hello everyone. I had a few questions and hope you guys can help me out a little. I am traveling to Madrid on April 7 - 15th. I will be staying in Hostel Lopez because the price is reasonable and someone there speaks english. Okay, here's the problem: I speak very little spanish, actually none at all, i stumble and my grammer is all wrong, but i truly LOVE Spain and just had to go there again. When I was there in July '00, I was with a group of Americans, many spoke Spanish, so it wasn't hard for me to get around cause i always had someone to rely on when we caught cabs, ordered food, etc,. Well, now I have decided to venture out and go with my bestfriend who has no Spainsh at all. We will be the blind leading the blind in a country where little english is spoken. I do know my way around a little, when i was there in July I was able to catch the train, so I understand the metro system pretty well. But what will i do when we go out to clubs and we have to catch a cab or if we want to set up tours, etc... What do you guys suggest. I have several phrase books, but i don't know if this will be enough for me to get by. What do you guys suggest??? Please give me your feedback. Thanks

If you feel nervous about your limited knowledge of Spanish, you still can make use of the four weeks remaining until your departure to learn some more basic vocabulary and communication skills. Even though that time won't be sufficient in order to achieve proficiency in Spanish, it can make your trip more fun and enjoyable, and the natives will appreciate the effort even if you actually cannot say terribly much. So why don't you get some book and tape like "Spanish in thirty days" and delve into it? I think it is much more fun to try and talk to the people than relying on other persons' communication skills. And you will be able to make a better use of the phrase books with a broader knowledge of the language and the way it sounds.
And then, your love for Spain is enough of a reason to learn Spanish, because a deeper knowledge of the language enables you to understand the country and culture better.
Ultimately, even though not everyone speaks English, I think it is not terribly hard to more or less find your way through without Spanish-I know people who have travelled through China's countryside without knowledge of Chinese and I bet that is far more of an adventure!
But still, I warmly recommend to study at least a little bit the beautiful Spanish language if you have a some time available in the next weeks.

Don't worry!
I speak terrible Spanish and I always have the best time in Madrid.If you try to speak a little Spanish the Madrilenos will love you for it, but they will love you anyway so relax.
peter.

thanks Peter, I am studying my Spanish books every chance I get. I know that I won't have too much of a problem.

I think you won't have problems in communication, people is very friendly and speak some English.
I also suggest if you can buy one of those Spanish program to practice with your computer, the new programs have so many features, like pronunciation, you can talk, hear your pronunciation, hear how you should pronounce. And they cost like 25 dollars.

Rafael