Jo-Ann Strauss, former Miss South Africa and the face of Lufthansa South Africa, shares some of the her most useful German phrases when travelling to Oktoberfest:
- A greeting most certainly goes a long way; simply say “Guten Tag” that means “Good Day”. This will help you everywhere in Germany.
- The most Bavarian greeting to use, since Oktoberfest is traditionally Bavarian, is “Gruess Gott”, which literally translates to "Greet God".
- Another typical Bavarian greeting is “Servus”. This will win you a smile from a young lady bringing you an ice-cold beer.
- After a few beers, a useful question may be, “Where is the loo, please?” and in German you would say, “Wo finde ich die toilette?”
- When asking, “Do you speak English?”, say “Sprechen sie Englisch?”
- “Thank you” would be “Danke” - useful indeed!
- And “please” in German is “bitte”.
- For “you’re welcome”, say, “Bitte sehr”.
- When you would like to say, “I don’t understand that”, you would say “Ich verstehe das nicht”.
Lastly, “Hilfe” meaning “Help” may be useful when one to many beers lands you in a predicament, however don’t be worried, as you won’t be the only needing assistance at Oktoberfest.