Find the words to order lunch, ask for help or join a conversation at work. Each Vocabcord 500 collection gives you 500 phrases grouped by situation, with translations and notes where a phrase needs explaining. There are now seventeen app collections, including English for Thai speakers and German for Czech speakers.
Specialist 200s for one job at a time
A 500 is written for a person arriving in a country. Somebody arriving into a job needs a narrower list and a different shape, so the same approach runs again at 200 phrases, in four lanes named for a shift rather than a day: arrival, the work, people, admin. Four exist so far.
- Italian for doctors, 200 phrases across 14 sections, from the handover to the discharge letter.
- German for nurses, 200 phrases across 15 sections, written for a ward.
- Spanish for hotel and restaurant work, 200 phrases across 15 sections, for a first season on a floor, a bar or a front desk.
- Polish for warehouse and delivery work, 200 phrases across 16 sections, for a first shift in a Polish warehouse.
Every one of them draws the same line: it is the language for doing the job and being understood, and it is never instruction in how to do the job. Each has a printable PDF and a CSV, listed with its method on the data page.
Choose the language you’re learning
Browse the new app collections below, or read the published phrase lists for free.
17 collections
No collections match these languages yet.
New in Vocabcord
New · for Thai speakers
500 useful English phrases
Everyday English, with Thai translations and usage notes.
View all 500 phrases →Could you speak more slowly?ช่วยพูดช้าลงหน่อยได้ไหมครับ
New · for Czech speakers
500 useful German phrases
Everyday German, with Czech translations and usage notes.
View all 500 phrases →Etwas langsamer, bitte.Trochu pomaleji, prosím.
New · for English speakers
500 useful Japanese phrases
Everyday Japanese, with English translations and usage notes.
View all 500 phrases →こんにちは。konnichiwa.Hello.
New · for English speakers
500 useful Korean phrases
Everyday Korean, with English translations and usage notes.
View all 500 phrases →안녕하세요.annyeonghaseyo.Hello.
New · for English speakers
500 useful Turkish phrases
Everyday Turkish, with English translations and usage notes.
View all 500 phrases →Merhaba.Hello.
新登場 · 日本語話者向け
英語でよく使う500フレーズ
あいさつから旅行、仕事の会話まで。英語の500フレーズに日本語訳と使い方のヒントを添えました。
500フレーズをすべて見る →Could you speak more slowly?もう少しゆっくり話していただけますか。
새로 추가 · 한국어 사용자를 위한 영어
자주 쓰는 영어 표현 500
인사부터 여행, 직장 대화까지. 영어 표현 500개에 한국어 번역과 사용 팁을 담았습니다.
표현 500개 모두 보기 →Could you speak more slowly?좀 더 천천히 말씀해 주시겠어요?
Yeni · Türkçe konuşanlar için
En kullanışlı 500 İngilizce ifade
Tanışırken, seyahatte ve işte kullanabileceğin 500 İngilizce ifade. Türkçe çevirileri ve kullanım notlarıyla.
500 ifadenin tümünü gör →Could you speak more slowly?Biraz daha yavaş konuşabilir misiniz?
New · for Ukrainian speakers
500 useful Polish phrases
Ask for directions, sort out everyday errands and talk to colleagues. Polish for daily life and work, with Ukrainian translations.
Hear a sample →Proszę mówić wolniej.Говоріть повільніше, будь ласка.
Nowość · dla osób mówiących po polsku.
500 najbardziej przydatnych zwrotów po rosyjsku.
Zacznij rozmowę, poproś o pomoc, umów się na spotkanie. Rosyjskie zwroty na co dzień z polskim tłumaczeniem.
Posłuchaj próbki i poznaj aplikację →Говорите, пожалуйста, помедленнее.gawaritie, pażałusta, pamiedlenniejeProszę mówić wolniej.
For English speakers
500 most useful Spanish phrases
Order at a café, ask for directions and get through your first week at work. Spanish from Spain, with regional alternatives in the notes.
Explore the 18 sections →¿Quién es el último?Who's last in the queue?
For English speakers
500 most useful French phrases
Ask for help, arrange a viewing and find the words for a work conversation. French from France, with notes on polite and informal wording.
Explore the 17 sections →Je vais réfléchir.I'll think about it.
For English speakers
500 most useful German phrases
Buy a ticket, book an appointment and understand the time you’re given. German for daily life, travel and work.
Explore the 18 sections →Es ist halb drei.It's half past two.
For English speakers
500 most useful Italian phrases
Order lunch, sort out a booking and make plans with a colleague. Italian phrases with notes on how to use them.
Explore the 17 sections →Magari un'altra volta.Maybe another time.
For English speakers
500 most useful Portuguese phrases
Get around, shop and ask a colleague for help. Brazilian Portuguese, with notes where usage differs.
Explore the 17 sections →Pois não?How can I help you?
