France - I've only been to Paris so I can't comment on elsewhere, but people in Paris, especially those working with tourists, speak English.
Italy - I found that everywhere from Rome on northwards, people can speak at least a middling amount of English, especially in the bigger touristy cities. But as you get further and further south, the level of English proficiency gets lower and lower. When I went to Sicily, I basically survived on the handful of Italian phrases I'd learned and charades.
*nods* Very very true. My husband and I stayed in a hotel in Torre Anunziata, a suburb of Napoli, and most of the people there spoke only the smallest bit of English, very few words. I can't even imagine what Sicily would be like! lol. Can I ask you, we went to the Amalfi Coast (lots of people there did speak English, since it's such a huge tourist destination, that's the one exception to the rule, I think), and the beaches there, it's all ROCK, no sand, completely awful. Does Sicily share those same beaches, too? Was just curious. =)
The only beach I went to was a beach outside of Palermo called Mondello Beach, and it was sandy. But I think there are probably a lot of rocky beaches around Sicily as well, being a volcanic island and all.
I have stayed at the Treehouse!! It is amazing and soooo beautiful. Seriously, just amazing. It is actually so far away from everything that they have to come pick you up from the train station and drop you back off when you want to leave. It is important you make resos though, because if they are out of beds then you are out of luck because there is NO WHERE else to stay in that town. They actually took sympathy on me and let me sleep on the floor my last night there because it turned out nmy train didn't leave until the next day. They have snowboard equitment and stuff that you can borrow for free and then rent a board and enjoy the days out there. Seriously, it is really really great
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That sounds amazing. Thanks so much for the review! Do you think I could spend like 3-4 days there without exhausting things to do? Also, is it hard to meet other English-speaking people?
Not at all (meeting english speaking people). Depending on what time of year you are there really depends on who you will run into. During the summer for example you will run into a lot more americans and canadians while in the winter you tend to see a lot more aussies and kiwis. I have never had any trouble meeting people AT ALL, the only place where I didn't meet ANY english/spanish speakers at ALL was in Dresden, Germany and in Krakow, Poland. But I wasn't even in those cities that long and I wasn't staying at "backpackers" hostels, so it wasn't a real social enviorment. At the treehouse EVERYONE who works tehre speaks english, although it isn't a huge staff so you'll see the same couple people everyday
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I decided to break into two different comments, because my last one about the TreeHouse got to be so long.
To tell you the truth, I have had a lot more problems in Austria and Germany not speaking the langugage than in France. Learn (or write down) basic words in each language of how to be polite. As long as you really seem like you are trying to be polite you really souldn't have any problems. Just try to write down important phrases like, "Where is the..." and things like "youth hostel". I owuld just go around saying (in the language of whatever country I was in ) "Excuse me, excuse me. Please," (then point to "where is" "youth hostel") and then say "thank you thank you" in the language of the country over and over again, never really had any problems at all. I found the most important was just not to speak english.
As other people said, Denmark you shouldn't have a problem.
If you're worried about it, just learn "please" and "thank you" and write down and point to other words.
Ya, I was recently in Copenhagen. EVERYONE speaks English, it's crazy. But, just to forewarn you, Denmark is a highly-socialized country, so expect to pay a lot for everything. Money was very limiting for me.
Aww :( I'm coming from Australia so I guess Europe in general will end up seeming expensive. Ah well, I shall fall back on youth hostels and fast food, haha. Thanks for the tip. ♥
Yeah, I'm from the US, so I lived on fast food. A cheeseburger from McDonalds or Burger King (the small ones, that usually cost less than 1 USD) were charged at 10 DKK (roughly exchanged into 2 USD). But don't let the prices scare you away. I thought the city was beautiful!
If you get you hands on the city map, it has a "3-hour self-guided tour", which was awesome. You get to see about 32 different sights in the city.
A cool thing to see, if you're into this kind of thing, is Christiania. It's on Christanshavn (a part of Copenhagen, to the east), and is an unofficial "free" state. It's like stepping into the 60s or 70s. Pot is supposed to be declared legal there, so everyone sells out in the open. It's an experience, and they supposedly have the cheapest bars in KBH.
Wow, that sounds amazing! Thanks so much for the tip. I'll be there with a friend, but I'll be sure to drag her along.
2USD sounds like how much we pay for cheeseburgers here in Australia too, actually, so I think maybe it's not so much Denmark being expensive as you Americans being super-lucky and having everything cheap! ♥
Never had issues getting around without knowing the local language, though sometimes it's a little more stressful. Biggest issue I usually face is in regards to food. If you like to eat at local, non-touristy places and you aren't thrilled with the idea of eating something that's a surprise, you might want to figure out some of the food words before you go. (I just go with the surprise)
Haha that's me in English-speaking places too, though. I'm the one who's always like "wait, nobody told me there's meat in meat pie!" so at least it'll all be really consistent. Thanks for the tip, though! i shall research food before I go. ♥
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France - I've only been to Paris so I can't comment on elsewhere, but people in Paris, especially those working with tourists, speak English.
Italy - I found that everywhere from Rome on northwards, people can speak at least a middling amount of English, especially in the bigger touristy cities. But as you get further and further south, the level of English proficiency gets lower and lower. When I went to Sicily, I basically survived on the handful of Italian phrases I'd learned and charades.
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Thank you!! ♥
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To tell you the truth, I have had a lot more problems in Austria and Germany not speaking the langugage than in France. Learn (or write down) basic words in each language of how to be polite. As long as you really seem like you are trying to be polite you really souldn't have any problems. Just try to write down important phrases like, "Where is the..." and things like "youth hostel". I owuld just go around saying (in the language of whatever country I was in ) "Excuse me, excuse me. Please," (then point to "where is" "youth hostel") and then say "thank you thank you" in the language of the country over and over again, never really had any problems at all. I found the most important was just not to speak english.
As other people said, Denmark you shouldn't have a problem.
If you're worried about it, just learn "please" and "thank you" and write down and point to other words.
Reply
Reply
Reply
If you get you hands on the city map, it has a "3-hour self-guided tour", which was awesome. You get to see about 32 different sights in the city.
A cool thing to see, if you're into this kind of thing, is Christiania. It's on Christanshavn (a part of Copenhagen, to the east), and is an unofficial "free" state. It's like stepping into the 60s or 70s. Pot is supposed to be declared legal there, so everyone sells out in the open. It's an experience, and they supposedly have the cheapest bars in KBH.
Reply
2USD sounds like how much we pay for cheeseburgers here in Australia too, actually, so I think maybe it's not so much Denmark being expensive as you Americans being super-lucky and having everything cheap! ♥
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