gravysandwich

Our 11 day trip to Italy is only 6 weeks away and we are getting pretty excited. I am trying to immerse myself in Italian history, culture, geography, and to the best of my ability - the language. I have several books on the language, and am presently listening to "Quick and Simple Italian" on CD. For those who have traveled there, how accomodating are the Italians to Americans who aren't fluent (which I would guess is 95% or more)? My philosophy is that a traveler should, as a courtesy, do his best to learn the culture, but learning a romance language in a couple of months is a tough go. I would like to hear everyone's communication experiences an dany recommendations.

Thanks,

gravysandwich

rex

Every bit of Italian you learn will repay you richly in enjoyment of your eleven days... though you will not find it necessary to be "accommodated".

Ten words a day. It isn't that hard to do. Make flash cards. Track your progress. Make sure you say it out loud during your (daily?) lesson/practice sessions. The three best days to start are yesterday, today and tomorrow. You'll be glad you chose the former.

Best wishes,

Rex

epi

It is always good to learn what I call the "politeness terms" eg please, thank you etc. Also ALWAYS learn the word for toilet. I actually memorized the Chinese symbol for ladies room when we went there. It was of course unnecessary, but I felt better. Having said that, we had absolutely no trouble driving through Italy for 3 weeks without knowing Italian. There are those moments, such as wanting another pillow, where you have to bring the item and show it, but that's part of the fun of travel. I find that most young people almost anywhere in the world know some English. It's great to immerse yourself, but don't get frantic. It will all work. If you are going to be in the major cities, you will have absolutely no trouble getting by with English only. Outside of those cities, you may have to be more creative, but people are very nice and do all they can to help you.
However if you are driving yourselves, you do want to learn the words for directions and for understanding road signs, as well as asking for a gas station. One thing that makes Italy easier is that most of us are familar with Italian menu words.
Have a wonderful trip.

BAK

My daughter survived just fine for six weeks in Lucca without speaking Italian. Although much of her time was spent with English-speaking opera singers, she did have to cope with restaurants, getting her laundry done, buying food, finding a place to live for a couple of weeks, and more.

What Italian she knew was along the lines of "Oh plunge the dagger in my heart, beloved one" and other opera-type words. Not too useful most of the time.

It's a lot easier (at least to me) to learn to say a few words than it is to understand what others are saying, so learning some basic please and thank you and hello and goodbye and I'm sorry but I cannot speak Italian, should serve you well.

Perhaps you aleady speak restaurant Italian, and can order meals OK without having to study much.

I think you'll have a wonderful time, made even better if you at least continue in your attempt. It'a a wonderful country to visit.

BAK

cmt

Where are you going in Italy? In Florence and Venice, people will probably start speaking English to you simply because you don't look local and English is the accepted language for speakers ot foreigners of unidentified origin, and even if you speak Italian, you will have to be very determined and insistent if you want to practice speaking Italian instead of falling back on English. In most parts of Basilicata, on the other hand, some towns have very few people who have studied English, and their English may be very limited because they've had so little opportunity to use it. So the answer to your question really depends on where you're going.

gravysandwich

Thanks for everyone's responses. We are flying into Venice, 3 days later to Tuscany (staying in San Gimignano), and then to Rome 4 days after that. We should be exposed to a lot of English during that time, but I really want to make an effort to have some rudimentary conversations in Italian, when I can. My French learned long ago is helping in my studies quite a bit, but these masculine and feminine articles, indirect object pronouns, and formal versus informal hail and farewells are kicking my butt! It is a beautiful language, though, much easier phonetically than grammatically.

Still, we're not gonna sweat it. We'll cram like it's a final exam, and when we get there, what we know is what we know. It is gonna be a great trip!

gravysandwich

LoveItaly

Hi gravysandwich, you will be fine in Italy. And probably a little more knowledgable then the great majority of travelers. Learn what you can, you have received some great advise here and then just relax and enjoy your trip. I am sure that you will find almost all Italians are warm and welcoming and will make your visit a joy. Have a wonderful time!

LarryJ

You are a tourist with money to spend. They want your money. They will find a way to communicate with you. Relax. You're taking a vacation not a mid-term exam. A $5 phrase book will suffice.

Life is short; have fun.

Larry J

Calamari

You will have fun trying to learn a few words and Italians always love to help a friendly Americana/o. If they speaka da Inglese day will be appy to elp you...advice directly from DH - even after 20 years here ee still speeka dis way.

flanneruk

Italians are as tolerant of Americans who can't speak their language as they are of the vastly more numerous French, German, British and Japanese visitors who are just as linguistically challenged.

All Italians working in the tourist industry find that 90-odd percent of ALL their visitors can't speak Italian, and that those people try to communicate either in English - or worse in languages that are rarely taught in Italian schools (like German).

But can I challenge your basic assumption? "learning a romance language in a couple of months is a tough go" Simply not correct. For most English-speakers, acquiring a working understanding of Italian or Spanish in a couple of months is the easiest language-learning challenge there is - if you're committed, as you obviously are.

The issue isn't how accommodating Italians are (answer: very), or whether you'll find the way to the lavatory (you will. Millions of far less feckfull foreigners than you travel round Italy without nasty accidents).

It's that the better your Italian, the more you'll get out of your holiday. Only a fraction of the information available in that church, art gallery or Roman hypocaust is in foreign languages. Italians' graciousness to their monolingual guests isn't matched by the standard of English teaching in Italy (often awful), so many translations and captions are hilariously wrong. Keep on with those lessons and your understanding of what's going on round you will be a gazillion times better.

Most of all, the more effort you put into acquiring the language now, the more spectacular your improvements will be during your 11 days. And in travel, as in golf, the more you practice the luckier you'll get. Try to use your halting Italian as often as you can, and it'll halt a lot less often.

willmar

the answer is: completely uneccessary.

unless you are fluent,busy italians who regularly deal with tourists will switch to english immediately.

you only need two phrases for getting by in italy:

permesso (please excuse me,passing through)
laschami! va via! (leave me alone,go away)

but theres nothing wrong with learning a new language, and while your there you can practise it on the local population.

jmphilly

Good for you - trying to learn Italian, but after the polite and direction words - learn your menu words! Studying for dining is the most thing you can do. I've had friends say they were disappointed in Italian food and this was directly due to their not understanding the local specialities.