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1: A lifesaver!
I don't speak any Italian, so this guidebook was a bit of a lifesaver. I don't like to refer to books when I'm trying to experience the culture, but it was nice to be able to review this at the end of the day or in the morning before we started the day. I tried to learn a few important phrases and feel my way through the rest. We visited Venice, and most people in Venice do speak English. While I can confidently speak French, Italian is quite different (more akin to Spanish). I love the pronunciation guides; they were most helpful.
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2: Everything you need to travel to Italy
Has all the phrases you could ever want/need while traveling to Italy! The phrases are written in both English and Italian and include phonetic pronunciations for each word and phrase.
I would highly recommend buying this for your travels to Italy.
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3: Steves' fundamental phrases
The hard to find words in the Italian vocabulary are presented here...there is something for everyone. If you are cussing out an Italian driver--ordering a meal--visiting a museum--or asking for directions--Steves provides phrases and words for you!
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4: Useful and amusing
Rick Stevens has written a book with all kinds of useful phrases and lots you may never need but will laugh at while reading.
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5: Not a way to learn the language
It seems that Americans buy books such as these in great numbers. They are generally a waste of time. If one observes how most foreigners speak English when they visit us, we might try to emulate them when we go abroad. Italian is not a particularly difficult language to learn; there are many cognates with English....and Spanish and French. You will enjoy foreign travel so much more if your vocabulary can be extended beyond "Where is the Post Office". In fact, with laptops and e-mail, no one really uses the post office very much these days. Get some tapes and listen to them on your commute; take an adult ed. course, but these phrase books, which looked cute 50 years ago when post-war Americans started discovering Europe should now be considered obsolete.
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