Oldie but goodie

There is probably no foreign-speaking county in the world where it would not HELP to be able to utter a few words in the local tongue but in lieu of that, a quick smile, a sense of humor and lots of sign language will probably earn you forgiveness for your inadequacy in the language department. We have visited Paris several times on our own and despite the myth that the French are the rudest people alive, we have had only good experiences (OK, my husband will claim to speak "a little" French but being able only to order beer, wine and ham and cheese sandwiches makes his linguistic abilities a bit of a joke). We ventured one night into a a tiny and VERY local restaurant where aside from one waitress who spoke only about the same amount of English as my husband did French, we had a marvelous time. Plowing through the menu I opted for chicken, a word I could at least recognize if not pronounce but my husband had different interests. The waitress indicated with sign language that the item was (pointing at the head) brains but no, no, no, said the man at an ajoining table, that was (rub your stomach) intestines and cheerfully offered my husband a bite of the meal from his own plate. My husband never knew for sure just which it was, but throughly enjoyed the meal (to each his own I will add). Loved that dinner so much we returned the next nite even though our waitress warned us that she would not be working and we would be on our own language-wise. Arrived that night to find we had a reserved table front and center in this tiny restaurant and all the staff just dying to assist these "dumb" Americans. Long story but a great example of how a friendly approach will make up for lack of language skills. <BR> <BR>Actually, while I will never be bi-lingual in ANY language, I do wish I could at least pronounce some words properly. I am sure the Frenchmen cringe as we attempt to decide what stop on the Metro we are headed for in what doesn't even resemble the correct pronunciation of the word. We do a bit better in that respect in Germany, Italy and Spain where the phonics relate a bit more to our English language but checking out Scandanaiva where we head next month, I forsee the same problem. Then again, hey, we exactly the same problem in Hawaii slaughtering their street names big time and having to resort to pointing at the map for help. So, wherever you go, just keep on smiling and be willing to laugh at yourself, and you will have a great time.

PEOPLE, PEOPLE, PEOPLE. <BR>DON'T BE SO STUPID. THEY ALL SPEAK ENGLISH.

Of all the places we have been lucky enough to visit... only Xian, China left us unable to handle basic transactions such as buying a few bottles of beer from a small grocery around the corner from the Sheraton. It was very interesting and taught us a valuable lesson -- to attempt to learn a bit more than the usual "hello, goodbye, and thank you"! We are off to Russia next and I am working on a few phrases, although my friends tell me I will get along fine with English.

Isn't it best to learn a few phrases of the language anyway?

The only place in all of our travels to Europe where I had a slight difficulty because I did not know enough of the language was in Paris on our very first trip in 1975. My husband & I were there & even though he wasn't feeling well I thought it was important for me to go out and try to get each of us something to bring back to our room to eat for dinner. I am shy anyway and tried not to walk too far from our hotel. I entered a small cafe and tried to tell the young girl what I wanted. She did not understand but went quite quickly behind a curtain and got a man - perhaps her father who helped me pick out the items I wanted. I do think, though, that everyone needs to try to learn common phrases & greetings in the language of the country you are in. I am much less shy about it now and find that by the first or sedond day I can greet the natives in their language and once I even ordered lunch in a German restaurant for my mom and I while my husband was doing something he wanted to do. However, as the world continues to get smaller I find that often in a supermarket of department store here in the states I will overhear people from a foreign land speaking their native tongue and it doesn't bother me one bit. In fact it is usually quite fascinating and beautiful and I try to decide where they might have moved here from or are visiting from. Of course they are talking to each other and I might feel that if they need to speak to someone here they would need to know a little English just as I try to know a little of the native language in the countries I visit.

In Canarias and Mallorca in Spain is unnecessary to Know the spanish language. In Madrid and Barcelona is helpful but not essential. In the rest the spain is better know the language. Today in Spain a lot of de young men speak American.

My brother and I were on a train on our way to Munich.Neither one of us speaks German but by now we knew the word for exit-Ausgang.We fell asleep just before Munich.The train stopped ,I thought I saw the word Ausgang and we had arrived in Munich.Iwoke my brother up and we jumped off the train.We couldn't understand why there was no tourist office in the station so we walked down the street following the signs for information.We got to the office and asked for help with accommodation in Munich.The girl said she had no such information!I immediately thought she just didn't want to help us and got angry-she then handed me information about accommodation-in AUGSBURG.Talk about feeling dumb......We had got off the train a city too soon ! <BR>Moral of the story?A little German is a dangerous thing........

