Conversational Italian for Travelers: Just the Important Phrases (with Restaurant Vocabulary and Idiomatic Expressions) is... YOUR traveling companion in Italy!
Read below about this book. If you like, click on the links that follow to read excerpts from the Conversational Italian for Travelers book series that I have been expanding on for this Conversational Italian! blog.
I hope you enjoy these blogs and consider buying my Conversational Italian for Travelers books for your next trip to Italy, or just to learn important phrases needed for conversational Italian.
I know you will use these Italian phrases EVERY day while traveling!
Truly different from other phrase books – Conversational Italian for Travelers Just the Important Phrases is friendly, humorous, and also provides a method to understand and remember important Italian phrases. There are many tips for the reader on how to create their own phrases and how to ask questions to get around Italy comfortably. Includes sections not found in other phrase books so the traveler can really fit into the culture of Italy.
Light weight book of phrases slips easily into a pocket or purse. Keep handy simple phrases of greeting, how to change money, or how to take the train. Learn about how to communicate politely in any situation. And, of course, learn how to read those Italian menus and order at an Italian restaurant! This book is contains excerpts from the larger work, Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook. All the phrases you need to know with tips on how to create your own!
Meeting and Greeting in Italian
As in English, in Italian there are many ways to greet people, and different expressions will be used depending on the situation and how well the individuals know one another. Italian society has become overall less formal. Many easygoing, familiar, and slang expressions are now commonly used, not only between friends and family, but even between acquaintances, although polite forms of address are still important to know. Click here to read more…
“Prego” is Italian for “You’re welcome” and So Much More!
Prego is the direct response to grazie and means, “You’re welcome.” It is derived from the verb of politeness pregare, which has several meanings.
Pregare can be translated as “to pray,” which lends itself to the connotation of asking or requesting something. English phrases like, “I pray of you,” “I beg of you,” or “Pray tell,” carry the same idea, although these are no longer commonly used.
In a similar way, a simple, “Prego…” can also be used, usually with a gesture,* to address someone when on line in a crowded place, as in, “Go ahead of me, I beg you, if you please…”
“Sono pregati di” is a polite expression derived from pregare that may also be heard when someone in charge, such as a flight attendant or tour guide, for instance, is directing a group of people.
Finally, if an Italian waiter comes to your table at a restaurant with a wonderful dish for you to try, he may put it in front of you with a flourish and say, “Prego!” as in “There you go!” Click here to read more…
Parla Italiano?
For the last week on our Conversational Italian! Facebook group, we have been discussing how to answer the question, “Parla italiano?” “Do you speak Italian?” Of course, this will be an important phrase to know how to answer when in Italy! Have an answer handy that works for you. Even more importantly, learn the phrases listed below just in case you have difficulty following the Italian spoken to you once you start up your Italian conversation!
Click here for a summary of this topic, adapted from the “Important Phrases” section of Chapter 2 of our textbook, Conversational Italian for Travelers © 2012 by Stella Lucente, LLC, now available on Amazon.com and www.Learn Travel Italian.com.
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Conversational Italian! 