Question:
I will be going on a backpacking trip in Europe this summer.
My primary language is English, but I have studied Spanish for three
and a half years in high school and am currently taking a college
course in conversational Spanish, so I feel I can express myself
reasonably well in Spanish. The main idea of this post is to determine
how I can best utilize my knowledge of Spanish in my travels. Of
course, I will learn the basic pleasantries in the language of each
country that I visit, but English and Spanish will be my main methods
of communication.
First off, I would like to know how prevalent Spanish is as a
second language in countries outside of Spain. I would assume that the
closer you get to Spain the more prevalent it would be, but I'm not
certain whether that's right. Since I'll have a Eurailpass, I have no
definite itinerary, but I plan to possibly visit Portugal, France,
Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium (in
addition to Spain, where I will begin my travels). I would be
interested to know approximately what percentage of peoiple speak
either Spanish or English as a second language in each of these
countries.
Particularly, I'm curious to what extent Spanish is spoken in
Portugal. I have heard that the two languages are similar enough that
speakers of one can understand the other to some extent. How true is
that? Similarly, I have heard that Italian is quite similar to
Spanish. Is Italian or Portuguese similar enough to Spanish that I
might be able to understand spoken or written Portuguese or Italian?
In a related question, I know that there are several areas in
Spain where Castillian Spanish is not the first language, such as
Catalunia and the Basque country. In these areas, is it considered
acceptable to address a stranger in Castillian Spanish, or is it
necessary to greet him/her first in the local language?
Finally, is it a good idea to travel more in places where more
people are likely to speak either Spanish or English as a second (or
fist) language, or am I just as likely to enjoy myself just as much in
countries where I mostly have to communicate with gestures and a few
choice phrases? In other words, how important should language be to me
in deciding which countries to visit?
Answer:
I will try to answer most of your questions. I speak pretty good
Spanish, and have spent some time in Spain.
1. English will generally be more useful than Spanish outside of Spain.
I would always try English first, unless you are within a short distance
of the Spanish border.
2. In Spain, try Spanish first. I have run into a few people who only
speak Gallego, for example, but this is relatively rare. In a few
cases, people may switch to English, it depends on your accent. In
Mexico, no one switches to English on me, but in Spain I did experience
that switch from time to time. I understand that Spain has the lowest
rate of mutilingualism in Europe, so your Spanish will be helpful.
3. I find spoken Portugese incomprehensible, I understand one word out
of ten. The written stuff I can figure out, due to similarities with
Spanish. I can understand written Italian, not sure about spoken
Italian. Native speakers of Spanish will be more successful with spoken
Portugese and Italian than you or I.
I always greet people in the language that I want to talk to them in.
The greeting helps people get into the right mindset. If you greet them
in French and then switch to English, I think that it may be polite, but
it is confusing. This may be a minority view. Speak slowly and be very polite.
I personally prefer to travel where I speak one of the local languages.
You will get more out of your trip that way, and practical issues become
so much simpler. Maybe it is just a control thing. That said, I would
not want to limit you to the handful of european countries where you do
speak the language. A lot of people will speak English, particularly
those who frequently deal with tourists. You are also likely to find
people on the street who could help you, you can always say, "Do you
speak English?" The younger and more educated the person, the more
likely that they will speak English. The more rural the area, the
further off the tourist route, the less English will be spoken.
I will make the general statement about your trip plan that you would be
better off spending more time in fewer countries, visiting fewer places,
rather than trying to see all of Europe in a short time. I would say
that if you change cities more than 2 or 3 times per week you are
engaged in manic travel, and will probably end up knowing little about
anyplace you have been. There is a reason that people joke about 10
countries in 14 days; some people do it, but it is not smart.
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