While in Italian 2 For Travel YOU were asking the questions, it would obviously be quite useful to also understand the possible answers.
The Next 13 Italian Phrases
Why These Phrases?
In Essential Italian 2 we added “Where …” questions – if you’re looking for the bathroom, a pharmacy, a bus stop, the subway or railway station, a bank, an ATM, or the Tourist Information.
Asking such questions in Italian – especially if you’ve practiced your pronunciation a bit – may let your conversation partner assume that you understand Italian quite well.
The result will be an answer and a stream of words that’ll fly right by you.
So asking the person to speak more slowly could be your first reply in such a case.
And it would be good to also know some basic directional words and phrases in Italian – left, right, straight ahead – as the typical answers may well include them.
In Essential Italian 3, there are only two sentences you really may want to practice saying: “Potrebbe parlare più lentamente, per favore?” and “Molte grazie per il suo aiuto!”
The other 11 phrases and sentences will be useful to understand as you receive answers to your “Dov’è…?” question. You still may want to record yourself saying them, so you can confirm, what you thought you understood, e.g. where to find the next water-bus stop in Venice. And – you’ll also remember them better that way.
Food, Drinks, Restaurants
Finding a recommended restaurant, Café, or bar has been made much easier with GPS-equipped smart phones and mobile devices.
And finding a good restaurant in Italy has to be part of your travel adventure.
Once you have arrived at the place, you may have to ask for a table and the Menu, place an order and then ask for and pay the check.
Knowing a few key phrases in Italian will make all this much easier.
You’ll find them among the next 14 Phrases in Essential Italian 4.
(Check back with us in a few weeks!)
If you are used to the 15-20% tips, generally expected in US restaurants, you’ll be pleasantly surprised: In Italy, as in nearly all West-European countries, tips are included in your check.
But for good service 5-10% tips are always welcome.
As customary in Europe, when paying with a credit card, the transaction occurs at the table with a handheld device.
European visitors are always amazed, and appalled, that in the U.S. we let a waiter disappear with our credit card, to then return after a few minutes with a paper slip to sign – and certainly with ample time to copy the card specifics. Amazingly – and credit to all the honest waiters an waitresses – we believe this only happened to us once in the U.S.!
