Living in South Florida with lots of tourists, I hear conversations in different languages and see pretty girls from lots of countries. While on vacation, people tend to be more relaxed and open to conversation.

An approach I've been working on the field is with a post-it note(s), ask if she/they can translate for me. I can recognize a language, even if I don't understand it. Questions about it, quickly follow.

I've asked multi/bi-lingual friends to translate for me the following text:

"you where amazing, 3 times in a row! I want to see you again, sorry I had to go"

I have notes in French, Portuguese, Spanish, Deutsch, Italian, Chinese and Korean (plug: You know another language? could you please translate? thanks!)

Approach: "Hi! Are you speaking in <language>? I met somebody and she left me a note, could you translate for me?"

It's an opener, follow up with good banter, all good. The reactions to it are funny, especially if it's an all girl group.