I'm curious if any of you have used any of the guides designed for translating Italian menus. I have found 2 available through Amazon.com, and I wonder if any of you have used either one. They are "Marling Menu Master for Italy" and "Eating and Drinking in Italy: Italian Menu Reader & Restaurant Guide". Any recommendations? Thanks.

This is from a previous posting by me - - I posted it on a thread that turned rather contentious: <BR> <BR>"Original fettuccine alfredo in Rome - do you know where?" <BR> <BR>=================================== <BR> <BR>But my biggest find may be of substantial interest to lots of Fodorites: <BR> <BR>www.acena.it/dizionario.html provides five-language translation for literally hundreds of restaurant and kitchen terms, including simple descriptions for what is in many kinds of sauces and common Italian dishes. It's organized by food types, and then alphabetically. <BR> <BR>================================== <BR> <BR>This website is considerably better than many similar books I have seen, so you might want to consider how you could print out all or some of it (this will take a bit of effort) - - before buying any of the books mentioned in your message. <BR> <BR>Best wishes, <BR> <BR>Rex <BR>

<BR>Rick Steve's produces a $7 pocket-size phrase book for French, Italian, and German. <BR> <BR>It doesn't have everything but it just got us through France, Italy and Switzerland. The menu section is surprisingly complete. <BR> <BR>It includes some funny lines as well. I made a clerk crack up by phonetically reading "I am nearly broke" in Italian while my wife was shopping at a jewelry shop in Florence. <BR> <BR>I never did try "Your food is so good, I want to suck my mustache".

We just got back from France, Italy, Austria and Switzerland and the Rick Steves pocket book that the previous poster just mentioned never left my bag. It was always in my possession. We even used it in the different countries to find out what the name for the type of gas we used for our rental car. <BR>It is what we always used to know what was on the menu and for conversing and asking for things, and even for shopping.

topping real questions, seeking to get things back to travel, even if only a little bit...

Yeah REX but this is from MAY he's been and back

No, actually I am going in October. <BR> <BR>I've ordered the Marling Menu Translator. I'll report back on my comments after I have a chance to look it over. <BR> <BR>Thanks.

To Steve Curry: <BR>PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me how to say "this food is so good, it makes me want to suck my mustache." [for use by my husband, in case you're wondering...] <BR>Thanks.

Eating and drinking in Italy is a great book!!! Small enough to carry around and it has every dish in it. I used this when ever we went off w/out our italian nonna.

A Rick Steve's pocket book for Italy gave us the "it ate my card" (mangiata mi carte) phrase -- it was written for ATM problems, but it also worked when the Vincard machine on the Autostrada gobbled up my sister's credit card!

Try checking out half-price books. I found a great little pocket Italian-English dictionary w/menu translator for $.99 <BR> <BR>But, it's always hit or miss at this store. Worth checking. <BR>Later

I received my copy of Marling's Menu Translator from Amazon today, and I think it will be very helpful. It's small so that it will fit in a pocket, and it has everything divided by course. I'm anxious to try it out!