Words we SHOULD learn before heading to Italy?

Permesso - if you want to get past someone in a crowd. Scusi - if you accidentally elbow them as you pass. If you say scusi to get by, your intention will not be understood.

Say good morning/good evening sir/madam all the time before you ask for anything (gelato, directions, tickets . . . ). I'll leave the goodbyes to someone else to explain. I'm still unclear when you use which word. Of course, please and thank you.

It's helpful to know the basic words used at train stations (ticket, platform, train). Entrance, exit, pull, push - words you'll see all the time.

For everything else, I find the Italians know more English than I'll ever know Italian. Some gelato flavors surprised me, and some menu items confused me.

The basic words you should learn in the language of any country you go to:
Hello, Goodbye, excuse me, sorry (being polite), Entrance, Exit, open, closed
Words for train travel (if you are going by train): Station, Platform (No.), carriage (No.), seat (No.), ticket
How much?, the menu please, the bill please.
Numbers: 1 to 20, 30, 40, ... 100
Do you speak English?

If you don't learn them, at least have a piece of paper with them written on.

Definitely all previously mentioned - all the greeting niceties and the train stuff. Also important is asking directions: "per favore......puo dirmi...........dov'e" - please...........can you tell me..................where is. Also for reading times at the stations it's helpful to know the 24-hour clock. Would be good to have some words written down to tell waiters how you want your food prepared - rare? scrambled? hard-boiled? For anything important to your daily life that will need communicating, just use Google Translate and make yourself a little list to take.

According to a linguistics study this is the list of the 1000 words that are most used in Italian. Learn their meaning, memorize them, and you'll be ahead of most foreign travelers:

http://www.orodialoe.it/public/22963652_Le_1000_parole_più_usate_in_italiano.pdf

Below are flash cards for Enghish speaking students of Italian. They include the most common nouns used in the Italian language:
http://www.cram.com/flashcards/le-1000-parole-piu-usate-in-italiano-2815171

Other resources:
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/the-essentials-of-italian-words-and-phrases-for-tr.html

Our most-used phrase on our first trip to Italy was "dov'e"-- pronounced doh-veh -- meaning "where is"?

We used this for help finding train stations, toilettes, our hotel (I would have the name and address printed on a card and show it to someone).

When approaching someone to ask directions, smile and say "Buon Giorno" first. They'll respond "Buon Giorno" and then you can say "Dov'e la stazione?" Or whatever. They will probably recognize you as a tourist and will point the way you should go or sometimes walk with you a few steps. You will then say Grazie and they will respond "prego", which is a great multipurpose word. In this case it means " you're welcome" but it can also mean please, or can I help you, or OK. When seating you in a restaurant, a waiter might motion to a seat and say "prego." You'll hear it constantly and soon you'll start saying it and smiling because it makes you feel very Italian!

Before my first trip to Italy 35 years ago I bought a two cassette tape set called 'Getting by in Italian' I loved the philosophy of the thing. It didn't focus on learning long sentences but on communicating. ONe point was that if you know the noun of the thing you need you can often ask for it with just a word or two and a gesture.

The absolute basics are being able to greet people (this is a big deal in European cultures -- always great people before launching into what you want), say please and thank you, say excuse me and 'I'm sorry' -- that is 'Skoo zee' and 'mee diss - peeahchee' in Italian -- and to know how to ask directions and order food. In order to understand the answers to directions you need things like right and left and straight ahead.

Our first trip we rented a small apartment in a village where not a single person we encountered spoke English -- we did fine with our skeletal knowledge of the language.

If you are in tourist areas, you will be able to get by in English but your experience will be much better if you can be polite in their language i.e. the greetings, please and thanks, and apology language.

I would emphasize the importance of knowing Italian numbers. It may look the same written or printed, but in a verbal exchange it's overwhelming. And I have to admit being THAT person on a few occasions.... Leaving a transaction uncertain if I got the correct change.

I have to disagree slightly with Peg. Yes, understanding numbers is very important but it's also one of the hardest things to learn when you're just talking about spoken Italian. I've been studying Italian for 13 years and am pretty proficient, but whenever I hear someone say some numbers it always makes me stop to decipher what they just said. If it's important that you know the number that the person is saying, ask them to write it down.

But don't bother learning how to say "Could you please write it down?" in Italian. Instead, use pantomime to indicate what you want, e.g. scribble on your palm. Raising your eyebrows while you're doing a gesture turns it into a question.

Know the days of the week, and know that dates are expressed day/month/year. Also, when giving phone numbers, the numbers are usually paired, so 234-56789 is said 23-45-67-89.

Others have already recommended the really important things above. However, here are a couple of other types of phrases I've found useful.

1. Some basic eating out phases - how to request a dinner reservation (una prenotazione per TIME per favore / e possibile?), request food (food name per favore), ask for the check (il conto per favore), etc.

2. One or two compliments. My go to is "what a beautiful place" (che bel posto).

In my experience you'll be able to get by with a mix of limited Italian phrases coupled with Italians' mix of limited English phrases. Most people in touristed areas speak some English because it is a global trade language. I've heard non-English speakers of different nationalities use it to communicate.

Have fun!

Most guidebooks, including Rick's, will include a single page of the really most basic and useful words and simple phrases. The more difficult task of conjugating verbs properly is something you can ignore. For speaking English with someone who is not fluent in it, see a few tips at http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/sightseeing/language-barrier.

I have a question about this. I have a smartphone with a dandy little voice/text translator. If I get a phone in Italy will I be able to d/l this. It is a free app from apple. Will it use up a tremendous amount of data? Of course Google Translate is good, too. Does that use up a lot of data space????
tnx

Besides the common courtesy words such as: Please, thank you, hello, good morning/good afternoon/ good night, excuse me, etc...

Here are a few phrases you might like to learn:

• Parla inglese? = Speak English?
• Dov'è...? = where is....?
• Non capisco = I don't understand
• Quanto costa? = How much does it cost?
• Un momento = just a moment

You may also want to learn such words as:

• ticket =biglietto
• train = treno
• train station = stazione (ferroviaria)
• bus station = stazione degli autobus
• bus stop = fermata dell'autobus
• closed = chiuso
• open = aperto
• right/left = sinistra/destra
• straight = diritto
• with/without = con/senza
• today/tomorrow =oggi/domani

Have a wonderful trip!

You are all AWESOME! Thank you very much. Now I'm off to study, study, study!
Heidi

Speaking of trains, here's an important one: binario. It means track, and that's how you know which platform to go to. (You can remember it by thinking of the two lines of steel that make up one "binary" track.

No matter where I am traveling, I think it is important to know how to ask for the bathroom in that language, and understand the possible responses (left, right, straight, etc). "Thank you very much", and "you have a beautiful city" is also a nice thing to know.

Hello- I like to use two phrases in any native language as I travel : "I am sorry I don't speak...Do you speak English?" After the conversation I like to end with, "Thank you for speaking English". This is always done after a greeting in their native tongue. People seemed to be pleased with the courtesy. -