I am going to Rome and trying very hard to learn some good travel phrases in a hurry. I speak Spanish very well and find myself often substituting words. If I get in a jam, will I find it easier to find someone who speaks spanish or English.

English! But your Spanish will make it easier for YOU to understand the Italian.

I've used my vague memories of high school spanish many a time in Rome. I also used some of the basic courtesy words in Italian. The spanish is a big help in both understanding and communicating. English also is spoken at most hotels and restarants.

In my experience, English is widely spoken throughout Italy. However, if you are in a jam, many words are similar in the two languages and you could probably communicate with someone who only speaks Italian. I only know English and Spanish, and when I found myself stranded at a train station in Savona, I was able to communicate pretty decently with a local man - enough for him to find me a great hotel!

Indeed, speaking Spanish allows you to understand most of italian words and verbs, in case the other doesn't speak english at all

There's no way to predict this. Just ask if they speak English or Spanish. I speak Spanish, and very little Italian, and multple occasions in Florence and Venice (for example, in restaurants), the people spoke Spanish but no English, so speaking the extra language can be a plus.

It just depends on the luck of the draw.

My experiences have been similar: I found that in northern-ish Italy - Venice, Florence, Rome, people spoke English.

The more south I went, the less people spoke English, but I found quite a few who spoke Spanish. I talked to one man at a bar for 2 hours in a weird mix of Italian, Spanish, and English - talk about taxing on the brain!

Karen

In the real south and Sicily, especially in smaller towns where there are few foreign visitors, it seems that the foreign language that most middle aged people studied in school was French, rather than English. That does not mean that they are ready to speak it. Young people whomstudied English most often elave to find jobs elsewhere. Italians often find it easy to figure out spanish and wing it, even if they never happened to study it.

Overall, I think english is the most useful language to use in Italy, if you don't know Italian.

In 1999 I took my first trip to Italy with a woman who was fluent in spanish and french. When we got in a situation where the person we were speaking to didn't speak english, my friend spoke spanish to them and they always understood.

Above, I meant to type "young people who studied English." The "m" popped in by iteslf against my will. I didn't proofread and edit becaseu someone was looking over my shoulder at work and I hurried.

I speak fluent Spanish and found that this helped me tremendously. Since many of the words are somewhat similar there is enough of a crossover to understand basic Italian. On the other hand, it also confused me because I would get things wrong by saying them in Spanish such as Por favor instead of per favore, or dos instead of due. But you will definitely be understood. It also helped with my pronounciation of Italian and I could say phrases as if I actually knew the language, which would get me in trouble of course since the person I would ask the question of would go on and on in Italian trying to answer my question. Several times when I wanted to communicate in English or Spanish I would always ask people if they spoke either language and they would always say English, not Spanish. Knowing Spanish also helps in your memory for remembering Italian words because the grammar is the same, and the feminine vs. masculine is mostly the same.