My family, on my mothers side, is from Austria. I have visit my relations on various occasions over the years but have been dependent on their ability to speak English, always saying that the next time I'm in Austria I'll speak to them in German. As you can imagine the visits have taken place unfortunately the conversations have been in English not German as I have promised. I'm going over again this coming November to an uncle's 80th and this time I am determined to have at the very least a basic grasp of the language.