lovefriction

Someday I'd like to do some travelling to Europe, but a few things are holding me back. The language barrier is my biggest concern. Is English spoken much in countries like Italy, France, Spain, Austria, etc? What about signs - are they in English? I'm assuming they are not. With that in mind, I've been thinking of a second language to learn. What is a good all-around second language to learn for Europe? I was thinking of Spanish, but does anyone have any better ones? Also what's a good method of learning? I've heard decent things about the Rosetta stone program, but it's pretty expensive. Thanks, for the help.

JamesL

Well, from some people I hear that in France some people speak some english, i guess. the Czech Republic, UK, and Germany, i heard, have a pretty good number of english speakers. If you want decent hospitality, go to countries like Italy, Germany, the countries listed above, and Poland; and i also heard St. Pete, Russia. France, especially Paris, would be alright. The place looks incredible, but the people will treat you like crap unless you can speak french. have fun and hope u get there! I wish i would...

kclass99

Have a look at http://www.survivalphrases.com , there are lots of language lessons for travellers. Good luck!

mrsklipkan

don't worry about language.. it sure is nice to show the locals you can speak their language, but you'll be fine with only english..

dhelpaso_99

In most European countries English is spoken, so you can ask your way around. the signs however are not in English. If you get yourself a small dictionary or travel guide for each country,you will find the tourist attractions and the most common phrases in this particular language, and it makes a nice souvenir to bring home one of those books from each country. Learning another language will not help you with your travels in Europe, because Spanish is only spoken in Spain and on the Spanish islands. A new language is always best learned when you are there in the country, and forced to speak it. What good will a foreign language do if you never speak it or practice it.

Pinguino

In Countries in north of continental Europe English is generally known (in Denmark and Sweden near 70% know English); in Central and Mediterranean Europe, it's less spoken, but the younger the people you meet, the higher the chance they do.You're not going to have any problem by this point of view when you're in a citiy/town with high touristic value, though.Sign are in the local language (sometimes in local languages), not in English. As for learning a language for Europe, remember in every Country the most known foreign idiom is English by large.So, in Europe Spanish is useful for Spain, Italian for Italy, German for Germany and Austria, etc.A reasonable compromise could be learning either Spanish or Italian; it's true both language are similar, although you should be careful with similar or identical words with completely different meanings in each language, but if you learn one of them, you're not going to have any problem in *spelling* and anyway learning at least useful sentences on the other one. Italians are generally regarded as the more prone to help tourists who don't know Italian, especially if they at least show they're trying to.