Language in Germany, besides German..English, Italian?

You will probably find more English speakers than Italian speakers.

It's polite to learn some common words and phrases in German, such as "excuse me", "where is..the bathroom, the subway, etc.", "how much", "please" and "thank you". And of course "Sprechen Sie Englisch?"

The only Italian I've ever heard spoken in Germany was in Italian restaurants. English skills are widespread in cities like Munich; English is spoken less often is smaller towns, generally, the exceptions being tourist meccas like Rothenburg and Füssen, but even in small towns, English is a better option than any other language (other than German, of course.)

Munich is rich in speakers of English and they will be happy to speak with you.
As said above, it is thoughtful and courteous to learn a few German words and phrases--Guten Tag (Good day), Danke, Bitte (thanks and please) Wiedersehen (so long, goodbye, until we meet again).
One caution, do not ask for directions to the bathroom unless you want to take a bath. If you want a toilet, ask for toilet or WC (water closet, pronounced Vay Tzay.) The term rest room is not familiar to most Germans.
Relax and enjoy your trip.

According to a recent EU report, 56% of people in Germany know English as a 2nd language well enough to converse. 15% know French, and 9% know German even though their first language is not German. Italian doesn't appear in the top 3. As also noted, older people in small, non-touist towns are far less likely to speak English.

For Italy, it's 29% English, 14% French.

When you're speaking English, try to avoid slang and to speak slowly enough to match the pace of whomever you're talking with. See tips for creative communication in two articles at http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/sightseeing.

Anyone who's services you need as a tourist will speak English.

Hi Charlotte- having a phrasebook is handy (Rick Steves' even includes some humorous phrases that you'll probably never use, but they're fun to read anyway), and many guide books come with at least a page or two of the courtesy words mentioned above, as well as some travel survival phrases.

A menu decoder might be helpful, too, if you want to order (or avoid) a particular ingredient, and you'll find one in a good phrasebook, too. If you come across one of the minority of Germans who don't speak English, and you can't pronounce the German word or phrase, you can just point to it in the book. First, I always try to ask (in their language) if they speak English, and if they say "nein," or are hesitant, I know I'll need a little extra effort to be understood.

Do you drink beer (or are you planning on sampling some of what's arguably the finest beer in the world)? A dunkles bier ("doon-cless beer") is a dark bier, and a radler ("rahd-lehr") is a refreshing combination of beer and lemonade (with less alcohol than a straight beer).

By the way, danke is the most important word to know! Add bitte ("bit-tuh"), meaning please, and you'll go far, even with Germans who speak English. And by the way, if you know the words, "frankfurter," "hamburger," "kindergarten," and "deisel," you already know more German than you thought.

Charlotte,

As the others have said, a combination of the usual polite words (Danke, Bitte, etc.) along with slowly spoken English should cover you well in Munich. I was back there again in September, and had no language problems at all. All of the people that I dealt with, from hotel clerks to servers in restaurants and rail staff spoke excellent English.

Thank you all for your helpful advice! I will learn the basic words!

I did an exchange with the German Air Force. I had taken German in high school and college, then crammed with some language programs before my trip.

The first couple of weeks I'd go up to someone, greet them and ask a question in German and they would reply in English. I considered it a major milestone when my accent improved enough that I'd speak to someone in German and they replied in German.

It's rare to find a German who doesn't speak excellent English, they're mostly in the far north, former east or senior citizens. In the former east, a lot of people will still likely speak Russian as well.

You should have no problem in Munich.

Staying in smaller towns, it is not a given that English is spoken. 6 of the last 8 places I stayed at spoke virtually no English.

Charlotte,

If you have the knack to learn a language in one sitting, go for it.

but what i have learned and experienced is that if you try to learn the basics:

"Hello" "good morning" or similar
"do you speak ...."
" thank you"
"please"
" good bye"

you should be okay. Depending on where you go, you may have issues with the locals not wanting to embarrass themselves, but if they dont want to speak english, dont take it personally and just do your best. use the pointing method if you need to. always say "thank you" in the native language too. Or you can thank them, move onto someplace else to find someone thats speaks english too.

happy trails.

"In the former east, a lot of people will still likely speak Russian as well." This is one of those details that gets repeated over and over again, but it actually isn't true. Yes, children in the DDR studied Russian in school, but kind of like nearly everyone in the US is taught a foreign language but hardly anybody can speak one, real literacy in Russian was extremely low, estimated as low as 5% (source: the DDR Museum in Berlin). Or to paraphrase an old joke about communism, the teachers pretended to instruct and the students pretended to learn. Many people can probably decipher Cyrillic characters and some may be able to roughly understand a written text, but practically the only people in Germany who can converse in Russian are Russian immigrants... who are far more likely to live in western cities like Frankfurt or Köln than in the east.

and it has been a few years now since the wall came down...

I am from the former GDR (went to school and university there) and I speak English, French, Russian, Arabic, Spanish and Japanese as foreign languages. I learned all of those here at school/university (I studied mathematics). And my friends (all mathematicians or physicists in their mid 40s) usually speak 3 foreign languages. Of course practice improves skills and lack of it makes it a bit rusty. (and I found Spanish and Arabic quite easy to learn, French and Russian a lot less).
Italian will only very rarely help you when you are out of luck with your English. Noone will be offended, but languages open doors, definitely in travel. And above travel, as it opens the doors to a different culture. So use any chance to learn some German, but most important, do not worry. And enjoy your trip to Munich (with it's wonderful museums).