<<Local people are more receptive to you when you make the effort. People smile at you when you try.>.

And sometimes they laugh out loud, which is an icebreaker! I speak a bit of French but apparently have a strong American accent and also mispronounce some words to the amusement of Parisians.

I think the French appreciate my effort, but they usually quickly switch to English. But it certainly helps that I can ask directions and order food in French. I also learn a few words in the language of whatever country I am visiting. Learning a few basic phrases in Arabic and using them was appreciated in Morocco. Mispronuncing grazie in Italy led to a little lesson from a tall, handome Florentine.

My foreign language skills are limited, but I managed in Paris to tell them that my friend was ill and described the proper symptoms(vomiting, not related to eating something, etc.) and got her the proper medication. She had gone earlier and only managed "upset stomach" in and ended up with the equivalent of Pepto-Bismol, which did nothing to alleviate her intestinal virus.

And since many signs and notices are not dual language it helps to be able to understand the basics such as "open" "closed", etc.

The more you attempt their language, the more it is appreciated, and I do think they are more receptive.

Unfortunatly knowledge of the local language is expected, not only just appreciated. They very much give you the idea that you must be stupid, not speaking their language perfectly. However, you'll manage if you learn a few words like "please" and "thanks". Most things are "self explanatory" anyway.

Gosh Logos999, if the French people I met while on hols were laughing at my attempts to converse with them, they were very discreet about it!! I had only basic French which I used whenever I could and found the Parisians absolutely delightful and very understanding of my attempts.

Yes cathies, I've found that too. The French are so much more understanding than the Californians.

The further away from the tourisity spots you go the more it comes in handy.

We were in the boondocks of the Czech Republic and they spoke ZERO English, but did know some German. We had our phrase book, knew the basic pleasantries and played lots of charades.

I learned a few phrases, like "thank you very much, the meal was wonderful". The wait-staff was always touched that we respected them enough to at least make the effort to learn their language. We didn't simply walk in and expect them to know English. IMHO, the attitude you travel with speaks volumes, more so than how many words you know or how good or bad your pronunciation might be.

One specific example - dining in a true Mom & Pop restaurant in Pavlov the Czech Republic. I managed to convey to the waiter that I wanted to know what HIS favorite thing on the menu was. You should have soon the look on his face. He was delighted. He pulled up a chair and launched into a long description of a certain item. I understood maybe two words of his animated description. "Moravian" and the word for "bacon". His suggestion was wonderful and every time he passed our table he would look at me with a big expectant grin and wanted to know that I was happy with his suggestion.

It was a great night.

Cheers, the turnip

We were looking for our hotel in Cordoba, and were totally, utterly lost in our GPS-less rental car. I had a map, but didn't know where I was, much less how to get to the hotel.

I stopped a fellow driver, but he didn't speak English. My bad Spanish was unintelligible to him. Luckily he spoke some French, I asked him for directions to our hotel, and we found our way.

The moral? Learn to speak French for your trip to Spain. ;)

<<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. >.

Then you're not completely useless.

Logos, your point is clear - so one answer to OP's question might be to turn it around: How will knowing English enhance a European's visit to the US? Of course, in all the ways mentioned above ...

Language is not only a great social lubricator and a necessity in an emergency (and to prevent one), it is also its own reward. And I think that learning a new language - even if it is not often (or ever) used - is still far from a waste of time and money. It teaches so much about this singular quality of humankind, communication, and about what we share and where our points of view may differ.

I just thought of an instance in Austria several years ago.

My sister went with the high school band to Austria; prior to the trip, all the students planning to go took some "mini" German classes focusing on the touristy phrases, not the usual high school German classes. You know, things like "Where is the bathroom?" or "How much does this cost?"

At one point she and a few other students were on their own (!--wouldn't happen today, I'm sure) and were looking for the post office. Using their touristy German, they asked a bystander how to get to the post office. The bystander seemed to then believe they knew more German than they did, so they got back a long, detailed explanation of where the post office was. It was something like: go two blocks and when you see this building, turn right; then turn left one block later and . . . You get the idea. Their response to the bystander: Um, OK, go two blocks, turn right, . . . And, yes, they did find the post office.

Any way you look at it, speaking some of the language did benefit them.

I tried to learn Italian before our trip to Italy though we flew in through Paris due to much cheaper flights. I would have been much better off learning French than Italian. In France we met more people who did not or refused to speak English. We used Bon Jour and Mercie and they always knew we were Americans by accents. In Italy it seemed everyone spoke English. I did pull out our word book once to ask train conductor what was the stop before Pisa.
Our first night in Rome after being in Paris the night before, I tried to tell the waiter Thank you and used Mercie instead of Gratzie and he laughed knowing I was American and forgetting which language I was using.

Hi NN,

I can attest that saying Bonjour/Au revoir, S'il vous plait/merci greatly enhances one's visit to France.

If you wish to buy an RER ticket to CDG airport, it helps to know that it is Say Day Zhay and not See Dee Gee.

((I))

ira..

that makes me wonder (since I got no clue, and I'm willing to admit that this question lacks even the tiniest bit of relevance):

Is the abbreviation CDG really that common in spoken French? Or would the average Frenchmen ask for a ticket to Paris Charles-De-Gaulle at the counter?

He would ask for a ticket to Roissy.

My ability to learn and retain foregin langauges is simply terrible. I do try before every trip, but never manage to master much.

Before our kids' first trip to Europe (a trip to Paris), we had a local high school French teacher come to our house to tutor us. Our youngest was 7 at the time. It was pretty much money down the drain....except, whenever our 7 year old would order her dinner or a pastry in French, she was immediately loved and the warmth would spill over to the rest of us.

So, if you're taking kids to Europe, make sure they know a few phrases and you'll be greatly rewarded!

I speak Spanish fluently which also helps me with French, Italian, and Portuguese. And yes, lived in Lisbon for a year and never really did perfect my Portuguese - it's a tuffy for pronunciation! I love languages and always try to use the fundamentals when possible if nothing else. Hand signs are great! I really believe people appreciate the attempt and as stated, if they can't take it anymore, will meet you half-way with English.

Oh and GSteed,
I'm sorry you woed your wife before you wed...maybe you can woo her today.

logos, If you want to find a Californian to speak German with, you've got to speak with someone around 50 years old.

We all learned these German words when we were kids, from a comedy called Hogan's Heros; :)

achtung
bitte
danke
dummkopf
raus
schnell
verboten
auf Wiedersehen

I loved that show!!
Jawohl, Herr Kommandant.

The german dubbing didn't even get close to the original.
Wasn't the hogan guy murdered by some hooker?

I'm not sure it was a hooker, seems like it had something to do with a sex scandel.

You can get the film version of Bob Crane's rise and fall: Auto Focus

Crane's son says the facts are wrong, but that's a typical bio-pic complaint. Be warned, it could have been called "Sex Focus".

I speak French and it has greatly enhanced my visits to France. It allows you to "live" in the country rather than feeling like you are just observing at a distance. It has also helped me in other European countries where I don't speak the language, but could find someone who also spoke French. It also helps me read and sort of understand Spanish and Italian.

I wish I spoke other languages! One of my most embarassing travel moments was as a young backpacking student in Switzerland. I went to a restaurant one night, asked the server to point out a recommendation. The soup they suggested was delicious! Later in my stay, I wnet to the same restaurant and pointed to the same item on the menu. They served me a completely different soup and I called over the server to complain.

The name of the dish, as you may have guessed, was Tagesuppe (apologies if spelled incorrectly!)