1st Italy trip - where is English spoken most?
 

Hi - I am *finally* planning my first trip to Italy, but my Italian is BEYOND basic, so while I will try to speak what I can, I want to know what regions/itinerary would you suggest for me wherein I will be able to enjoy myself and understand enough on tours/etc, having to rely mostly on English? (I speak French very well, but I am not sure that will be of much help! ;)

Wine and food are of key importance, I will be there for 9 days, and I plan on renting a car to explore. I will most likely fly in and out of Milan (Genoa or Florence are runners-up). Venice, Piedmont, Tuscany were my first thoughts...

Thanks for any help!

I didnt find not speaking the language a problem in Italy. The Italians are very friendly and the menus have a lot of words that you probably recognize from Italian restaurants where you live. Just be sure to attempt pleasantries in Italian and ask in Italian if they speak English. That often helps. Most Italians speak more than one language.

I would hazzard that the increase in speaking of English gradually rises as one goes from south to north but have no data for this - just kind of goes with moderness and prosperity and northern Italy's standard of living rivals any part of the EU i've heard.

For me, French opened the doors. :-) It was always easy to find someone that spoke French, while English (and even worse German) was hardly understood.

While I wouldn't necessarily say that most Italians speak more than one language, most Italians who work in service industries (restaurants, museums, etc.) can manage basics in English.

We're presently in Stresa, on Lake Maggiore, and the default language for non-Italians is English: Dutch, Swiss, Belgians, whatever. I do speak Italian, and the staff here are clearly relieved to be able to communicate freely, but my husband (who speaks exclusively English) also has no problems whatsoever, and never has on any of our trips to Europe. Not that everybody speaks English, but that you can get by pretty easily without much in the way of conversation.

Rest easy, you'll be fine wherever you go.

We have visited Milan, Florence, Venice, parts of Tuscany and have found English speakers in each place, as well as Rome, the Amalfi Coast, etc. My husband speaks Italian fairly well, but doesn't often have to. I think you will have no problem in most cities, but when we get off the beaten track (such as going to the town where my father-in-law was born) it's a different story.

Italians recognize that Italian is spoken in . . . Italy and pretty much nowhere else. Twenty years ago it became a standard for hgi-school students to tkae English, anticipating inclusion in the EU. Virtually anyplace you go that deals with tourists will have an English-speaker on the level needed to do business, whether check into a hotel, buy museum tickets, or order food. As PalenQ notes, as you go beyond the standard tourist trail, you'll find less English spoken.

I agree with PalenQ about the number of English speakers per town increasing as one goes nortth-the exception is southern communities with a college or university. They always have more English speakers.

But I suspect, ejb5, you may have the problem I did when learning Italian in Italy: I kept tripping over the high school French I didn't even know I had retained until I tried to put another language on top of it!

The other poster is right: the Italians are so pleased you are attempting to try their language, they will be more than willing to make your baby-steps work.

My Italian is pretty basic (2 years in college) and I have not experienced major difficulties that effort and patience didn't overcome. The Italians, like most people, appreciate the effort. I think your French will be extremely helpful.

Just spent several wonderful days in Venice. We had no difficulty finding English speakers at any of hotels, restaurants and shops. In fact, one young man (a desk clerk) told us that English is taught just like Italian in the schools there. I attempted to use my basic Italian whenever possible, but usually I was answered in English (how do you think they knew??? hehe).

In many of the larger cities and in major tourist-visited sites I doub't you'd have much trouble finding a tour for those who speak English.

If you are fortunate enough to go far enough "North" (east) don't be surprised when some of the signs become bilingual, i.e., with Italian and German.

Thanks, everyone! LJ, you are sooo right about French tripping me up! I am in the process of creating the new fusion language: Fritalian! ;)

OK... so then, if English/French will be useful, where should I go for my 1st Italy trip ever? :)

> with Italian and German.
The native German majority stopped laying bombs decades ago. That's a region where real progress has been made! :-)

Hi E,

>I want to know what regions/itinerary would you suggest for me wherein I will be able to enjoy myself and understand enough on tours/etc, having to rely mostly on English?<

Anywhere. You are worrying too much.

Venice-Florence-Rome are the usual first-timer destinations.

>I will be there for 9 days, and I plan on renting a car to explore. <

Why a car? You can get between the major cities easily by train.

