I want to know as many of the most common menu items in Italian as possible before I leave (in 10 days!) so I can avoid constantly pointing and repeating "Che cos'e?" Here's what I've got so far; please feel free to help me out by adding more.

bread - pane
wine - vino
chicken - pollo
fish - pesce (does this also mean "seafood"?)
wild boar - cinghiale (how do you pronounce this?)
pepper - pepe
bean - fagioli
artichoke hearts - carciofo
mushroom - funghi/porcini
salad - insalata
vegetable - verdure
misto/mista - mixed (assorted)
fries/chips - fritte
peperoni - peppers
tomato - pomodoro
truffle - tartufo
pumpkin - zucca
appetizers - antipasti
anchovies - alici (?)
shrimp - gamberetti (or gamberi, prawns?)
rice - riso
soup - minestra or zuppa
zucchini flowers - fiori di zucchine
cuttlefish - seppia
lamb - agnello
steak - bistecca
veal - vitello
rabbit - coniglio or lepre
meatball - polpette
octopus - polpo or polipo
ham - prosciutto
sausage - salsicce
cheese - formaggio
cod - baccalà (how do you pronounce this?)
mussels - cozze
eggs - uova
bacon - pancetta

I can just wing it with pastas, desserts, fruits, and beverages.

I'm also interested in local specialties by region. I'll be in Venice, Florence, Sorrento, and Rome. Here's what I know so far:

Venice - seafood, cuttlefish with black ink, risotto
Florence - Florentine steak, truffles (depends on the season?)
Sorrento - limoncello, seafood
Rome - pasta cacio e pepe

Also, what food terms should I know that are more (possibly too) adventurous? Like, I know I probably don't want to order "trippa".

Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much.

As far as pronunciation goes, Italian is one of the easiest languages in the world to master. There are really only two rules you need to know that make it slightly difficult.

The letter c can sound like the c in cat (hard c) or the ch sound, as in chip. If the letter c precedes an i or an e, it's the ch sound. Any other time it's a hard c.

The letter g can sound like the g in got or the j in judge. If the letter g precedes and i or an e, it's the j sound. Any other time it's a hard g.

So you should be able to figure out cinghiale - ching (well, more like cheeng actually) - gyah-lay.

You might find this section helpful:

http://www.fodors.com/language/italian/

Problem is that you will seldom find an italian menu that says there is "formaggio" in the dish you might want to order. It will instead say that it is toma, or stracchino, or bufala, or scamorza.

If you don't want ham, you need to know you don't want speck as well as proscuitto -- etc etc.

And when you look at the antipasti, will you want tigelle, or acciughe, or affetato misto?

There is a great small book called "Italy Dish by Dish." I use it all the time, and I've lived in Italy for years now. But when I go from region to region, I still have learn what is the name of the local fish, the local cheese, the local bread, the local pasta, and on and on. Just tonight I had decide if, for pasta, I wanted gramigna, passatelli, torteloni, tortellini or tagliatelli. Had I been in Piemonte, I wouldn't have had none of those choices -- and instead would have deciding between tajarin or agnolotti and I can't remember what else.

This is a very useful book if you like to eat well:

http://www.amazon.com/Italy-Dish-Com.../dp/1892145901

By the way, mussels are also called mitili and muscoli, depending on where you are.

I think it is great you want to learn, and you certainly don't want to end up ordering food you can't stand, but people on the internet can't help you because food names in Italy are intensely regional.

And as for pronunciation, following StCirq's advice, you'll end up mispronouncing prosciutto and aglio. In a restaurant, you won't need to know how to pronounce the names of what you are ordering. You can point out the item you want on the menu. Again, I think it's great you want to learn more Italian. But no point in learning mistakes.

You may want to familiarize yourself with gelato flavors. I think there was a Fodorite glossary here with Italian flavors and translation. But pointing to the gelato freezer case works too.

You haven;t even started on pastas, sauces, vegetbles, etc.

And a lot of your terms are misleading. While porcini is a mushroom - it;s a specific type. And there are many other specific types. Just like prosciutto is one specific type of ham. And pesce is fish - but youw ill see that only as a category - with several different types of fish under it. So - it depends on what type of fish you want - and if you want a whole fish or a filet or a steak or ????.

