Get Frommer's Germany publication. It contains a lot of popular phrases and commonly used words which should help to get you by. You will be surprised by how much you will pick up just by listening for key words during conversations. I know enough German to get by(my mother was from Munich but she spoke very little German in our household while growing up) but when visiting last year I made attempts to order items off menu's only to be told "wait, I will get you an English menu." You will also find that most people enjoy boning up on there English by practising it with you. So make the attempt which is appreciated, but don't be surprised to find yourself gabing away in English with the person you tried starting a German conversation with.