((I))

Well, this is not meant to discourage you, but Italians are among the worst foreign-language speakers world-wide. Of course, with those working in the tourism industry, basic communication (as opposed to real conversation) in English is mostly possible, in the north-east in German, as well, and in Venice in every major language, French included. Venice is certainly Italy's best place for who needs to speak languages other than Italian.
I agree that you won't have problems, but only in the more important tourist destinations. However, I suspect that those who claim it be no problem to communicate in English wherever in Italy, didn't leave the beaten track very often. If you're travelling through the northern and inland part of the Molise region, I doubt that you'll find an (however basic) English speaker within a radius of 50 miles :)
Piemonte is - not geographically, of course! - somewhere between Venice and Molise... but certainly no major tourist destination (that's part of its charm), and communication in English will be less easy than in Venice or Florence.
Generally, yes it's true that Italians are very helpful and try their best to speak English or whatever if you're just giving your best to speak some Italian (but walk in and speak English without politely asking if they do, and the same helpful people might prefer not to understand one word of English). But especially if you are interested in food & wine, you should absolutely improve your Italian. For me, it's inconceivable to have a really great dinner in Italy without being able to communicate with the waiter in Italian... this may sound strange to most of you, but go and try the difference, it's remarkable. If you're speaking German/English/French, you'll order the restaurant's standard dishes from the written menu, and your meal may be excellent; but if you're speaking Italian, they'll tell you about dishes that are not included in the written menu but are often the best (freshest) available; you'll discover the amazing flexibility of Italian restaurants - one dessert for two? no problem - you can't choose between two primi? no problem, we'll bring you a split portion, half this and half that pasta - you want to eat antipasti but don't want to do without a primo? - we'll bring an extra-small primo helping (of course for a reduced price), and so on... Your waiter may even order for you, and serve you a complete surprise meal with plenty of wonderful dishes of which there is no hint in the written menu... but just if you're speaking Italian. So for serious eaters, IMHO speaking some Italian is indispensable. What about Berlitz?

I would probably say Milan and Rome. I agree with the poster who said that about the north/south thing. Also the dialects are stronger further south (I'm thinking of my friends and family from Naples and Sicily compared to the standard Italian I learned in school)

"Well, this is not meant to discourage you, but Italians are among the worst foreign-language speakers world-wide. "

That's true, but in my opinion, they're some of the most patient. There were times when I'd be stuck and couldn't express myself well, they were EXTREMELY patient and all around wonderful to me.

May I tease you Franco? Actually I know quite well three Italians who live in a very small village in the inland section of the Region of Molise and all three of them speak beautiful English.

But of course I agree with your comments about being able to speak Italian regarding food in restaurants is a great benefit.

My Italian is terrible ejb5, but asking an Italian if they speak English is a good start as many of the younger Italians have taken English language classes in school. My experience has been however the English they have learned is often the British English versus the American English so sometimes it is interesting. This is mostly true with the Italians who are not working in the tourist industry and do not usually speak with Americans on a daily basis. In big and smaller cities you will find the Italians who are involved in the tourist industry generally can communicate in English although it may not be "perfect" English but you should not have any problem. Do learn a few words though so if nothing else you can say "buon giorno" etc. Italians are generally very friendly and helpful. I wish you a beautiful trip!

LoveItaly, you may of course always tease me. And as far as Molise, you have perhaps noticed my :). But I'm seriously convinced that it would be very good luck to find somebody speaking English there... And MissZiegfeld, you're of course right about the Italians being extraordinarily patient and accomodating.

Giovanna wrote:
<< My husband speaks Italian fairly well, but doesn't often have to.>>

If he speaks Italian well, I'll bet he would say he "doesn't often GET to!" On the modern pilgrimmage path in Rome, Venice etc, novice Italian speakers will be leapfrogged by English-speaking Italians - it's only natural, there are only so many hours in a day to wait for a newbie to stutter out a question or statement! And I guess this goes for better qualified speakers, too.

Friends of mine spent a year in Sutri, a town of over 5,000 population 45 minutes north of Rome. There may be any number of English speakers there, but they are not necessarilly working in the shops or cafes! And certainly not at the weekly markets, etc. When I was visiting (and I admit my Italian was even less then than it is now) it took me half an hour to get a round trip bus ticket to Rome - apparently I was asking only for a ticket BACK, odd as that would be.

But I love being someplace where my lingual shortcomings are not constantly catered to. Tell a senior citizen in a small Italian town that you are from America and you may get a long chat from her about a cousin who lives in Chicago - or did 30 years ago - even though neither of you is getting all of it, it's fun. After a few of these events I began to understand how and why my friend - who after a year still spoke only 1-15 words and phrases - would nod intently whenever one of his local acquaintances would engage him.

As Loveitaly mentioned, in a place where there are fewer chances to keep up that high school English, people will forget most of it in time. (Just as we Yanks unfortunately have so much opportunity to forget and so little to use the languages we study.)

ejb5, maybe your French will come in very handy: remember that scene on I Love Lucy, when an explanation was due the police about Lucy's counterfiet Francs? She told the story to Ricky in English; he told it in Spanish to the drunk prisoner, who conveyed it in German to a young policeman, who translated into French for the chief. Each one repeating the gestures and Lucy's whines, of course!

Oh, and by the way, anyplace where there is a tour, there will likely be the option for an English speaking guide. Or maybe French? When I was at Villa Borghese in Caprarola I was solo, but ran into a group of French tourists. Their guide's French was not as good as her English, so she occasionally described something in Inglese, allowing one of the travelers to repeat in Francese. Since I never opened my mouth except to smile, I don't know whether they assumed I understood any of it or not.