Just saw this post and read through it all....some good stories. The place where our languages did not help us was in Slovenia (formerly Yugoslavia). Twice we needed help finding an address. <BR>Both times trying to ask people in English, German, French and even Italian and Spanish. No luck. One time a couple read our address off the paper we had and got in our auto and tried to direct us to the place even though we couldn't talk to each other. By stopping repeatedly and them asking fellow Slovenians they did find the address for us and then they hopped into their friends car who had followed us and went home. The other places were native language was very helpful we found was in rural areas in Austria and Spain. Everywhere though, people like you more if you speak to them in their own language (and it's so much more interesting as you find out so much more from folks who are far friendlier to you). I could tell a few more stories that are kind of funny about languages but my fingers are tired now from a day of typing.

Can I tell a non-Europe story? The tale of the tourist and the charioteer reminded me of my husband and I visiting Japan, without a word of Japanese, but with fluent Chinese. That means we could write (in kanji) but did not always know what we were communicating because the meaning of the words has occasionally changed since they were borrowed. English was often helpful, but our landlady at the B&B (minshuku) did not speak a word of English but was something of a classical scholar, interested in Buddhist writings of the 6th century. So we had to write to her in classical Chinese. I'm a part-time potter and was interested in seeking out Japanese pottery. The question came out as "Where are the kilns of Kiyomizu?" (except of course we couldn't help thinking of Kiyomizu as Chingshui, that's how it sounds in Chinese). Heaven only knows WHAT she thought we wanted a kiln for, but she was at great pains to repeatedly convey to us that the kilns were not firing this week because it was the New Year!

I arrived in Bruges near the end of a long, fairly ill-planned trip. I was tired, cold, and in the mode of "if I am looking at someone who is not a blood relative, I'm NOT supposed to be speaking English." I went into a store to buy something--I really don't remember what, but I do remember that when I asked the two young ladies standing behind the counter a question in French, they glowered and shook their heads. I knew that wasn't the answer to my question, so I asked again in English. They looked totally mystified, but they answered in excellent English, and I was able to buy whatever-it-was. So, in the Flemish part of Belgium, you may be better off with English that with any language other than Flemish. Probably I should have realized that before I opened my mouth. <BR> In Zurich, I had an awful time communicating. German is very difficult for me, and I thought I would be able to manage in French, which is after all one of Switzerland's languages. At the hotel, movie theater, and restaurants, this worked well enough, though not perfectly. No such luck, and no good trying English or Spanish, in stores and museums. <BR> In Catalunia and Russia (I had learned the Cyrillic alphabet and a few Russian phrases), though I wished that I knew the languages, communication really wasn't a problem. People were patient and pleasant, both when listening to me trying to communicate and when giving answers to questions. <BR>

Haven't found it ESSENTIAL anywhere (though there were a few places in Scotland and Ireland -- and London --where the English spoken was a foreign tongue to me). <BR> <BR>I find, however, that a few words of greeting and polite phrases go a long way. Where I do have some more language (that is, more than the local equivalent of "Do you speak English?"), I try to initiate conversation ... and find that the Italians are more patient with my efforts than the French (although my French is much better than my Italian). <BR> <BR>This October, I am going to the Amalfi Coast, Naples, Capri, Sorrento, etc. with a friend as part of her Alumnae Assn trip. This will be my first fully-guided tour (on-and-off-and-on-the-bus-again), and I am afraid I will miss the opportunities for direct communication that I've enjoyed in previous trips.

Message: Come on with the stories. Who cares where you went and what language was spoken. Pull out the dollar and its the end of the story.

I got caught in tiny, treacherous, hole-in-the-floor bathroom stall in a little train station God knows where in Italy. American, I was traveling alone among European tourists and students, a few local Italians. No way I could use that horrible scarey thing, even if I could figure out how (pee standing up? What are they thinking?; I was afraid to even look at, afraid I'd fall in and it'd swallow me. I rattled the door, but couldn't open it, it was solid from ceiling to floor, I couldn't climb out or go under...NO one would find me, the train would take off and I'd suffocate to death from the fumes in my bathroom coffin. I was trapped in the smelly horror, no escape as I wracked my brains for the words for help. Finally I managed "Aiuti." Every voice answered back in English. Swiss, Germsns, Italians, all were amused at my American panic as they rescued mewwith perfect grammar and diction. We Americans have conquored the world, but foreign plumbing can reduce us to blabbering idiots.

