In Italy, I watched the Italian hotel desk clerk talk to a Japanese guest about a situation with the safe in his room. They spoke in English. They both spoke English pretty badly, but it got the job done in short order.

In Spain, I say pretty much whatever I need to in Spanish, and in Italy, the same in Italian. But if I try to read a newspaper article in either of these two languages, I have to look up one or two words in each sentence. I've discovered that it doesn't take all that much knowledge of a language to be a tourist. Tourists don't discuss philosophy - they shop, order in restaurants, ask directions, and make small talk about the weather. These things are all in the first few chapters of the book. I learned my Spanish and Italian in a few years of once a week adult-ed courses, and they add immensely to the satisfaction of my travels.

- Larry

No-one spoke English in rural Hungary. Our lovely guest house hostess had purchased bilingual dictionaries just to speak with her first ever English speaking guests. It seemed a miracle that my husband, who hadn't spoken a word of Hungarian in 50years started to remember his early childhood language and did a great job of conversing with everyone!

I was working in a restaurant on Capri, and while my Italian is near-fluent, I hadn't yet mastered the art of Italian hand gestures. Two people at the table ordered the same thing, and when I repeated the order back, I pointed at the two of them....but I used my index finger and my pinkie and pointed it straight at them. I figured out what I had done when they all starting laughing - I had given them "le corne" (which basically, when given as a hand gesture, means that your partner cheats on you.) Whoops!

Also, while suffering from lack of knowledge of Italian, I found that in Rome, the merchants often spoke Spanish (which I could speak) and in Florence, the merchants/taxi driver spoke French (which I can speak). Funny. But--I am definitely trying to get Italian down. It's worth it.

Didn't need very much German for Switzerland. And surprisingly, not much Spanish for Madrid.

But knowing some French came in handy in the villages of the Loire valley! Much more so than Paris.

I have found in my limited experience in foreign speaking countries that you always get better service when having at least a rudimentery knowledge of the language. I spoke almost fluent Spanish in Mexico and got some fantastic deals and side tours. In Italy I spoke basic Italian and it helped us out numerous times, particularly when looking for directions. I went to Montreal not knowing a lick of French and found it somewhat difficult to get along as well as somewhat presumptious of me to expect they would be able to communicate with me. I learned this lesson when I was young and still perscribe to it when traveling anywhere.

Wow, what a wonderful thread! I loved the "whither does this chariot go" story. This whole thread brought back memories:
1. My mother and I travelled throughout Mexico when I was very little. I picked up Spanish fairly easily, but Mom had more difficulty. She was pretty embarrassed one day trying to buy peanut butter, as she couldn't quite remember the whole word for 'peanut'. She kept asking for "mantequilla de caca...." (translation: excrement butter). Finally the shopkeeper figured out that she wanted "crema de cacahuate."
2. When I was 12 Mom and I went to Europe. In England, she wanted to buy rubbing alcohol for first aid purposes. The chemist's response to her query was a very indignant "We don't sell alcohol here." Turns out we needed to ask for some sort of spirits (I don't remember the exact phrase) so she wouldn't think we were looking for whiskey.
3. Despite our comfort with Mexican Spanish, the Castilian pronunciation of soft c's and z's befuddled us. It took quite a while for the proprietress of the pension where we stayed to convey to us that "La Looth" meant she was pointing out the light switch (la luz) in case we came in after dark.

Now that I'm planning a trip to Ireland, I'm not too worried about speaking Irish; I'm told that even in the Gaeltacht most folks speak English. I fear I'll embarrass myself trying to pronounce Irish place names, though. Who would have imagined that Dun Laoghaire is pronounced "dun leeree"?

Viet Nam from Hanoi to the Mekong Delta and Cambodia, Phnom Phen and Siem Riep - Also two of the most fascinating places I've ever visited, especially Cambodia

Belgium is the best for getting by on English

Gee-mvpl-do you read the Asia board? If so, please read my comments about Cambodia being the biggest hell hole, including of course, Siem Riep. And of all the places in the world I've been (some 50 countries and counting) that is the one place I have absolutely no desire to return to-Angkor Wat did effectively nothing for me.

Contrary to the popular belief, I ran into a lot of Frenchman (and woman) in Paris who didn't speak English -or they claimed they didn't understand it.

In Amsterdam, however, everyone speaks excellent English. I found the Dutch to be the most laid back and friendliest folks as well. Definitely return soon.

I had a strange experience in Spain last year, my first visit there. For background, I'm half Mexican and my accent when speaking Spanish is very very good. However, my command of the language is somewhat lacking.I can and do communicate - but I'm not fluent. I found that communication was sometimes a real up-hill battle, and when I finally would break down mid-conversation to ask if the person spoke any English, I often got a frigid reaction. Other Mexicans with whom I have spoken have said that, even though they are native Spanish speakers, they encountered difficulties communicating. I should mention that I was only in Madrid and Toledo. Perhaps Barcelona would have been different. Any one else have that problem?

Found that almost everyone spoke English (quite well actually) in Denmark. Learned far fewer Danish words than I usually learn when I learn foreign words on vacation. In Italy, (esp. Lake Como)however, I found I needed to know more than a few Italian words. Had quite a hard time trying to mimic the word spoon and ended up using a fork instead.

Sleamhain,

I had a similar problem in Spain, but not because of the lack of vocabulary. It was because of my Mexican accent. I learned my spanish south of the border and found the spanish had a great deal of difficulty either in understanding what I wanted or in trying not to laugh at me.

Perhaps it is your accent that gets in the way.

Norway/Finland:
Found only one person in my two week visit that didn't apparently speak any English. He was an older fellow in one of the small coastal villages above the Artic Circle. Most middle-age and younger Norwegians and Finns are fairly adept in English, at least in the places that I visited.

I just returned from NW Portugal and Galicia, Spain.
Few Portugese speak Spanish, so I would be repeatedly asked if I spoke English. All study English and French in school (no Spanish). They speak a dialect of Castillan/Celtic in Galicia which I had some trouble understanding so we all spoke English.
M

The only phrase I knew in Italian before my trip to Italy was "I would like to buy that." I was hoping to pick up some more of the language, but I didn't find it necessary to learn Italian. I was in Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome and anyone that I needed to communicate with (hotel clerks, restaurant servers, museum workers, etc) spoke english.

I found that not many Austrians speak English. We learned a few of the common courtest words (good morning, hello, thank you, etc) to get us by.

During our first 2/3 days there, each time we'd order a glass of water, we would be served carbonated water. That is considered "regular" water there. Finally, we asked an Austrian gentleman to write the words "water, no bubbles" on paper which we would show to wait staff anytime we wanted non-carbonated water. It still don't know how to say those words in German.

Hi Mikemo

I understood that you spoke/understand Castillian and that's the reason why you had troubles with Galician because it is closely related to Portuguese language.
Please refer to: http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclop...ician-language

This was an interesting thread and reading it would be a relief from some of the threads currently on top.