If you’re the kind of person who loves travel but find it difficult to break down language barriers, you may want to check out Iconspeak, a T-shirt covered in basic pictographs ranging from clocks to bathrooms.

如果你热爱旅游，却发现难以突破语言障碍，也许你会对这件“图标替你说”T恤衫感兴趣，衣服自带各种图标符号，从钟表到盥洗室，应有尽有。

Simply point to the symbol associated with your need, and hopefully, the person you’re talking to will understand.

需要什么，轻轻一指，很可能对方就明白了。

It’s better than having to play charades with strangers, I can tell you that.

我敢说，这比对着陌生人比划猜词要强。

Iconspeak is the brainchild of friends George Horn and Florian Nast.

“图标替你说”的点子是一对好朋友乔治·霍恩和弗罗里安·纳斯特一起想出来的。

They were traveling through Asia in 2013 and found themselves in a remote village with “no infrastructure, zero tourism, and just some locals.” The problems they encountered while trying to communicate their needs to the locals inspired them to start working on a simple yet effective solution to the language gap. 

2013年，他们到亚洲旅行时，曾经到过一个偏远的小村子，那里“既没有基础设施，也没有旅游业，只有一些当地居民”，向当地人表达需求成了问题。这对好朋友从中受到启发，开始设想一种简单有效的语言鸿沟突破方案。

Two years later, they came up with the Iconspeak t-shirt.

两年后，他们设计出了这款能用图标说话的T恤。

“In the furthest and deepest corners of our world we were repeatedly left with no words, either in breathtaking awe due to the sceneries or in empty silence, due to our lacking linguistic talents,” the Iconspeak website states. “Such situations got us thinking about how to bridge language barriers with utmost simplicity, on a global level. The answer came to us after a remarkable experience in the depths of Vietnamese backcountry: ICONs. Because with ICONs, you can SPEAK, you can SPEAK to the world.”

“图标替你说”网站上说：“在世界上最遥远而偏僻的角落 ，我们常常会哑口无言，有时是因为周围美景摄人心魄，令人惊畏，有时则是因为语言不通，不得不沉默。这种情况促使我们思考，如何才能用最简单的方式在全球范围内突破语言障碍呢？在越南一处穷乡僻壤的奇妙经历给了我们答案：图标。有了图标，它们就可以替你说话了，你就可以对世界说话了。”

（翻译：Dorothy）