We will be visiting Prague in Sept. Are there a lot of language problems there? I was in Tanzania and Italy recently and most people spoke English. I am reading the tour books and it is difficult to really understand some of them??????????
Txs.
|||
Language problems depend entirely on how well the traveler speaks the native language.
I think in the urban areas, you%26#39;re more likely to run into residents who speak some English, and in the rural areas, less so.
My wife and I are trying to acquaint ourselves with a few basic words and phrases in Czech before we go. We don%26#39;t expect to become conversant, but would at least like to be able to help bridge any communication difficulties. I think that challenge is part of the fun of travelling to a different part of the world.
If you%26#39;re curious, we%26#39;re using a pocket-sized guide from Berlitz. It seems to be intuitively organized and filled with essentials.
|||
I was just in Prague for the first time. I don%26#39;t know a word of Czech and I was just fine.
We were tourists and didn%26#39;t travel outside of the city or away from the sites. Did everyone speak English? No. However, the hotel staff, people working at the tourist attractions (and shops around these areas), and tour guides did.
All of the restaurants we went to had English menus which were also numbered so we usually ordered by number and/or pointed if we weren%26#39;t positive we were being understood.
The taxi drivers we had knew very little English but they knew %26#39;airport%26#39; and we had the hotel name and address written out. The subways were simple enough to figure out. We couldn%26#39;t figure out the ticket machines but you can buy tickets from the person working the booth - he spoke English and was able to help us figure out what type of tickets we needed.
It%26#39;s a beautiful city and I thought everyone we encountered was very friendly towards tourist. So, don%26#39;t worry about the language if you are staying in Prague. Have fun!
|||
If you are only visiting Prague you will not have too many problems. Get a good guide book and more importantly a good city map which ideally has the tram and metro map on it.
Hotels will have English speaking staff. Restaurants will have English menus, although the translations might not be perfect you will manage - point and smille. If the staff speak really good English you are almost certainly in a tourist trap (which in my opinion includes Kampa Park), so expect to be ripped off.
On public transport the ticket vending machines do have English instructions, but you have to look hard to find the button to press to change the language. It%26#39;s often easy to get a public transport pass at the booth at the airport where the staff speaks English. Stamp your pass the first time you use it.
If it makes you feel better, I lived in Prague for 2½ years and like the majority of expats there, I never got beyond the basics - although I did become an expert at arguing with taxi drivers trying to take me the long way round.
Outside of Prague, if you are struggling to make yourself understood in English, German usually works.
|||
you don%26#39;t need any czech if you stay in the centre - most people you will encounter speak english as as said above, most restaurants in the centre have english menus.
saying dobry den (good day) is a good enough introduction. Czech is a difficult language to pronounce and if you do try to speak czech, most locals probably will not understand what you are saying anyway becuase you will invariably pronouce the words incorrectly
|||
-:- Message from TripAdvisor staff -:-
This topic was inactive for 6 months and has been closed to new posts. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one.
To review the TripAdvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html
We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason.
Removed on: 9:18 am, September 06, 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment