If you're considering teaching in a European country and don't speak much if any of its local language and can't find a place to learn some of it before you go, I suggest taking some German lessons ahead of time.

I spoke very little Czech before I came to the Czech Republic as there was no place to learn it around my hometown in Canada before I left.

Any time that I've had to tell someone that I couldn't speak Czech or didn't understand enough of it to understand what they were saying to me, invariably their next line has been to ask if I could speak German. This has also held true for trips that I've taken to Slovakia and Hungary. If I couldn't speak the local language and the person speaking to me couldn't speak English I got asked if I could speak German.

Like English, German is one of those languages that is in high demand for business, so you'll find a lot of people who can speak it because they work for German based companies who require them to speak it.

French, Italian or Spanish will also be very helpful in European countries, but from what I've seen, I'd say a command of German would be more reliable.

My advice comes from 20/20 hindsight. Had I known axactly how widespread German was in Europe and how many could speak it, I'd have taken a few courses in it (as opposed to Russian courses that I took) before coming here.

German is considered a key language in Europe, basically spoken widely enough that your chances of finding someone who can speak it wherever you go in the continent are very good.