I'm getting ready to travel to Italy, is there a decent amount of English speaking people there?

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ktprieto

YES. There will be english speaking people EVERYWHERE. I went there for 19 days and killed myself trying to learn a lot of italian before hand (unsuccessfully). When I got there, I was astounded at how helpful the italians are and how many english speaking tourists were there to help as well.
BUT, I do recommend you learn a few key phrases such as "Hello" "How much is this" "Where is the bathroom" and then of course please and thankyou. Any kind of effort they see on your part will make them want to help you even more.
Have a great time!

malley

Too funny...ever heard the saying "Do what the Romans do"?

Their country, language, culture: Learn there ways....

Claudio C

Every place has its features, its culture and its language. If you travel, you must expect to adapt yourself to the places, not the places to adapt themselves to you.
Imagine an Italian who says "I would go to England, is there a decent amount of Italian speaking people there?" How would you judge him? Modern? Open-minded? Smart? I don't think so.
Wherever you go, be prepared to find someone speaking foreign languages, especially in places like airports or hotels, but don't think all people will be at your disposal. They are at home, you won't.

Lakk

Well, some knowledge of Italian is definitely an asset... but if you're sticking to larger cities and typical tourist spots, you'll be fine. Many Italians know at least a bit of English, especially those that come into daily contact with tourists. In my experience, the Italians were exceptionally helpful and even eager to speak English... I knew Italian, but they all wanted to speak English with me. :)

Genius Cook

A fair amount of (young) people have studied English. It doesn't mean that they can speak it though. I've found many Italians too shy to speak English even if they have studied it.
You'll find that Italians will speak some English in the tourist cities such as Rome, Naples, Venice and then only in the touristy parts of those cities.
Front desk hotel staff usually speak some English. And everyone in Italy know how to say hello... so you should at least know how to say: "Buon Giorno"!

conley39

You won't have much trouble getting around here using English in the larger cities and tourist areas - thousands of tourists do every year. Even the small city that I live in has markers for the historic buildings in both Italian and English now. It's always useful to learn at least a bit of the language if for no other reason to be polite though.

Getting around on the train system is very easy. In the larger train stations, announcements will usually be made in English as well as in Italian, but there are signs showing the arrivals and departure tracks and you don't really need to hear the announcements most of the time. Sometimes it's hard to convince Americans that if they want to go to Munich, they need to get on the train that says Monaco though.

Get a pocket phrase book so you can start a conversation with Italian, but most places where you go the people will realize you don't speak Italian (or at least not well) and will speak English with you. They definitely appreciate the effort though. The only place we ran into a language barrier was in Sicily, but the phrasebook got us through it!

mareeclara

For the most part they speak english..epsecially in the touristy towns.
I know about 3 words of Italian and hod not trouble whatsoever...its better than France!

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