that sort of look..) anyway back to the plot. We were in Corfu and as we did often we (me and bruv) went for a walk around exploring the little villages and such. As we rounded a corner an elderly local lady (and I must point out we were a little off the normal tourist track) walking towards us almost stopped in her tracks and a look of dread came across her face. I could see she was a little worried as to what we might be doing etc... but with a quick "kalimera" (good morning) a totally shocked and surprised look was followed by a smile and a return of the gesture. books by covers and all that... but I'm glad I'd taken the trouble to at least learn that one...

I frequently use yassou, yassas, kalimera, adio, parakalo, efcharisto and signome.
I also ask for the "logargasmo, parakalo" at restaurants.

I feel it's polite, even though I couldn't hold a conversation I think the locals apreciate it.

yeah thats the sort of thing I'm aiming at... being polite.. at least trying.. showing a little willing...

just looking for some Cypriot online radio stations and discovered this one -

http://www.cybc.com.cy/radio/about_us.html

Which has 4 different live streams and a learn Greek link with something like 105 lessons !

Steve