In mainland Europe it is probably much more useful than learning Irish was for me. I was able to translate a few signs out west, and say hello and how are you to the locals on the Aran Isles - but that's about it :)

Two weeks ago, I managed to get by quite o.k. with my limited command of the local language, when I was in Nevada and California. The locals had a hard time understanding my native German, but they tried nevertheless. It's hard to find natives speaking anything but their local languages there! Be prepared to learn at least a few phrases like "Good morning" or "Hello".
I ordered a cheesebuger with coleslaw at a local restaurant. Fortunately, the waitress did understand, what I wanted. But unfortunately, I didn't receive any applause from neighboring tables. I tried to start singing a folk song from my native bavarian tribe, but it didn't seem like they liked that idea very much.
Anyway, I managed o.k.

Absolutely agree about "do you speak english." I don't remember a lot of smiles, but it's just more polite and gets you off on a better foot than asking in english (or, worse, just starting to speak without asking at all).

It's also good to know how to count to ten, say yes, no, excuse me, help, what is this?, or other basic phrases.

Not only will knowing the numbers help you order one coffee (and avoid having someone ask how many and you not having a clue what they're saying), but it will help you understand how much something costs (although it's even better to know the double digits).

It's also worth it to have a simple phrase book with a menu section so you don't unintentionally order anything you want to avoid eating (or, if you're an adventurous eater, so you know your particular adventure either before hand or after the fact). I once recommended a Sardinian restaurant in Venice to a friend of mine and she returned to tell me that, to her horror, one of the specials was horse. She didn't know the word, but when she asked what it was the waiter pantomimed riding a horse.

People are more likely to respond to you positively if you at least greet them in their own language - even if you immediately switch to Do you speak English?

Also, it's tremendously useful:

reading menus
reading parking signs
dealing with machines (paying in train stations or garages)

Also - if you're off the beaten track often museums/other sights only have signs in the native language. Being able to figure out the days and hours the church will be open can help you decide to hang around and wait for it or not.

Most useful are:

greetings
numbers
days of the week
open, closed, entrance, exit, left, right
basic menus items (you need a menu reader to get details)

It deifintely helps to learn the basics. I took German in high school (seems like a lifetime ago). German langauge is taught twice a year (spring and fall) at our local Adult School at the local high school. I go for the 6 weeks, either the spring or fall semester, once a year. I also keep German Language cd's in the car to listen to now and then on my commute to work. Even after doing this, my mastery of the German language is just enough to "get by".

"specific examples of how it enhanced your travel experience."

It came in very handy in Heiligenblut, Austria, as our "host" Anni spoke virtually not a word of English. It was very nice to able to have a conversation with her. She spent over an hour talking with me over breakfast. She was as interested in what it's like here in the States as I was about life in Heiligenblut and Austria.
Very similar instance in Ramsau, Germany. The pension owners Sabine and Johann were very nice and Sabine (speaks English) had a broken foot and was "incapacitated". Running the place was left up to Johann, who spoke no English. Again, it was very nice to be able to communicate with him and found him to be a very warm and charming person. We wound up having such a wonderful time there, we decided to make their place a longer stop the very next year.

It also makes decifering the menu a bit easier! Actually, even when offered the English menu, we usually opt for the German menu and give it our best shot.

I believe one should at least know the basics... hello, please, thank you, goodbye, do you speak English? in the language of the country your visiting. My opinion, people appreciate it you make an attempt.

Paul

It enhances my trips because I get to eavesdrop...

But seriously, whenever I travel to a place where I know none or very little of the language, I feel left out. Sure, I can enjoy looking around me and visiting sites and hearing the sounds, but if I can't strike up conversations with people I feel like I'm just getting a smattering of a place.

