Going to France with limited French for a day

I speak English and limited French and—anecdotally—most French people I've spoken to in the Île-de-France region would switch to English whenever they realized I wasn't a native French speaker, even though I had no issues understanding what they were saying in French.

While the knowledge of French would totally come in handy at grocery stores, cafes and such, you should have no issues visiting any major city in France with the working knowledge of English alone.

Toulouse is probably as good a non-Paris city as you could get to. Consider that it's home to Airbus, so while it doesn't have that many tourists proportionally, it gets a considerable amount of solely-English-speaking traffic. As long as you stay more or less downtown you shouldn't have too much trouble dealing with basics, if only because some member of the public could be a British engineer (if they're still in the EU..).

That said, I'd make sure to get your transportation information before leaving the airport, because few bus drivers, say, are going to be able to answer your complex questions in English. Get your materials in writing at https://www.tisseo.fr/en/home and learn a few words of useful vocabulary (sortie, arret..) and you should be fine.

Be aware also that a huge proportion of the population speaks Spanish. There are over a million descendants of Spanish refugees in the area, and in my friends' experience you can get help in Spanish anywhere around Toulouse, much easier than in English.

Most french people in major cities in France like Toulouse speak some english, especially those who work in the service area. My advice, start by saying bonjour and aksing if they speak english (parlez-vous anglais?). They'll have probably already guessed you're not french, but they'll be far happier to help if you're polite and don't assume that they speak english (a lot of french people find tourists assuming everyone there speaks english is quite rude).

Overall, all of the important signposts have english translations on them and most people speak english, so you'll be fine!

You will be fine.

Toulouse Airport is an international airport, you will find enough signage (French and English) to get you in and out of the airport to the city center either on a Tram (T2), bus or a taxi.

Some officials at the airport will have working knowledge of English (be mindful of the accent :-) ); A little less at the city center.

I'm living in France and did my studies in Toulouse. I get back to Toulouse quite often.

I would advice you to have a look at "Office du Tourisme". They do speak english and will be happy to help you.

There's a little train starting at the Capitole place that take you to the most interesting parts of the city. The duration of the train tour may fluctuate given traffic jam.

Don't forget to try the "Saucisse de Toulouse" and the "Cassoulet".