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Slowlane3, yep, that is about it. You really only need to know how to get fed and bed and directions for the w/c, directions are normally accompanied with gestures. You'll be fine. Whenever we tried out our tourist Italian (or German, French), the locals were appreciative but wanted to try out their English! Never had a problem in any western European country, just learned a few phrases... where is the ATM?, etc. and learned the words for the directions, left, right, straight ahead, downstairs. Well, you get the idea.
Oh I love spelling nazi's! What would a forum be without a waste of bandwidth like your type. Please don't tell me you got to 3,000 plus posts in a couple months by correcting spelling in threads - CityDataForum should send you a nuisance bill.
The OP thanks you for your contributions to this topic (and he should thank me for bumping up his post).
Look on Youtube for videos how to say (and pronounce) the basics like the Numbers (up to 20), Hello, Good-bye, Please, I'm Sorry, etc..
You can't expect to learn a new language to be conversant in a short time but it's still a good idea to learn the basics so you'd seem more polite. This goes for any foreign locale where the official language isn't English.
While I understand your point regarding how common English is among young people in Europe, your claim that they speak English better than a native English speaker is complete nonsense.
haha. Walk two blocks south of Beale Street in Memphis, compare the homeboy-on-the-corner's version of English to the Italian busboy's English working at a resteraunt a few blocks within the vatican. Tell me who you understand better.
OK it's an exaggeration, but I work for a European company, travel there like I travel down the block, and talk to these guys every day. It's not that much of an exaggeration. The dutch, particularly, seem to have some unique skill with language.
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