Experience Survey: Where you did/did not need to know the language
 

Where in Europe did you find it ESSENTIAL to know the local language, where did you find it helpful but not essential, and were there any places where it was completely unnecessary to know the language and actually better to speak your own (foreign) language?

In Thera, Santorini (Greece) most of the signs were in English, and the Greek was thrown in almost as an afterthought. Hotel workers and shopkeepers all seemed to speak English. It was a little embarrassing that they knew English so well and many had low level jobs, and here we were earning enough money to take a trip to Greece and only knowing a handful of Greek vocabulary. There was too much English. I was almost worried that they were forgetting that they were Greek. It was like an amazing theme park pretending to be Greece when really it was in the US, except for that gorgeous weird geographic setting that could only be the one and only real Santorini.

In most places we visited in France I would begin a conversation in French, but the other party would immediately switch to English (very nicely, by the way). However, in a couple of instances in Provence, people in shops apparently did not speak any English. On the other hand, many others in the same towns did. English is very prevalent. <BR> <BR>The above post about Greece reminds me of being in a small town on a Greek island during the thick of the Monica Lewinsky revelations. I was standing in a bakery watching Greek TV, and they were running a tape in English of President Clinton's response to the latest events. I stood there for a few minutes, and then one of several guys watching the same program turned to me and said, "Are you American? How do you feel about this?" It's a global world, in case you haven't noticed! <BR> <BR>One more language recollection: I've never experienced as much English in a foreign country as in Israel. There is hardly anyone (at least in the cities) who doesn't speak excellent English. What's more, almost everyone seems to have either been to the US or have relatives there!

I found German usful in the Czech Republic and Hungary, but a lot of people especially younger ones spoke English. The one country where I found the least English was in Spain, and my tiny bit of Spanish came in very handy. <BR>

Even though much English is spoken in Florence and the train station is full of foreigners, it is much better to speak Italian in the train station. The people at the ticket and information counters seemed to be burned out dealing with all of us foreigners, and even the ones who knew English sometimes looked like they couldn't wait to get rid of an English speaker asking questions and just stopped listening. It was better to speak Italian, if possible. There was also a lot more choice of lines if you were willing to speak Italian. However, because of the noise and the plasic wall between the agent and the customer, it was very difficult to speak the language under those conditions.

I went to Scandanavia 2 yars ago and was surprised how perfectly the Scandanavians spoke English in the major cities. (Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinki). I wasn't that keen on going there until I arrived . Beautiful old stone architecture, archipelogos, modern public transportation. My favorite place of them all was Copenhagen. Every city should have a Tivoli Gardens. Maybe you can swing a stopover there.

Twice, in German speaking Switzerland, <BR>I was much better off to know a little German. Once I lost my prescription sunglasses on the trail between the top lift station and the shore of the Öschinensee. I got them back by asking the attendant, in German. Last year my I was suffering from a mild case of gastroenteritis. I was able to convey my distress to the apothecary clerk and got a remedy. No Pepto Bismol in Switzerland!!

We saw some young friendly hunting dogs in the countryside in Tuscany near Cortona. Most were mature dogs that "said hello" then went back where they came from. But we worried that two young frisky dogs would get lost or hit by a car scampering after us. After a few moments of saying international sweet nothings to these cuties, we told them IN ITALIAN to go home. It worked. Maybe it was the tone of voice and the gestures, though.

Four people had a bizarre experience in Switzerland. We got a little lost and stopped for directions. We all knew French and first tried French, since this was a French canton.Got a blank look. OK. One of our group spoke perfect German and two spoke adequate Italian. Again no luck with those languages, which were reasonable to try in Switzeerland. It seemed silly to try English but we did, and the results confirmed our original thought that it would be silly to try. It seems we must have wandered into a district where all the people on the street were foreign workers - from where, we never did figure out, since they weren't speaking to one another so there was nothing to overhear.

