Electronic translators
 

I will be in Italy on vacation for 6 days in May. As much as I would like to show respect for the country I am visiting, I have no ability to learn languages. Are any of the electronic translators any good? How much trouble will I have? I want to show as much respect as possible to make up for my language disability. We also will not have a man with us, will that make a difference? (I know that is sexist, but I believe it is a reality in some countries)
Thank you

To continue your point of view: not having a man with you may be a distinct advantage in Italy.

Translating machines are not worth it. They often garble a sentence to the point of meaninglessness (at least in French). Besides, if you can ask the question reasonably well, will you be able to understand the answer?

Many smiles for your answers! As to the translators, I was wondering how they helped me understand the answer. As to the man, we can always hope so!
Thank you!

Well I'm going to try some free iPhone apps. Unfortunately, they depend on access to the Internet and international data roaming is very expensive.

So hoping to find some free Wifi hotspots.

But it would be like using a site like wordreference.com to plug in word and get translations.

Hi den,

Learn how to say
Hello/goodbye
Please/thank you
Where is.....(the toilet)?
How much does it cost?

Do you speak English, please?

Most of the people you will meet will speak a little (if not a lot) of English.

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

If you get an electronic translator, make sure it has an audio speaker too.

Where are you going? I find it difficult in the major tourist destinations to get anyone to speak ITALIAN to me - they are well used to tourists and you will get by in English unless you are travelling off-the-beaten-path a bit.

Nothing fancy needed! A small, pocket dictionary is very helpful in restaurants though for translating menus so you don't have to ask with things are (again...in the cities, they'll had you an English menu anyway)

Ira's suggestions are nice to know...polite...I think you would find a hard time finding an Italian (under the age of 70)who could not understand those basics in English ;-) so, seriously. don't worry about it.

I recommend carrying a small foreign language dictionary with you at all times. Most of the touristy parts of Italy, France, and Greece that I have visited had people who could speak English. I, too, am foreign-language illiterate. I recommend "trying" to speak their language. That is what my daughter and I did, and it worked well.

I am currently in the process of trying to learn German for my upcoming trip.

someone recently told me that the BBC has a FREE online basic language "course" - could be fun to learn some basics! (my 8yr old son uses Rosetta Stone and loves it - tells me he's not learning anything at all and then he gets shocked when he can understand bits of the RAI news ;-) expensive though)

They were really helpful when we visited the family in Spain, since they older members speak no English wahtsoever. Thus it worked for all of us.

Practice before hand on www.travlang.com or a site where you can hear the language being spoken. Hand-held translators are a joke. Can you really picture yourself having a "conversation" with someone as you type in something, try to pronounce it, then attempt to figure out the reply. Ridiculous.

As for not having a man with you, good luck with that. I'm sure you'll be fine. If you DO bring a hand-held translator, you're likely to be a magnet for every Italian male within earshot.

Thank you everyone for your wonderful and helpful replies. Your last comment, StCirq made me chuckle!!

Oh, and we are going to Rome and Venice so I guess I will be ok according to all of you .
Thank you again

My sister got me a translator years ago. I take it on each trip.

I will never forget in Milan at a kiosk, we were looking for a tshirt for BFF DH. We were trying to think of the word for Husband in Italian. I pulled out the translator as the little old man watched. When the Italian word for husband displayed on the screen, he grinned from ear to ear and asked to see the translator. He played with it for a few minutes.
We left feeling that each would remember that experience.

The BBC Languages can be found at this link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/
The Quick Fix section is especially helpful for essential travel phrases in 36 languages:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other/quickfix/

Thanks for the link!!!