Originally Posted by
Palal
In Portugal, you'll find English spoken by more educated older people and most young people. Much easier to get around with English than in Spain. Speaking a few words of Portuguese gets you many extra points.
Yes, I've heard there is a big difference between Portugal and Spain -- it comes with being a smaller country, no doubt. An interesting point about Portugal is that they watch American films and TV with subtitles rather than dubbing (like the Dutch but unlike the French or Germans for whom everything is dubbed in their own language).
The rest of my experience is like yours. Since I know some German, it was fun sometimes exchanging a few broken sentences in German with some people only to find out they were also native English speakers like me.