TWO OLD BUT VERY TRUE STORIES <BR> Once upon a time, a well educated American gentleman who spoke perfect French was traveling through France. He needed stamps for postcards. The word for stamps ("timbres") momentarily slipped his mind when he got to the P.O. window to buy some. So in perfectly grammatical, perfectly accented French, sounding just like a native EXCEPT for his strange question, he asked for the little squares of gummed paper which the gov't requires that one affix to mail. The same gentleman had a similar, but MUCH more embarassing experience in Naples another time. His wife needed sanitary napkins. Because he spoke absolutely perfect Italian, the job of buying them fell to him. But the brands and packaging were not like in the U.S., and long ago when he lived in Italy there was no such product. He saw fluffy plastic wrapped packs of "carta igienica" and "carta detergente." One of them was probably IT, but which one? He asked the sales clerk in his perfect, fluent, cultured Italian what the difference was between the two products. She brusquely said that one was hygienic and one cleaning, blushed, and glared at him. He persisted, asked what function each served. She REALLY glared this time, and looked about ready to call the police on what she perceived to be a dirty old man. Finally his wife, who spoke a rough mixture of Italian dialects learned in NYC as a child, explained that her husband was an American, even though he didn't sound like one, and that she was the one who need the thing. Finally the sales girl "got it," the woman got her merchandise, and her husband was saved.

In my travels throughout Europe most all the cultures are very helpful when you are having difficulty with their language. I have tried to at least learn some of the basic phrases and words which shows that I am at least making an effort to learn their language. If all else fails, whip out the green photos of Ben Franklin & Co. and you will be surprised how quickly the communication gap is narrowed.

Hello - Your question sounded very interesting to me when I first read it, and still sounds good in theory, but after thinking about it for a minute or two, and reading the various responses, I think it is a ratehr odd question. There is probably no place where knowing the foreign language is ESSENTIAL. Perhaps in the deepest valley of Yunnan in China, just to pick a place at random, it may be. However, there is no area of Europe where there are not at least a few people who know a few words of English. I've been to maybe 20 countries, including China, and never once has English been ESSENTIAL. <BR> <BR>On the other hand, it is almost always, if not ALWAYS, BETTER to know the local language. Even in a place, such as the Greek island mentioned above, one would get more from the trip if the local language is known. It can never be said that it is better to know only English, not the local language. <BR> <BR>Howard

Portuguese was easy enough to read without knowing Portuguese, but not too easy to understand. Many people spoke English, but we wished we had made some effort to learn some Portuguese.

The farther a person got from urban centers (this was true years ago, anyway) the less likely it was to find anyone who had any command of even basic English. Our unit was far back from the Adriatic coast when we needed to find out some facts about road conditions ahead. All we got from the locals was hunched shoulders and upturned palms. Then we found the local Catholic priest. A few phrases in Latin, back and forth, and we knew enough to stay put until reinforcements arrived. If all else fails, try Latin 101.

In southern Italy, off the beaten track, people talk to you in Italian --and with their hands, and my hubby and I found ourselves talking back and having fine conversations that went on for many minutes. The thing is, we don't speak Italian. But that didn't daunt the friendly shopkeepers and restaurant owners who seemed to care less about our halting speech. They literally forced us to use the bits of language we learned from our guidebooks, augmented by some Spanish, hands, tones and and faces. It was great fun, and true language immersion.

Greetings. My extremely limited high school French has served me well, not because the French don't speak English, but because it allowed me to read French signs and move about more easily. When I went to Germany I hired a tutor for three months, read a lot of German to get a sense of the grammar and common words. That worked well. I was able to get around easily and get what I wanted. But, after everyone telling not to worry, all Germans speak English, I was surprised to discover that few did. Even at the train station in Munich, I had trouble finding anyone who spoke English. It's always a good idea to learn words for food and everyday items like pen, tissue, antihistamine, although a small dictionary works okay there. Italians spoke little English unless in the tourist industry. Some folks, like myself, have no ear for languages but seem to have an eye for them. If learning to understand (hear) doesn't work for you, try learning to read. Then carry pencil and paper!

So far, the only time I needed to understand the local language was in England. Four of us asked a Bobby for directions. We had him repeat the directions several times. No one could understand a word he said.

I speak sort of an intermediate Italian - not bad but far from fluent. In Sicily this fall I noticed that people (hotels, train stations, shops, etc) did not respond to me in English when I started a conversation. I really appreciated this as the only chance I have to practice and improve is when I'm in Italy, and I really did feel I improved in a couple of weeks. However, in more central or touristed (by Americans) areas, I am more often answered in English and I really don't like that since I am not doing that badly. If their English is better than my Italian (quite likely) I continue in English but I would really like to indicate that I am trying to learn their beautiful language. How do others feel about being answered in English when they are communicating reasonably well?

just got back from spain. madrid, seville, and southern coast of spain. it would have been helpful to know spanish. however we managed by having a spanish language book. spanish people very tolerant and friendly.