Fernando, do you not mean speak "English" rather than "American"?. As a matter of fact they would probably use the Oxford dictionary style as all other Europeans do.

After all this I have a question: Is there a web site with usefull travel sentences in diferent lenguages? Please help me to find it. Thanks

More thoughts,memories....

In 1999 I took my husband for his first trip to Europe...it was almost my "first" trip too, since I hadn't been there in 20 years! His favorite memory (almost :) of this trip is this incident: I had rented a small villa in Umbria, Italy for a week. On our first day there, after settling in to our villa, we went into the very small town for supplies. We picked up some basics (wine, cheese, bread). After several days we needed to do more extensive shopping. We had a lovely BBQ grill and thought we'd do some chicken. Feeling fairly confident (I can order food in about 3 languages from a menu) we went back to "our" store. Well, they had the basics, with a sort of deli counter in the back, but no chickens. Asking for "pollo" the woman behind the counter shook her head no and rattled off something or other. She then attempted to help us by consulting her Italian/English dictionary and handing it to me. Unfortunately, my eyes are "going South" and I didn't have my glasses...she handed hers over. Gradually I got the idea I'd have to go to some sort of meat/fowl store, but where? Once we got that established the checker walked us out to the road and through arm waving gestured that we needed to drive a short distance and turn right. We did, and found the place and asked for a pollo completo (a whole chicken)which we triumphantly took back to our villa, marinated and proceeded to have our feast. My husband layed the chicken in its grilling basket on the ground (so it would drip into the gravel)and as he turned around a feral cat came from out of nowhere and grabbed a wing and took off! It was SO quick! "did you see that" "Yes, what was it?" Then noticing a small hole in our chicken line-up, we realized what had happened....it's one of our favorite moments of our 3-week trip (but then, maybe we're just easily amused :) <BR> <BR>Melodie

We took twelve days in Germany, France and Switzerland in July '98. Without fail, everyone we encountered knew English or knew someone closeby who knew English. Even in notoriously english-rejecting Paris. That said, I remembered a bit off college German, and we had our best experiences with people who allowed us to mangle German. They usually responded by mangling English, we all had big laughs and had the best time.

Visiting Paris earlier this year French would have been helpful in the major museums and palaces. Most of the text about the items in the museums was in French. At the Palace we did get an audio tour in English. We could not read about the history of the item or its importance. Would have also been nice in dealing with cab drivers and coat check witches at the clubs. Also had even more difficulty in the South of France. Most English friendly place we have found is Amsterdam.

This is such a great thread. i hate to see it fade away. So...topping for a new gerneration of Fodorites!

This summer while in Tuscany and my fiance absentmindedly put unleaded fuel in our diesel-only rental car. The problems didn't arise until the next day. The two gentlemen who helped him after the car refused to start didn't speak a word of English and he spoke not a word of Italian. But somehow they managed to get the car pushed to the neighboring village that had an auto mechanic (who also did not speak English). After the car was fixed we drove back to the mechanic's shop to give him a thank you present of the best bottle of wine we could find. Though he had no idea what my fiance was saying, he completely understood our token of appreciation!

ttt

Anyway, in Spain Spring of 2001. Just ask, if you don't know the word, "como se dice?" then indicate what you're talking about. many times I noticed foreigners -- americans, brits -- not bothering to even try, and they got blankness, minor sometimes major annoyance. Just smile, friendly, humble, "como se dice?" and they give you a break. For americans' sake, please don't just get loud and obnoxious as you expect Spaniards to know what you want, in english. I saw it many times and shook my head that you just don't get it.

A couple of years ago my husband and I were traveling through Germany to Norway. We stopped at a German McDonald's for a quick breakfast before getting on the ferry to Oslo. <BR><BR>No one in the restaurant spoke English.<BR>My husband ordered a numbered breakfast and so just put up 3 fingers. That worked. I wanted a glass of milk and a had a hard time getting that request through. The lady at the counter asked some of the other customers if they spoke English. No one did. So I tried again. I pretended to drink a glass of something. That didn't help. I really wanted a glass of milk so I tried again. I thought... COW=MILK. So, foolishly I "Moooooed". Not only did I make a fool of myself, she still didn't understand me.<BR><BR>Finally I saw a sign for a mulchshake or something like that. I covered up the word shake and TA DA, she smiled, I smiled, everyone in line smiled and I got my milk. <BR><BR>Robbyn

The above post is a funny story. I live in Germany and I can't believe nobody could speak English or even understand milk since it almost sound the same as milch! I've never needed to know another language here in Europe and I have been to 11 different countries so far. The worst it ever got for me was in Italy and I had to say due.