This series is brilliant. It was first under the Sunset label - the people who put out books on how to remodel your bathroom - and it takes the same practical approach to learning a language. You won't be learning any extraneous phrases. You'll first learn to pronounce everything, then basic traveler's phrases, like how get a taxi, order a room at a hotel. There's a tear out menu so you can translate in restaurants. There are flash cards, and stickers you can put up around your house to learn the names of things. You really can learn enough to get around by just putting in 10 minutes a day, starting about a month before you leave. (I did this with the German version, and it really worked!)