Customer Reviews

Easy Italian Phrase Book: 770 Basic Phrases for Everyday Use (Dover Language Guides Italian)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As a teacher of Italian language and literature, I was quite impressed by this little book. The phrases, transliterated for those who do not know Italian pronunciation, are those you will use if you are traveling to Italy or teaching the language. There was a surprising amount of information in this book, which was well worth its low price. I suggest you purchase some other titles if you are traveling to Italy, as it does not contain an exhaustive listing of Italian conversational terms, but it makes a valuable contribution.

I bought all kinds of books, maps and even an electronic translator for my travels. I am not joking when I say this was the one item that was most helpful, easy and fun to use.

This was the cheapest phrase book that I saw offered on Amazon.com and, as trite as it is, you get what you pay for. If you are looking for the most basic of interactions with Italian speakers and are only planning on staying in tourist hotels and shopping in tourist markets, then this might suffice. However, if you are planning to interact with native Italian speakers in a less superficial way, or if you want to be able to express yourself with somewhat more sophistication, I would recommend another phrase book.

This book is worthless, even for $2. Very outdated (phrases about telegrams). I returned it. Buy Rick Steve's Italian Phrases instead. It is more compact and current (asks how to send an e-mail, not telegram).

I had to look at the publication of this book. I thought it might be 1930. The section on Customs is really foolish. No one arriving in Italy needs to learn those foolish sentences about "This is for my personal use", "where are customs?" The train section is useless. Where is the smoking car? You select the type of car you want WHEN YOU BUY YOU TICKET. So old fashion! It is not useful for Italian of today.!

This book is too large to fit in your pocket. It has normal size type but lots of space between the entries. Check out other options and you will find a smaller, more useful reference.

The title promises 770 basic phrases. Easily three quarters or more of these "phrases" are simply the same phrase repeated, with only a word or two difference. An example from page 34: Phrase #424 is "I should like to have [some cake]." Phrases 425 - 430 then tell you how to say you want pie, cheese, cookies, custard, chocolate ice cream and vanilla ice cream. Hm, couldn't I just have consulted a pocket dictionary? Meanwhile, the section on "Difficulties and Repairs", (i.e. situations where you might really need a phrase book), there are a mere 13 phrases!

I found this book nearly useless for my purposes. There aren't nearly enough phrases to rely on the book as an on-the-spot, pocket communication tool, largely because it substitutes too much vocabulary for phraseology. And yet it doesn't have nearly enough vocabulary to make me feel like I could get away without having a pocket dictionary.

Finally a small book that cuts-to-the-chase... it categorizes by typical use. Hotel talk, restaurant talk, taxi/train talk - - and this is not conversational junk - - its what one needs to survive if a non-speaking traveller in a strange land. "where is the toilet" & "I would like a glass of wine" are basics...and well thought out. Highly recommended. Timely shipment, perfect condition. Recommended seller.

This is a great little handbook for travel. Does not instruct or teach you the language, but provides key phrases, words, etc. Great little travel companion.

Sue Dugas, Orlando, FL

Easy and laid out well to use and study Italian. The most popular frequent phrases we need to communicate are here for you. The phonetic help to speak the language is included.