For English speakers
500 most useful Polish phrases
Handle the checkout, ask about a flat and introduce yourself at work. Polish phrases with English translations and usage notes.
Explore the 17 sections →Reklamówkę?A bag?
Each list speaks one variety: Spain for Spanish, Brazil for Portuguese, France for French, Germany for German. Where the other side of a border or an ocean says it differently in daily life, the note carries that form too.
For help deciding what to practise first, read why we chose these 500 phrases and this order. You can also check how vocabulary is grouped and graded by level. For classroom use, download the lists and follow a ten-week lesson plan.
What is in each list
The English-learning collections share a ten-section phrase list, with translations and notes for Polish, Japanese, Korean, Turkish or Thai speakers. The Czech-speaker collection teaches German.
Each of the original six collections holds exactly 500 phrases in 17 or 18 sections, and a section is a situation as it happens in a day: first contact, the repair kit for when you have not understood, getting around, eating out, shopping and paying, health and the pharmacy, emergencies, the phone and the landlord, then the work sections, then small talk and opinions. Sections run from 18 to 40 phrases, sized by what the situation needs. Grammar never gets a section of its own. At a till you need the line for the total, and the grammar rides inside it whether or not anybody labels it.
Three lanes cut across the sections. Survive is the floor of a day: greeting, asking, paying, health, admin. Travel moves you through places, from transport and hotels to restaurants and the small talk of a stranger. Work covers a first week in an office, a shop, a site or a kitchen. Survive came out largest in the original six languages at 38 to 43 percent, travel took 30 to 34, and work took 26 to 29. Nothing was trimmed to make the six line up, which is why they do not.
Beside some phrases sits a note, and a note has one job: to say what the translation cannot. Register, a regional variant, a trap, or when in the exchange you say it. Es ist halb drei. is 2:30 in German and reads like half past three to an English ear. Reklamówkę? is the whole question a Polish cashier asks you. Between 23 and 30 percent of each list carries one, and the rest carry none, because a note column that is always full stops being read.
Listen on the web or in the app
All seventeen app collections are available as downloadable packs. Hear a phrase and its translation in the app, revisit material with Daily Words, or set up playback when you plug in your phone. The newest collections are English for Thai speakers and German for Czech speakers.
All sixteen published 500-phrase lists include audio for every phrase. The first Polish-language edition is out: 500 najbardziej przydatnych zwrotów po hiszpańsku, the Spanish list for Polish speakers, with every note rewritten for a Polish reader.
Questions about the phrase collections
What makes these the “most useful” phrases?
The lists are selected around situations: ordering food, asking for directions, paying, getting help and talking to colleagues. “Most useful” describes that practical selection; it is not a universal frequency ranking. Each language follows a stated variety, with notes where regional wording or politeness changes what you would say. Read how we chose the phrases.
Which languages and translations are available?
The app has seventeen collections: Spanish, French, German, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, Japanese, Korean and Turkish for English speakers; English and Russian for Polish speakers; Polish for Ukrainian speakers; English for Japanese, Korean, Turkish and Thai speakers; and German for Czech speakers.
Should I choose a 500-phrase collection or a specialist 200?
Start with a 500 for everyday life, travel and general work conversations. Choose a specialist 200 for a particular workplace: German nursing, Italian medical work, Spanish hospitality or Polish warehouse and delivery work. The specialist lists help you communicate on the job; they do not replace professional training.
Are the phrase lists free?
The published phrase lists are free to read and print. Start with free content in the app to try its audio and playback. Full collections require Premium; the app shows the current purchase options and any eligible trial before you subscribe.
Can I listen to the phrases?
All sixteen published 500-phrase lists include audio for every phrase. All seventeen app collections include audio. The specialist 200 collections also have audio on their pages and in the app.
Will learning 500 phrases make me fluent?
A phrase list gives you useful things to say and a starting point for practice. Fluency also means understanding replies and adapting what you know in a conversation. Practise listening, speaking and making your own sentences alongside the list. The numbers 500 and 200 are collection sizes, not CEFR levels or fluency promises.
Changelog
- 25 September 2026: English for Thai speakers and German for Czech speakers join the collection, bringing the app to seventeen 500-phrase collections.
- 24 September 2026: Japanese, Korean and Turkish for English speakers, plus English for speakers of all three. Fifteen app collections in total.
- 23 September 2026: New: Polish for Ukrainian speakers and Russian for Polish speakers, with 500 phrases each. Nine app collections in total.
- 20 September 2026: English for Polish speakers joins the collection, with 500 phrases across 10 sections. The original six lists and their downloads remain available.
- v1.1, 9 September 2026: the profession 200s reach four, with Spanish for hospitality and Polish for warehouse work, and every collection gains a CSV and a printable PDF.
- v1, 9 September 2026: six languages, 3,000 phrases.