chris

I'm very interested in traveling to Italy, however, speak virtually no Italian as of yet. I do, however, speak some Spanish and my girlfriend in fluent. To what extent is either used in Italy? Spanish and Italian are certainly cousins as far as language goes and I'm wondering whether that is a more common language there than English. How much of a problem is it getting around/dining with either of these two languages?

Dawn

English is definately the second. And in the north, German. In the north west, some french. Alot of people in Italy speak English, especially in the bigger cities.

carol

Okay . . . English is definitely the #1 world language (in terms of being the international language), and virtually everyone in Italian cosmopolitan areas speaks some, but I disagree with the previous post to some extent. <BR> <BR>I speak both English and Spanish fluently, and on a recent trip to Italy (I traveled to 13 different towns/cities) I preferred to speak Spanish, because I was able to have conversations with Italians with no translation. A native Spanish speaker (from Spain and mostly any region in Latin America) will find that he/she can understand and be understood 65% of the time in Italy, no matter who you are speaking too. You will also find that the Spanish (and Latin American) and Italian cultures are very similar. So use Spanish first, then English second. In any event, the Italians will appreciate your effort.

Maira

I speak both, English and Spanish and in my travels to Italy my experience is that in the biggest cities English is much more common, but in the smaller towns Spanish seems to get the ideas across much better. Also, Italian is much easier to understand if you know Spanish (or a romance language for that matter).

lola

The best second language I have found in Italy is sign language. No kidding, I have talked with my hands when my feeble Italian doesn't make it-- and it works!