Anecdote: Twenty five years ago, the daughter of the man in the "timbre"/ "carta assorbente" stories above was traveling in Sicily with a friend who knew no Italian and whose tote bag broke. Daughter had studied Italian in college, but was not nearly as fluent as her father, and her school-learned vocabulary was more literary and academic than practical. So finding needle and thread for her friend was a challenge. At the time Taormina was not as overrun with tourists as it is now, so she tried to speak Italian everywhere they went. However, she did not know the words for needle and thread ("ago e filo"). So in careful Italian, she explained to the shopkeeper that they needed a small, thin, piece of metal with a hole in one end, through which one inserts a thin piece of fiber, and with which one goes in, out, in, out to join two pieces of fabric. Eureka! "Aaah, ago e filo!" the shopkeer shouted, like he'd just figured out the answer at charades. He had understood her weird Italian. (Probably, if her Italian had been BETTER, her not knowing such simple words would have seemed much more bizarre to the shopkeeper.) <BR> <BR>Twenty five years later, she (i.e. I) again visited Sicily, this time going to less touristy places. While in good hotels, there were always a few employees fluent in English, speaking Italian really led to more interesting encounters with local people in the towns and countryside. I spent two days in a little town in the Nebrodi Mts. of northern Sicily, way off the tourist track. Only two other tourists visited the town that month - a Dutch woman and her friend from Palermo. My impression was that no one in the town spoke English. In general, middle aged people who had gone to the equivalent of high school had studied French. The educated young may also have studied English as their second or third foreign language at the university level, but they did not remain in town. While the area is far better off than it was about 40 years ago, and more of the population is remaining in the region, educated young people almost always still have to leave to find work. (However, instead of leaving for Switzerland or other foreign countries or the industrial north, many now find work closer to home - central Italy, or maybe even Messina.) It is wonderful to visit a town like this, where there are no other foreigners around, but I would say that, if traveling alone it is essential to speak the local language. It would be very bizarre to approach someone and start speaking a foreign language! However, with a few words of tourist Italian and some rusty French, English speakers could possibly get along, if they relaxed and didn't try to overstructure their visit.

Probably the worst problem I had with language in all my travels in Europe was in Brienz, Switzerland. We had to do a quick train switch and there were two platforms, a train at each, both unmarked and it was only a minute until our train was to leave. I rushed into the station, went to the window, and tried to ask which platform for the train to Interlaken. All I knew was the word "gleis" for platform. I kept repeating "vitch gleis --Interlaken?" (Well, it sounded German to me!" I felt frustrated that the guy at the window just kept shaking his head. Finally he said in perfect English, "I know what you're trying to ask, I just don't know which platform." It seems we was an Indiana University student working there for the summer. The moral of this story -- I have never found anywhere in Europe that I really needed to know the language --including a fun evening in a restaurant in Konya, Turkey where not one person spoke a single word of English. I guess I'm a championship charades player and that sometimes helps, but a smile and a faint effort at the local language is all your really need. Of course a basic knowledge of the language is always nice, but it is simply not necessary these days.

In Eur. airports I try to catch the announcements on the PA. I struggle to hear. Because the announcers enunciate clearly, if it's a language I know somewhat, I get much of it. Then I listen for the English. Because they speak clearly, I get most of it in spite of the noise and static. Then some hours later I arrive in the States. The announcements are in my native tongue (I think?), but I can't understand them because the announcers have such slurred, sustandard, sloppy speech. And I'm not talking about the ones with foreign accents. I look around at the faces of the other travelers and wonder what foreign visitors must think.

My own (foreign) language being french, the country where I had the less problem (except for Morocco, but we are talking about european countries) has been Portugal. Everybody answered in french when I was trying to speak "tourist" portuguese (except for the Algarve where they replied in english). Only in two instances someone seemed to speak only Portuguese (and for some reason the only portuguese sentence I still remember is the question I was asking the second time : "Where's the swiming pool?") <BR> <BR>The country I had the greatest difficulties was the former Yugoslavia. Nobody spoke english, let alone french. German would have proven useful, in this case. I couldn't manage to be understood when I was trying to speak serbian, either. And as several languages are spoken there, once I finally found out what was the word for "arrival", for instance, it changed at the following train station. <BR> <BR>The second worst is England. I had really hard times trying to be understood (and, sorry, but I would add that very few people make the slightest effort to try to understand mangled english)and even if I did, I was unable to understand the answer, anyway.