This one is good: some years ago, 3 German tourists crossed the border from France to Spain and instantly got loose. No road signs, no one to ask to... They stopped at the side of the road -they wanted to go to Gerona to see its famous cathedral- when they saw an old, almost prehistoric mule carriage. On it, a Spanish father with his 11 year old son.<BR>But, no one of the three tourists could say a co-ordinated phrase in Spanish. One of them, who knows some Italian -after all, Italian and Spanish are Latin languages, closely related-, ask the Spanish farmer: "Signore, prego, cual é la via per la Gerona?". Blank look. The Spanish answered in Spanish "Sorry, pal, I didn´t get you". Missed hit. Another friend, who perfectly spoke French, think it over. After all, they were 3 miles away from the French border, so, this guy could understand a few French phrases. The second tourist said: "Mon cheríe ami, je voule encontraire la rue pour la Geróne...". The Spanish worker repeated in Spanish:<BR>"I tell you, gringo, that I don´t get what on Earth you are saying..."<BR>The third German thought: Man, it´s quite simple. I cans speak in English, and English is known everywhere... "Excusme, Sir," he said, "Can you tell me the way to Gerona and its beautiful Church?". The Spanish answered in his own language: "Dammit, gringo, I don´t get you!!!". The Germans gave up, and continue their way, hoping to find some road sign forward. The Spanish man continue his way. Two miles after, his son, who never said a word until that, asked his father (in Spanish, of course): "Dad, did you realize how useful would be to learn some Foreign language?". The father seriously looked at his kid, and answered: "Do you think it was useful for those three?"<BR>The moral is: I think it´s crazy to go to another country if you don´t know a word of their language, at least enough to read the traffic signs.<BR>God Bless...

I will make this short and sweet. In Amsterdam, English is almost essential -everyone speaks it. When I was in Poland, I wish I spoke Polish or some sort of German/Russian version. I found that in Venice, almost any romantic or germanic language will do. Something I found that works extremely well, if you are American and in a language bind, is to mumble any phrases/words in any European language, they just assume you are another European on holiday, not a dumb American. Happy Travelling!

I'm glad this question came up again. I loved the ancient greek chariot. Had me laughing all afternoon. <BR> <BR>Another story. <BR> <BR>Many many moons ago when I was young and single travelling through Europe my sister and I were "picked up" by a wealthy older man (at 21 anyone over 30 was "old") in Monte Carlo. (This is yet ANOTHER story and a great highlight to our trip.) He was a gentleman who wined and dined us and gave us a great tour of the area. While having dinner at a lovely restaurant where people share long tables overlooking the Mediterranean, a German speaking couple sat next to us. Our host spoke to the waiter in French but as we don't speak French we were only talking in English. Little did the Germans (or Swiss?) know that the young Aussie tourists next to them could understand every word they said about us in German. (Probably a good thing our escort didn't.) <BR> <BR>Moral of the story? The same thing goes when abroad as at home. Don't speak about someone in front of them. Just because someone isn't speaking your language, don't assume they don't understand it. <BR> <BR>PS. This WAS a highlight to our trip. No funny business at all.

When abroad & not wanting to be understood we speak Glasgow dialect to each other.Beats 128 bit encryption. <BR> This tale was told to me by my brothers girlfriend, a Dutch translator. <BR>It must be understood that : <BR>1)The Dutch mix Dutch & English in speech <BR>2)Dutch for horse is pardon <BR>3)Dutch for to breed is fochen <BR> <BR>Scene : a horse fair in England.A local approaches a female Dutch horse breeder. <BR> <BR>"May I ask what business you are in?" <BR>"I foch horses" <BR>"Pardon?" <BR>"Yes, horses!"

well, I can not add much to this thread... the stories have been great. I'm not so good at telling stories so I'll just add a serious answer. <BR> <BR>I have found that learning the local language is essential everywhere because it gets the conversation off on the right foot. People just seem to appreciate it (makes sense) <BR> <BR>but on the other hand, since my attempts at some languages is absolutely pitiful, I have found that I can communicate just fine with out the spoken word. Well, I might not get my steak medium with steak sauce, butter and cream to the side of the potato, low fat dressing with my salad sans onion or croutons... etc - BUT whatever I get to eat is food and therefore I'm happy. I leave the picky ordering at restaurants for the states (my home). <BR> <BR>Hope this makes sense. thanks.

