I agree that using an ATM for cash is the best approach. But I did get into a bit of a pickle with my ATM in Venice a few months ago. When I put my card in, there was no option (that I could find) to have the instructions in English--they were all in Italian. I did the best I could to try to translate, but somewhere in the process I hit the wrong button and the ATM ate my card. Bummer!!! The bank where the ATM was located was open, so I went inside to see if they could retreive the card. They told me to come back at 4:30 and they'd get it out. I went back at 4:30 only to find that the bank had closed at 4:00 and there wasn't a soul there except the janitor. (As a result of this incident and several others while we were there, I have a really bad taste in my mouth for Venice--but that's another story). The upside is that I wasn't too concerned about my ATM card--other than the inconvenience of not having it to use--because the card was inside a bank. When I got home, I got a new card. Nobody had ever tried to use the "captured" card.
Anybody got any tips on using ATM's in foreign languages??