We have been in 8 different countries in Europe and NOWHERE was it essential to know the language. <BR> <BR>However everywhere we went we made an effort to at least learn the very basics of their language. You know, "please", "thank-you", "excuse me", "i'm sorry", etc. We have found that at least making a sincere attempt to speak a person's language goes a long long way in getting them to be helpful and friendly in communicating. (Except in Paris where they were rude no matter what you spoke - but life goes on.)

Just came back from Paris. Not a single person was rude. In fact in my last 3 trips to France, I can remember only one rude person, and that may be because it was rather obvious that I was considering entering some contemp art museum in Arles ONLY so I could use the toilet which is a little tacky, but when you have to go-- As to whether the local language is essential, it depends where you go within a country. If you go far from major tourist sites, where there are no hotels, only farms or private houses that take guests, and no restaurants, only places to buy food, and the bus schedules are not posted, or are posted in a different alphabet, or your car has mechanical problems, and no one in the area has had any reason to learn English, or you get some ailment for which you have not toted along an appropriate rememdy,I really think it would help to know at least a little of the local language!

Returned last night from Italy, the only time that basic phrases weren't enough was when there were specific questions about the train (reservation/seat assignments etc) and a time when we went into the farmacia to get some medicine for specific symptoms. Other than that, we either knew enough Italian or they enough English..

What languages) would you need to get along WELL and have conversations with people on the island of Karpathos in Greece? Is English widely spoken?French? Other?

At a high lookout point in San Gimignano I was lucky that I did not need to ask anyone a question. The ONLY language I heard spoken there was German!

Many moons ago, someone I went to school with got hopelessly lost in Northern Greece. Eventually, a bus happened by. He got on, and found that he couldn't understand a word the bus driver said. However, the benefits of a Classical education came to the fore, and he asked, in his finest Ancient Greek, "whither does this chariot go?" He was met with instant and uproarious laughter from the whole assembled company; however, once the bus driver had dried his eyes, he gave him a straight single word answer he could understand, took the fare, and all was well.

We just came back from 2 weeks in Austria and Italy. We were amazed at how many Austrians understood English, especially in the cities. Our biggest language problem was in a hotel in a small Italian city - the desk clerk knew Italian, German, and French, but not a word of English.

that's hilarious aaa!!

The whither-goeth-this-chariot anecdote kept popping back into my mind and kept me chuckling through an otherwise rather boring day. Let's have more...!

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Poland is a pretty difficult place - I speak six languages but obviously none of them are any good there. Don't get me wrong, I love Poland though. I just wish people (especially in customer service, of all places!) weren't so *hostile* towards foreigners in some places and would even try to get things sorted out. Does anyone else have similar experiences in Poland??

Can we get by in the Basque country in Spain speaking French (in addition to English), but not spanish, Basque, or Catalan?

I find it helpful in any country I've ever visited to know at least a little bit of the local language - the more the better. However, I don't think that it is ESSENTIAL anywhere. <BR> <BR>I think I would agree with several others that the farther off the main tourist path you get, the less useful English becomes. The country that I've visited where I felt that a 100 word vocabulary was the most useful was Russia - and even at that, the most useful part was being comfortable with the Cyrillic alphabet. <BR>In general when visiting places where I don't speak the language, I try to slow down - use fewer words (of whatever language) - be patient - and always carry a small notepad.

To puzzled - perhaps you were in an area of Switzerland where the native toungue is Romansch, a sort of modern latin. <BR> <BR>Maybe they were foreigners, though.

As an English speaker who had studied only French and Italian, I was not comfortable speaking Spanish, but I tried a little. I got into a "conversation" with a friendly person in Seville and tried to explain in Spanish how many "years" ago I had done something. But I forgot about the tilda over the "n" which makes it an entirely different letter with an entirely different sound. So you can imagine how I mispronounced the Spanish word for "year" and how silly it sounded to talk about how many "asses" ago I'd done this or that. And the nice man didn't even laugh at me.

More...?

In the city of Lucca (in Tuscany) I had a hard time finding maps and brochures about the sights that I could read. since I'm american, I'd look first for English. No luck. Since I was in Italy, and I could read Italian, I'd next try Italian. Surprisingly, the Italian versions were usually not available. French, too, was nowhere. almost all of the maps and printed info for tourists were written in German, which I could not read at all!