Solo Female Traveler in Prague and Vienna
 

I have no knowledge at all of the languages spoken in Prague and Vienna. As a solo female traveler, will I have trouble when visiting these cities if I can only speak English? Obviously, I will arm myself with language books/dictionaries, but I wonder if I should wait to travel with a companion to avoid any "dicey" situations...?

While I am not familiar with your two cities... Unless your travel companion speaks foreign languages I'm not sure why that would be of any help.

Honestly, I don't think language has much to do with safety. You aren't going to talk yourself out of a "dicey" situation anyway. Usual travel city smarts should keep you reasonably safe in the first place.

I have been to both, and consider them both to be fairly to very safe cities. I had no issue at all in Prague and was able to get by with a Czech phrasebook, and at most places in the city, found that at least one person spoke English.

Even moreso in Vienna - English is even more prevalent there so long as you are in the city proper.

We stayed on the outer areas of both cities, and felt completely safe as a couple. In terms of a solo traveller, staying in the city center of both towns should be even more safe (common sense and "travel smarts" as above should make for a safe trip.)

We never once felt unsafe in either city, even at night. My wife and I felt more safe there walking solo than we do in Boston or NY.

Have fun! Man oh man do I miss Prague!

Both cities are very safe and I would not hesitate to go to either alone. (There is a taxi scam in Prague - but you can either have your hotel call your cab if you need one - or outface the driver if he tries to cheat you - one tried it with us and was not happy with the result.)

English is very widely spoken in both cities and you will have no problem not speaking German or Czech. They also both have very extensive tourist infrastructures and easy to use public transport.

Go and enjoy yourself.

I was in Prague alone and I didn't have any trouble. Obviously don't go wandering around really late, but that holds true everywhere. Most people know a little English. A simple phrasebook couldn't hurt just-in-case.

I was in Prague alone last summer and had no trouble at all. While I usually try to learn a little of the language where ever I go, people told me English was so prevalent in Prague, and the language much more difficult than say French or Italian, that I didn't even bother to try to really learn it. I just taught myself a few key phrases, but it turned out I didn't even use them. I stayed in the central areas, but I walked back to my hotel as late as midnight and didn't feel unsafe. It might be different in less populated parts of the city, but the center of the old town was full of people out and about at that hour. I had a great time.