So you've just walked all the way from the Tatra mountains and you're desperate to utter that magic word to the bartender. But no! He doesn't speak English, and you've lost the strength to point! Never fear - below you'll find some handy utterances to note down before you set off:
Pivo - Beer
Voda - Water
Toaletny - Toilets
Farmacija - Chemist
Klobasa - Sausage
Cesen - Garlic
Upir - Vampire
There are 43 letters in the Slovak alphabet, most of them recognizable to Europeans. However, as in Poland, a few more have been added on - standard Latin letters with diacritical signs. Pronunciation is not wildly removed from other Slavic languages. And if you have a smattering of Russian, Czech or Polish, you're not going to be lost in Slovakia. Recently, the odd English word has entered the fray, as in 'vikend'.