Can anyone suggest a good Italian phrase app?
 

I would love to practice before my trip to Italy. Also is there way I can use it and not eat up data on my phone while I am abroad?

There are plenty of phrase books and dictionaries that can be used totally offline. I have the Slovoed Italian-English dictionary on my phone, which is pretty complete and didn't cost a whole lot.

Phrase books are not a whole lot of use in a foreign country. It would be best to learn a few polite words and phrases, and to rely on English for any discourse that matters. For that, the important Italian phrase is "Parla italiano?" ("Do you speak English?") Even more important than learning to say this is to learn that you never ask an Italian anything without a polite greeting first. So make that, "Buon giorno. Parla italiano?" Likewise, "Ciao" is a very informal greeting, sort of on the line of "Hiya." You usually don't use it when speaking to strangers.

All in all, other than Please, thank you, good day, good evening, and things like that, it's best to stick with a language you know well.

I've found Google Translate to be useful in foreign countries, but that does use data. However, you can use Google Translate before you leave home to learn how to say those polite Italian words. When you translate anything in translate.google.com , it gives you the option of hearing the pronunciation by clicking on the little audio icon.

<< the important Italian phrase is "Parla italiano?" ("Do you speak English?") >>

This made me smile!

Perhaps "Parla Inglese" would be more correct. :)

I have been listening to Pimsleur CDs practicing for several months, but, I think a phrase app would be helpful. On my last trip to Italy I found that when I attempted to speak Italian people were much more friendly and helpful..

I do get my languages mixed up!

It's true that people appreciate your effort to address them in Italian, but once you've got past the preliminaries, most would prefer to continue in English if their English is better than your Italian.

Being polite and respectful is more important than speaking Italian.

Like you, I've found that even if you speak just a little in their language they appreciate it and are not as leery of trying to answer in English.

Not an app for translating phrases, but if you want to practice a bit beyond Pimsleur here are a couple of sites that I've found helpful when learning Spanish and French.

http://www.memrise.com/courses/english/italian/ this is just drilling vocabulary, but the algorithm they use for tracking your progress is very good. You can find blocks for 'Greetings' or simple phrases and drill on them.

https://www.duolingo.com/ this is more rigorous, teaching you to translate, but it's apparently more effective than Rosetta Stone and it's free. There's an Italian section. I've completed French and Spanish, about 3-4 months for each, and you learn enough to reach roughly A2 level on the CEFR scale, or 'Basic User'.

I've been wondering the same thing..great post!

Any recommendations for a small phrase book to bring along?

When I was there in the past one thing people LOVED was when I said "that was an excellent meal" in Italian (I'm not sure how to write it out correctly here) It was cute how much they gushed over me saying that!