gladgirl Posted January 1, 2018 #1 Share Posted January 1, 2018 What phrase book and guide book has been most useful for you on a Danube river cruise? (Budapest to Deggendorf) Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6rugrats Posted January 3, 2018 #2 Share Posted January 3, 2018 Phrase book? You honestly will be just fine if all you know is English. We did use google to translate English into German one time, but that’s it. I always like DK books for travel, but there are many good ones. Look on Amazon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valley Girl of VA Posted January 3, 2018 #3 Share Posted January 3, 2018 None is needed. The only problem we had was taking the subway in Budapest to the Central Market. I had a picture ofd the market and a man stood by the subway board and held up his fingers telling me when to get off and then motioned "up". The younger people have learned English - for the older ones, it was not allowed. You'll be fine, trust me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Roz Posted January 3, 2018 #4 Share Posted January 3, 2018 When you figure out Hungarian, let me know. It's a Uralic language, and very difficult. As previous poster said, you'll do fine with English. Even if you do learn some German, if you visit Austria on your cruise they speak an entirely different dialect. Roz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelerThom Posted January 4, 2018 #5 Share Posted January 4, 2018 I am lousy with other languages (and NOT proud of it), but have travelled on my own (no tour group) in many countries where I could not speak the language and only barely make out a little of the written non-Roman-alphabet signs. Unless you believe that everyone can understand English if only you speak it loud enough, most people are quite helpful especially people who want to sell you something. Most ATMs, Metros, etc will provide instructions in English. The Shanghai Metro has fares based on distance and I couldn't figure out how much; with the trusty Metro map in both English and Chinese I walked up to the ticket window, smiled, pointed on the map to both the station I was in and the one I wanted to go to, and the sales person held up 3 fingers (for 3 yuan). Easy-peasy. IMO it is more important to understand the local currency than the local language (but I do wish I understood both). Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPT Trips Posted January 4, 2018 #6 Share Posted January 4, 2018 It takes little effort to learn: gruss Gott, szia, Bon jour, and dobla don. The rewards frequently are tremendous . . . good English in return. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xmaser Posted January 5, 2018 #7 Share Posted January 5, 2018 If you speak any German, they can understand you in both Austria and Germany. They are accustomed to travelers from each other's country. English is rarer in Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gladgirl Posted January 6, 2018 Author #8 Share Posted January 6, 2018 Thanks for all the feedback! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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