I love having conversations with cab drivers and bar tenders and waiters and salespeople. You find out so much about the lives of people in other cultures that way. If you speak the language you get invited places and have experiences you'd never have otherwise. On a practical level, if your kid has an earache or breaks a leg you can go to the doctor or pharmacy with confidence you can get the problem fixed. You can understand public announcements that are telling you get out of the station immediately or your life is at risk. You don't get lost because you can read signs and stop people and ask how to get where you're going. You don't mistakenly order bunny balls for dinner.You can go get your haircut without coming out sporting a blue Mohawk. You can read your rental car manual and fix your own tire. You can read the local paper and listen to the local news. You can argue with people who are trying to rip you off. You can buy things without wondering what's in them or what they're made of. You can go to really, really remote places and ask about stuff hardly anyone else knows about. You can read the plaques in museums so you know what you're looking at. You can understand announcements on trains so you don't miss your stop. You can make telephone calls without panicking. You can join local language tours, which are always more frequent than English ones - and ask questions if you want.

There are a thousand ways speaking the language enhances my experience. But mostly I enjoy the evesdropping ;)

The ability to see and hear a different part of the world through a different language - - even if it's only a few hundred words - - is THE reason to go to Europe.

Best wishes,

Rex

It enhances my experiences differently, depending on whether it is a language I know a lot, a little, or just the phrases from the guide book.

I studied French in school when dinosaurs roamed the earth, and I love going to France partly so I can hear French all around me. I have had lots of fun conversations with people I would never have been able to talk to if I hadn't spoken French. One of the things we talk about is learning languages, especially if they have some English, and we try to help each other out. I have been able to tag along on French-speaking tours and understand as well as translate for my travel companions. Reading signs can be very helpful. Going to performances in French. Reading the local newspapers and listening to the radio and TV. Describing to a hairdresser the way my daughter wanted her hair cut. And I have trouble doing that with my own hairdresser in English! (My daughter's haircut ended up far nicer than either of us had expected.)

I learned a little Italian from books and CDs and it was just enough to ask directions in Rome, understand some of the answers, speak to shop attendants about trying things on, reserve a table at a restaurant on the telephone, things like that.

I tried to learn Portuguese pronunciation before my trip last summer just so I would get fewer blank looks from taxi drivers, and it worked to some extent.

I have been complimented on my truly ghastly French, Italian and, yes, Swahili. These compliments benefited me by feeding my ego.

If I were being serious, I would go on to say that my fully fed ego enabled me to be a little more relaxed, a little more open and a little more friendly on my travels--and as a result I've been treated in kind.

But I'm never serious.

Give it a try and have a wonderful trip.

I found French to be very helpful in Paris. Whenever I would say, "bonjour", they would smile (laugh?) and say, "let's just do this in English".
But when I was really stuck with someone who didn't speak English I carried a notebook and wrote it.

Spanish has come in handy. We met a an Italian couple in Germany and the wife and I just had to talk to each other, like old friends who haven't met yet. The woman knew a little English, we both spoke tourist German. I only know a couple of words of Italian but once we hit upon Spanish; we had a great time. Lots of hand gestures too.

The oddest language experience I had was not travel-related but when regularly visiting a friend in hospital.

He's German, and shared a room with one guy from Togo and one from Nigeria. While his roommates spoke different African languages with their spouses some friends which the other one could not understand, the guy from Togo used French to communicate with other friends (those not from his ethnic group), and the Nigerian spoke English. Since neither one of them shared English or French as second language (besides 10 words maybe), so they communicated with eachother in German.
That was very bizarre, since you hardly think of German as a common language - especially not for two guys of African descent.

So there was a constant switch between 5 different languages, which made that room sound like a modern-day version of the Tower of Babel.

I broke a tooth while on holiday in Paris (snapped it completely in half!!) and I was very glad that I had school girl French and the very charming dentist had a tiny bit of English. At least I could work out that Radiograph was an x-ray and give him the ok to proceed!

I'm completely useless at languages but I always make an effort to learn a few basic courtesies such as please, thank you, hello, goodbye, and some basic numbers up to about 10.

Knowing the word for 'no' came in extremely useful in Tunisia at fending off the gropers before they reached me. After a couple of days I learned to positively spit 'la' and glare at any man approaching me with a big smile and outstretched hand. Sorry to have to come up with a negative example but it was really essential.

If I need to ask directions in Italy, I find that the best person to ask is usually an old lady with a shopping bag.
They don't usually speak English.
We went on a river trip last time we were there and ended up sharing a restaurant table with a French and Spanish couple.
The French lady had been to England years ago but had forgotten all her English. The French husband had no English at all. They had no other languages.
The Spanish husband had a bit of English and some Italian but no French. His wife had no other languages.
I have some Italian and some very rusty French, but hardly any Spanish.
My husband's Italian is slightly worse than mine and so is his French.
We all got on very well and even managed to discuss European politics.

Some Italian classes before my visit to Italy certainly enhanced my travel to Italy, although I must confess that we probably could have gotten by fairly well with just English in Rome, Florence and Venice. It's a little hard to judge all the little things that were smoothed over, since most Italians in those cities do speak some English.

One instance, which still brings a smile to my face:

We attended a mass in Rome celebrated by Pope John Paul II on Corpus Christi in 2004. Assisting were Girl Guides and the Italian version of Boy Scouts. Since my son was a Boy Scout at the time, I wanted to take a photograph of one of the Boy Scouts, so I used my basic Italian to ask him to pose for me. He smiled and declined, but when I said in my poor Italian that "Mon figlio est un Scout!" (OK, it's been a few years, bear with me on this), he smiled again and indulged me. Even the older Italian gentleman assisting with him gave me a smile and nodded, of course.

A small moment, but touching for me. Made me feel my Italian classes paid off, even with all the English spoken in the touristy cities.

First trip to Italy and my husband & I were eager to use our beginning Italian lessons. We saw an older couple from our hotel at a cafe and sat with them. They did not know English but our limited Italian was perfect for small talk: "what is your name", "where do you come from", "how many children do you have?", etc.

The next day at breakfast they approached us and gave us a gold flower with bows and a message. I could read enough of the Italian to understand the word "marriage" and the date-August 23. We were confused because we didn't remember telling them that August 23 was our anniversary. With more broken Italian and lots of hand gestures we all finally figured out that they were giving us a souvenier of our meeting - which was a token from their Golden Anniversary which had taken place a few weeks earlier - and which, we were finally able to explain, was the date of our anniversary as well!

We will never forget meeting Florio and Floria and we have their Golden flower displayed in our home.

My high school and university German from 30+ years ago finally did come in handy on our 3 trips over the past 6 years that included stops in Germany. Enough of it came back to me that I could make a rough translation of information posted only in German when visiting museums, castles, etc.

And my halting Deutsch did break the ice a few times on trains and in other situations that brought us into close contact with the natives. Once off the main tourist track, it came in handy in restaurants and when arranging accomodations in places where no one spoke English, or at least their English was much worse than my German.

That's the only time that the thousands of taxpayer dollars and hundreds of schoolroom hours invested in the German language had any payback of significance. Probably not very cost effective and it's unlikely that I'll ever use it again, but it was handy at the time.

TBH I've found it most useful reading captions in museums. (Oh, and in Turkey I once bought a French guide to a museum because they'd sold out of the English one). Usually there's someone around who can speak or at least understand English in a tourist area for general communication purposes.

logos:
was the tap water safe and how much did you tip?

I drank the local tap water when offered in the restaurant, didn't experience any problems with it. All three times, they were actually serving tap water with ice at no extra charge. Tasted quite o.k.
But then, you can buy canned soft drinks rather inexpensive at the local supermarkets. The 24 can pack is sold without deposit in NV, in CA they did charge 5ct per can.

When the check came to $10.30, I left $12 on the table. The waitress seemed to be happy with that. (at least, I didn't hear any swear words). However, should you drive through town it will be hard finding any public fountains. Next to the front seat of their cars, they have can holders usually where you would expect the stick for shifting gears. Put your soda cans in there, you can even drink something while driving but don't try to shift gears while driving!