You really need a full-scale menu readers that describes how dishes are made - not just that it is chicken. (Is that a whole roast chicken, a chicken breast, a w ing, a leg, and how has it been cooked and what sauce is it in.

I memorize the few things I know I don;t want and then bring the menu reader. I can;t say I've ever been seriously disappointed (except one place in Venice - and that was the chef not the menu - fish isn;t supposed to be crispy all the way through) - and have had some very nice things I wouldn;t have ordered.

A note about some fish and beef dishes. These are often priced by weight, which can lead to a nasty surprise bill after you've enjoyed that large, whole fish you thought was only 10 euros....but find out it was 10 euro per 100g. (1/4 lb), or that huge Florentine steak...

Same goes for some mixed antipasti. Caveat emptor.

Oh please, who doesn't know how to pronounce prosciutto? And aglio doesn't even follow the rule - there's an l between the g and the i.

But carry on trying to be a superior, condescending poster. Everyone's got your number.

We've found this little PDF very useful when translating all manner of recipes, articles on cuisine and, most recently, an entire cookbook...

http://www.destinazioneusa.com/files...i%20cucina.pdf

Otherwise, if prepared to invest the tiniest amount, try this shirt-pocket sized publication....

http://www.amazon.com/Gastronomic-Di.../dp/0948807601

And, for some background reading on the food and wine specialities in our part of the country, you may enjoy...

http://www.bb-napoli.com/english/specialities-guide.pdf

.... if only for the sumptuous photos!

Peter

It's generally a good idea to order regional specialties. If you find enough of them that sound appealing in advance, you can avoid asking some poor server to explain every dish on the menu.

Here are two useful lists for Rome:
http://www.liveinrome.com/cuisine.htm
http://www.rome.info/food/

You can start on this page for Venetian dishes:
http://www.venicebanana.com/traditio...n_cooking.html

And on this page for Florence:
http://www.cookaround.com/cook/italia/toscana/

There's information about food in Campania in these two places:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campania#Cuisine
http://www.charmingitaly.com/top-10-...s-of-campania/

Thanks to everyone for the helpful replies. I appreciate it!

Here's a little hint:

When you see an asterisk next to a menu item (*) the item has been previously frozen. You may see this next to fish and seafood, as well as porcini and other vegetables out of season.

Florentine steak is known as bistecca and it is served very rare. If you cannot eat it this way, do not order it, as overcooking will result in shoe leather and many places refuse serve it any way other than the way it is intended to be eaten. The menu designation "Chianina" means that the steak is from the most highly prized breed, from the Chiana Valley of Tuscany.

Here is a photo of the bistecca:


http://www.montalcinoreport.com/mont...ino-by-il.html

Some fish and beef will be priced by weight so be careful ordering or you might pay a lot more than you intended.

In Italian - pronounce like:

Ga = ga

ge = jeh

gi = jee

go = go

gu = goo

gue = gway

gui = gwee (lin gwee ni)

ghe = geh

ghi = ghee - this is why Ghiradelli's is Gear uh del lee, not Jeer uh del lee.

ca = ka

ce = cheh

ci = chee

co = ko

cu = koo

che = keh

chi = key -- la machina = la mah kee nah

gl[vowel] = pronounced like "ll" in Spanish so tagliatelle = ta lee a tell uh

gn[vowel] = pronounced like n with tilde in Spanish so Bologna = bo lo nyuh

sce = sheh

sci = she

sche = skeh

schi = skee like LoSchiavo = low skee ah vo

Finally, anything mechanical is "la machina." ;-)

But the double-l in Spanish is not pronounced like the "gl" in tagliatelle!

relleno=re-ye-no

But since I do not speak much Italian, perhaps tagliatelle does have the "y" sound! I need to know so I can order next time I am in the north!

One more thing about pronounciation: most Italian words carry the stress on the last syllable but one. If the stress lies on the last syllable, its vowel is marked by a grave accent (à, è, ò, or ù). There are also words stressed on the third last syllable, but apart from the verbs' third person plural (PORtano etc.), there is no rule I know to idetify these words (MACchina, e.g.).

Thanks so much for the info about pronunciation, as well as the other suggestions. You guys are awesome.