english speaking.

i am visting nice next week and i am a bit concerned about the language barrier as i dont speak french can anyone recomend anywhere near the rue de liberte that is english speaking where we can go to eat we are a bit worried we could end up eating something we dont want to lol

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English, of some kind, is spoken in most restaurants.

Rue de la Liberté is very touristic.

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There%26#39;s always the %26quot;my finger speaks french%26quot; school of communication - point to what you want on the menu.It generally works.

Works too when it comes to asking for the bill - just kind of do a signature flourish in the air with an imaginary pen. Voila. The bill will appear.

Nice exists on tourism - a quarter million visitors in the last few days over Easter. Few will starve to death for lack of language skill.

Cheers

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thanks a lot its nice to know i wont be a total fish out of water lol thanks again

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Even if you speak French in restaurants, unless your accent is close to perfect the waiter will answer in English. This can be a little irritating but it does help to avoid confusion.

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As the above posters have said, you will manage fine in most circumstances without being able to speak French. However, being able to say a few phrases in French will go a long way towards enhancing your holiday experience. I would suggest getting a basic phrase book such as the one from the Lonely Planet series that includes a menu reader. This will make the issue of ordering a meal much less stressful.

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The previous post has very good advice. Without it you might be quite surprised at what appears on your plate. Frommers also has basic menu items translated in the back of the book. Enjoy your stay, say bon jour and merci, and smile a lot.

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As others have mentioned you shouldn%26#39;t have a problem. We found it most handy to greet everyone in French by saying bon jour if before 4pm (or around that sort of time) and bon soir in the evening... they will soon pick that you are not French and reply back to you in English, sometimes we were even greeted in English first up! We did not encounter too many people who didn%26#39;t speak English - or at least basic English A lot of menus are in both French and English anyway and I don%26#39;t think they mind translating for you - if you show courtesy and have a go at a little bit of French... and hey whatever you end up eating in France will be fabulous anyway!!!

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There%26#39;s a lot of good advice above. Also, might be worth mentioning - look out for the set meals at a set price, they offer good value to just choosing a la carte from a menu. Confusingly, the set menu is called %26#39;le menu%26#39; and consists often of 2 or 3 courses, sometimes a coffee or glass of wine and sometimes a small choice, 2-3 items per couse to select. The price is set and you can expect to pay anything from about 10 to 30 euros for the set menu. They are often displayed as an extra piece of paper attached to the printed menu or written up on a chalkboard outside the restaurant. If this is the option you want, you must tell the waiter you are having %26#39;le menu%26#39; or you will be charge per individual item and it will be much dearer. If you are happy to drink the free tap water with your meal, ask for a carafe of water. The %26#39;carafe%26#39; word is important, or the waiter will try and sell you bottled water. I often have the carafe, the tap water is fine to drink in Nice. If you just want one course to eat, going for the dish of the day offers good value and fresh food. It is called %26#39;plat du jour%26#39; again, usually scribbled up somewhere near the printed menus.

Don%26#39;t be at all worried about the english. You will recognise many of the dishes, there is a lot of pizza and pasta in Nice and many menus have english versions.

Regarding tipping, service is added automatically, written as %26#39;service compris%26#39; or sc on the menus, by law now I think, so there is no need to tip, if you do tip, don%26#39;t go mad, a bit of change or a couple of euros is fine. The sc is 17.5% of the bill! so it%26#39;s a big chunk without adding an extra 10% on top of it all. (Of course, tip whatever you want if you feel the extra is deserved)

If you are happy glugging house wine, look for the %26#39;vin maison%26#39;, blanc is white, rouge is red and rose is, well, rose, lol.

Don%26#39;t worry you%26#39;ll have a great time.

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Thank you so much to everyone who has offered me advice i am feeling a lot happier now knowing it wont be a total blur to me thanks cant wait to get there now

Thanks again