Italy is the one place I've found that is like the US in that many people will continue speaking to you in Italian anyway even if it's clear you don't really understand it. Also in Italy I have noticed that people are often ready to answer in English if the question is a common tourist thing like Hadrian's Villa ("Yes, number twenty-eight, blue bus, three thousand lira") but if you want to go to a lesser known site, it's most useful to speak Italian. In France of course it's useful to speak some French in 99% of the places you go, even if people do know English they usually don't break into it at the drop of a hat like they do in the northern countries. In Austria for example I had several occasions where the person I was dealing with (post office clerk, bus driver) was not an English speaker, but several impatient or perhaps helpful people in line intervened to get things moving along. In most of the Czech Republic and Poland outside the centers of major tourist areas very few people will speak any English, even if they are under 30, and they tend to be more wary or shy of Westerners than people in Western European countries so knowing some of these languages would go a long way. Of course you are always going to miss out on a lot of what is goin on around you anytime you don't know the language, which makes them worth knowing even if you never need to use them (I know of one guy who married a Danish woman and has lived in Denmark for 20 years, understands Danish fluently, etc, but he says everyone still speaks English to him when they hear his accent).

When visiting Germany ten years ago, I found that my high school German was allowing me to communicate quite easily overall, until I tried to change money at a bank in Munich. I was keeping track of my spending by saving receipts, but the clerk failed to give me one. So, in German, I asked for "a piece of paper with numbers on it", and the woman, puzzled, asked a young English speaking man to help me. The word "receipt" was not in his vocabulary. I struggled a while then gave up. I think they thought I was a crazy person. <BR> <BR>Never did get a receipt out of them...

A gazillion years ago, I went with my kids (4 of them, aged at the time from 5 to 10) on a month-long visit to several European countries. Wherever we went, each kid was given a bit of money to buy snacks, souvenirs, whatever, with the stipulation that the purchase could NOT be made by yelling in English at the storekeeper. They had to either learn the words for what they wanted, or try to make themselves understood somehow. They were all really good about it and learned a lot - and kids tend to be much better than adults at pronouncing new languages correctly. At one point we were in Holland, at a park called De Efteling (a great place, and I think it's still there, I looked it up on the net recently) and my then 5-year-old was playing and talking animatedly with another little kid. I asked my son "What language does the little boy speak?" My son just glanced up at me and said "Huh?" as if I had asked the dumbest question in the world, and went back to playing and talking. Obviously it didn't matter! As a postscript, my then 5-year-old is now in his 30's and getting married next weekend!

Topping. Never fails to be intersting.

I've travelled quite a bit in Western Europe and always try to 'learn' a bit of the language of the county I am in, to the degree of asking questions or just greetings etc. The only place I really had a problem was in Zurich. I found many young people don't speak or understand English. After returing to the US, I found an article which particially expained the situation. It seems due to the French/German/Italian of Switzerland, school children generally take one of those languages as their 'second' language, in order to faciliate their careers throughout the country, and thus English is not stressed as much as it is in other countries.

I worked ona project thatinvolved intrviewing foreign language educators about their best practices teaching foreign languages in their repsective countries. <BR>Well, one Dutch professor told me that you have to motivate students. So, they tell their students that English is not enough because "if you want to rent a hotel room that is $ 100.00, fine, then English is sufficient when you call or write beforehand. However, if you want to reserve a hotel room in France, Germany, Italy, or Switzerland for half that amount, then you need to be able to speak/write the local language at least a little." (Note: The Dutch have a reputation of being cheapskates, so that sure motivates them

Where English does not help at all. A cab driver in New York or Chicago!!! <BR>

I was in the Musee D'Orsay one day when a woman came up next to me and studied a piece of sculpture. This woman smelled absolutely heavenly and I had to know what perfume she was wearing. I asked her if she spoke English (since I knew no French) and she just looked at me at said no, no, no English and started to walk away. I caught up to her and stood in front of her and pointed to my nose, then pointed to her, then I put one hand over my heart, brought the inside of my other wrist to my nose, closed my eyes for a moment and deeply inhaled. Opening my eyes and smiling,I pointed at her again and I just said, "mmmmmmm". She got a huge smile on her face and said, "Coco, Coco Chanel!" I have worn it ever since. <BR>I think sometimes humans share a universal language.

English is fine for Amsterdam and Scandinavian countries. People in the UK seem to understand American accents better than 20 years ago due to the many American television programs, especially among the young. My daughter and her friends with fluency in French, English, and Spanish had some difficulties in Germany.