DEAR HARRIETTE: My wife is the perfect traveling companion. She is flexible with schedules, always thinks of fun activities and travels lightly. The one thing I wish I could change about her is her refusal to even try to learn the language of the country we visit, typically Latin American countries. She insists on speaking English, and I find it a bit embarrassing. She claims everyone knows at least some English, but we’ve been proven wrong more than a few times. I want to get her to expand her horizons, but she seems to think English is the most universal language on the planet. Could I gift her Rosetta Stone for her birthday? – No Language Barriers, Detroit

DEAR NO LANGUAGE BARRIERS: Try a different approach. Consider inviting your wife to take a language class with you. Suggest it as a fun activity for the two of you – kind of like a date. Entice her with the romanticism of learning a language together. If you can make it seem like a fun bonding activity, she may consider it.

Beyond that, make sure that you have learned as much as possible so that you can manage communication for the two of you when you are abroad.

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DEAR HARRIETTE: I was on a plane recently and sat next to a man who had atrocious body odor. It wasn’t an incredibly long flight, but I doubt this man knew how he smelled. I considered saying something to him, because I’d always want someone to tell me if I had an offensive odor. I ended up not saying anything because I was scared of how he’d react. I have told close friends if they smell of body odor, and they have always been grateful. However, this man was a stranger. What kind of relationship do you have to have with someone to point out body odor? I know I would be grateful if someone were to mention something like this to me. – Stinky Stench, Boston

DEAR STINKY STENCH: It was wise of you to keep your comments to yourself during your flight. It would have been terribly awkward for you to be sitting next to him after making this revelation. That said, you could have requested a seat change. You could have gone over to the flight attendant privately and told him or her that your neighbor’s body odor was making you sick to your stomach and that you need to move. Whenever possible, a flight attendant will try to accommodate such requests without causing anyone embarrassment.

In terms of letting the man know, the only way that I think you could have let him know is if you befriended him on the flight and asked, just before deplaning, if you could share something with him that is uncomfortable to discuss. With his blessing, you could tell him that you noticed he had an unusual odor coming from his body and you thought he might want to check it out, for health purposes.

— Lifestylist and author Harriette Cole is president and creative director of Harriette Cole Media. You can send questions to [email protected] or c/o Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.