A trip around Central America inspired Lingo Cards founder Keaton White to create the perfect gift for travellers and language nerds—a product that turns a traditional deck of cards into a portable phrasebook.
Inside every Lingo Cards pack is a deck of 54 playing cards that feature essential words and phrases for travel, along with the phonetic pronunciation.
This ranges from every day greetings, for example ‘Trevligt att träffas (nice to meet you) in the Swedish version, to eating and drinking, like ‘Ich besorge das Bier’ (I’ll get the beer) in the German pack.
“The origin of Lingo is pretty simple—combine the Spanish I’d been collecting in my notebook with the playing cards we’d use every afternoon and evening,” explains White, who used crowdfunding site Kickstarter to get Lingo going in 2014.
“They’re essentially a compact phrasebook in a deck of traditional playing cards…They feature all the important bits that’ll make your trip just that little bit easier.”
White designs the cards at home in Dunsborough, WA and says he is enjoying the freedom that comes with being your own boss. He will exhibit new designs, packaging and point-of-sale displays at Life Instyle Melbourne in August and says the cards are perfect for gift, homewares and travel stores.
As befits a man who built a business around travel, after Life Instyle White is off on another adventure.
“Following Melbourne we’ll be off to New Zealand for some snowboarding and to launch our Maori Lingo at the Auckland gift expo.”
By Ruth Cooper
