Italian & french phrase books - Is there a phrase book you'd recommend?
 

As you may have gleaned by the message title, we're heading to Italy and France shortly. Given we don't speak either language, purchasing a phrase book (one per country) was today's task. I went to the bookstore(I live in Australia), and found a number of different phrase books (as you might expect!). I wondered if they are fairly comparable, or if there is a particular phrase book that you might recommend?? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

I doubt that they are in your bookstores there, but Rick Steves' (an American) little phrase books/dictionaries are very good, in my opinion. They cost about USD $7.95, and if you have enough time before your departure you can order them from http://www.amazon.com Just go to that site and type in "rick steves phrase and dictionary", then find the ones for Italy and France.

As a fellow Australian I would definitely recommend Lonely Planet. Five years ago I used the Dorling Kindersley ones for Portuguese, Spanish, French and German as they came with cassettes - I had a cassette player in my car at that time. They were OK when I took them to Europe, but in Switzerland my schoolgirl French grammar let me down. The DK books don't have a grammar section and I needed more reminders of tenses other than present. Also, in German - lacking any formal learning in that language - I was frustrated that DK was always first person singular when I needed to say "We...".

On the same trip I also took a Langenscheidt Universal Phrasebook for Italian. As I once lived in Italy and had brushed up my Italian prior to the trip, this was one I didn't use as much.

I bought a Lonely Planet Persian phrasebook some years ago because I teach English to Persian speakers, and was so impressed with all the cultural info in it that I bought the LP *Italian* one last year when we planned to return to Italy - forgetting that I had the Langenscheidt! So when I was packing for last year's trip I had to choose between those two. The Langenscheidt is more compact than the LP, and also has a grammar section. The LP is thicker than the DK. I think if you just need French and Italian phrasebooks I would recommend the LP for all the extra info they give you, which I'm sure you'll appreciate if you're visiting France and Italy for the first time.

If you can't get the LP you might consider Berlitz. I bought the Indonesian one for my children, and as an Indonesian teacher I can approve it. The Indonesian one [at least] is the same size as the DK ones, but has grammar and culture sections like the LP.

I hope that helps rather than confuses you further!

I'd recommend the Lonely Planet Fast Talk Books if you are just looking for basic Communication. I carried the French one around in my pocket(small and lite) while in Paris and was very handy to check up on phrases before using them. They are available for about 6 bucks Aus at the major bookstores. Got mine at dymocks.

Here are a couple of very useful online phrase "books."

http://www.zompist.com/phrases.html

http://yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au/~mongoo...h/phrases.html

I don't have a special phrase book, but I have used several of the ones with the yellow plastic cover and also Rick Steves. But, I'd suggest a menu reader book also. The one I like is called "Eating and Drinking in Italy" and there is also one for France. I found that the phrase books didn't list as many or the same foods I was encountering. Have fun!

bluestar, Suelynne & navgator - Thanks for your recommendations. I'll probably search out the LP books, although it sounds like Rick Steves' books are another excellent option.

cls2paris - There was another reference elsewhere to the book you have recommended. I'll add that to the book shopping list. Thank you.

jake1 - bizarre phrases to say the least. We'll stick with the books!

I too recommend Lonely Planet. I used this on my recent Italian trip and before I went, I took a course at Sydney Community College. The text there was the Lonely Planet phrasebook. Has some very interesting phrases in it - I challenge you to use them all!

cls2paris:
The yellow plastic cover ones are the Langenscheidt ones.
aussiefive:
Re "interesting phrases": I know what you mean... and they're not in the Farsi [Persian] Lonely Planet phrasebook!

I really like the "Italian at a Glance" and "French at a Glance" phrasebooks. They're small (a little larger than an index card) with a plastic cover that holds up well in my purse.

I found them well organized and while the food/drink sections don't replace a thorough menu glossary, they were useful in general eateries. (but not upscale restaurants with elaborate menus and ingredients.)

I prefer the Rough Guide phrasebooks and have them in 7-8 different languages. There's a great introductory section that explains the basic grammar points (even if you don't plan to say a lot, it's useful to understand the basic grammatical concepts) and pronunciation. The dictionary includes pronunciation for each word and they use a two-colour scheme (e.g. pronunication highlighted in blue) that makes them very easy to read.

Suelynne,

You mean you are not expected to have the same type of holiday when speaking Farsi as you would speaking Italian!

Ah, MELSAL, but don't you think you might get some interesting responses to those phrases?

"Ce restaurant n'est pas aussi bon que le Mc.Donalds' I think I ate at the Parisian restaurant that was the inspiration for this phrase.

On those two websites I posted, I should have pointed out that some of the translations are very loose and sometimes a bit risque.

i saw another lp phrase book that comes with a little cute CD. u won't even feel it till you open up the back.

seems like a good idea...reckon it helps with pronunciation?