Prague & Budapest problems with language?
 

Considering a trip here this fall. Will we have a problem communicating as this will be an independent trip and we only speak English?

Hi CD,

We were able to enjoy our visit to Prague with only a minimum of hand waving and sign language. Just about everyone we met, especially the younger folk, spoke some English.

((I))

Prague was one of the centers of English-speaking expats many years ago, there are plenty of English speakers and Americans who live there, and people involved in tourist businesses do, also. I only encountered some people who did not (realtively speaking, of course many are not fluent) when I woudl go to some outer suburbs or when dealing with service people not in tourist businesses (ie, clerks in the metro system). I learned a little Czech, studied it for a while before going, so it wasn't any problem for me. It would be a problem a little in some outer areas perhaps but I suspect you won't be going there.

I wasn't in Budapest long enough to judge about that, but I would say in general any place that wants tourists and is fairly built up for that trade (and has been for some years) is not going to be that difficult for you. Budapest is behind the curve compared to Prague, of course, and it wasn't that big draw of the place to go when you when to recreate your life. It's usually not a problem anywhere if all you want to do is walk around, go to tourist sites, and buy things in shops and restaurants.

I went to some small towns in the Czech Republic and got by only speaking English. Prague was easy and I stayed in Prague 6, not in the center. Even 15 years ago in Budapest I didn't have problems communicating.

In the historic center of Prague the signs pointing to sights are only in Czech so make sure whatever information you have shows the names in both English and Czech otherwise you won't be able to follow the signs to your destination.

No. You'll be fine.

English is the second language in Budapest because the locals old enough to remember want to forget that they were forced to learn Russian. No one outside of Hungary's historic borders (larger than the current ones) speaks Magyar and it is not linguistically close to the Slavic languages so the Hungarians need to learn something else and that second language NOW is English.

Prague was the first Warsaw Pact city to have a significant influx of Western Europeans and Anglophones after the Iron Curtain collapsed. Its had nearly 20 years of Brits flying in on weekends for stag parties and its sex trade too.

We were in Prague and Budepest several years ago.

I noemally learn a few words of the local language prior to a visit.

I looked at a sheet of paper and decided there's no way I couls learn that.

Well, English must be the second language as everybody other than government workers (subway, train station) speaks English.

Amazing what tourist dollars will do.

<i>Amazing what tourist dollars will do.</i>

That statement is both flip and insulting.

Both Hungary and Czechoslovakia (and later the Czech Republic) wanted to establish and grow their ties with the US, US markets, Western Europe, European and world markets after the Iron Curtain folded. The international language of commerce (much broader than "tourism") is English.

It has not so much to do with the tourist dollars. The main reason is that most people like to be able to communicate with other people who speaks a different language, at home or abroad. Hungarian and Czech people also travel these days and need to be able to make themselves understood. English happens to be the "second language" in more or less every European country and in a lot of other countries around the world. Hungarians have to speak English with Danes, Serbs and Thais, not only with Americans.

You will manage with English in Hungary and in the Czech Republic. Older people may not understand what you say.

I just visited Prague last month. With only a couple of exceptions, the people I interacted with spoke English well enough to communicate with me. Most of the restaurants had English menus for the asking. One thing I was not prepared for, though, was that some of the shops and restaurants didn't take credit cards - so be sure to ask before you order and make sure you get some cash from the ATM just in case.

English will be fine in both cities. They are used to large numbers of Anglophone visitors for many years now.
Should you go into smaller towns and villages, you find German useful, and not just with older generations. This is because of the long history of German visitors, starting with East Germans in the Communist days (countries they could visit without a visa) and reunified Germany to this day.

It has nothing to do with east Germans but several hunderd years of Austro-Hungarian history. The rather strong Czech dialect known in German as "Böhmakln" when Czech people speak German sounds really nice. :-).

Have been to both several times and never had any problems. Those in the tourist industry will speak some basic English - but if you get off the beaten track (stay in a distant residential neighborhood for instance) you may well meet people in local shops who speak none. But there is usually someone nearby who can help.

the one thing you do need is a good quality menu reader - so you know what's IN the dish and how it's prepared - not just that it's chicken or pork.

Thank you all. We want to visit Pak which is outside of Budapest. Can anyone recommend a hire car? Or should we rent a car and drive ourselves? (We want to find a church there where my husbands father was baptised and view the countryside where he lived as a boy)

German visitors, that's a good one. My impression was that people in Prague were not exactly fond of German "visitors" from about 1938 to 1945. I was there with a German friend and she told me her feeling was that they did not like Germans that much, although she didn't blame them, and she spoke English when there, not German, to avoid bad feelings.

Looks like someone stuck in 1945 (not even 46). LOL. This isn't an issue anymore with anybody (not even Benesch is discussed).

The issue in some cases is someone making 500€ and the other guy 20 miles away makes 5000€ doing exactly the same work. What would you prefer.. 500 or 5000?

I studiously prepared a worksheet with 3 columns, 1 being a common English phrase, 2 being its Hungarian equivalent, and 3 being its phonetic pronunciation for use in Budapest.

When we got there, young people could be depended upon to speak pretty good English. One of our days, I wanted to ask something and a 50ish non-business-type man was the only in sight. I whipped out my phrase sheet, hungry for an opportunity to use it and amaze all with my linguistic facility, and spoke my phrase. His brow wrinkled, I repeated, then again. He observed I was reading it, and said, "Do you speak English?".

He then proceeded to give me directions, and I left, humbled.

I studiously prepared a worksheet with 3 columns, 1 being a common English phrase, 2 being its Hungarian equivalent, and 3 being its phonetic pronunciation for use in Budapest.

When we got there, young people could be depended upon to speak pretty good English. One of our days, I wanted to ask something and a 50ish non-business-type man was the only in sight. I whipped out my phrase sheet, hungry for an opportunity to use it and amaze all with my linguistic facility, and spoke my phrase. His brow wrinkled, I repeated, then again. He observed I was reading it, and said, "Do you speak English?".

He then proceeded to give me directions, and I left, humbled.

That is really funny Tomboy!

When tourist money is concerned, those who cater for foreign visitors (and profit from them) will learn to speak any relevant language to entice them in. Since German-speaking visitors have been the mainstay of foreign visitors in those Central European states for many decades, German is widely spoken and understood, though younger people (aged perhaps under 40) who grew up in post-Communist era will normally prefer English (though German is usually the second foreign language they learn in school).