In article 1hRAj.68140$yE1.30721@attbi_s21,
Jay Honeck wrote:

(Actually, his biggest worry is that he's not well-versed in European
Spanish, having been more exposed to Mexican Spanish. Apparently the
vocabulary and pronunciations have grown apart fairly significantly.)


Tell him not to worry. Its a much smaller difference than US and Australian
english.

Just tell him to learn the three key phrases:

-Con permiso (excuse me)
-Gracias (thanks)
-Por favor hable mas despacio (please talk slower)

That should do it

Ah... and a small tidbit... US people are considered rude in most of europe,
mostly because they don't try to speak locally and just barf in loud and slow english.
If Joe tries first to speak spanish (or german, or french, or... etc) even if he fails
misserably, that will be seen as an ice breaker and he'll be able to continue
in english if needed. Most europeans speak decent english in turist cities, and
a lot even in more remote places.

(I sound US to germans, thats how I know...
--
Eduardo K. | Hofstadter's Law:
http://www.carfun.cl | It always takes longer than you expect,
http://e.nn.cl | even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law.