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Best learn Italian app?

3 replies

CowParsleyNettle · 29/05/2017 11:39

Going to Italy for the weekend and I have no Italian, can anyone recommend a good app to teach me tourist basics?

Thanks

OP posts:
BarbaraofSeville · 31/05/2017 10:14

Duo Lingo is often mentioned but it's more conversational and not a quick fix. Talks about family or random things like men, women, children, ducks and apples. Not what you need to get through a weekend.

I recently went to another European country where I didn't speak the language and I wrote down a few key phrases on a piece of paper with phonetic prononciations and found websties with translations and pronounciations (rocket languages I think) and used that as an aide memior - it got me by.

Things like, yes, no, please, thank you, numbers from one to ten, hello, goodbye, do you speak English?, excuse me, sorry, a large beer please, the bill please, how much is this, can I have one of those, that sort of thing.

If you're going to a tourist area, chances are that people in shops, restaurants, transport hubs etc will speak much better English than your Italian, even if you study daily for months. Where I went, I asked the waiter in a restaurant if he spoke English and he said a little and then we went on to completely interact in convesational English for the rest of the evening - his idea of 'a little' was absolutely loads and much more than any Portuguese I could have learnt in a few months.

CheeseEater · 01/06/2017 22:09

I used Coffee Break Italian podcasts and found them really good with useful info you need on holiday. It's always good to understand a few words in a sentence and you can piece together the rest. I did also take a mini phrase book which was good for menus and trying to work out what the hell all the writing on the parking meters was on about.
Have a lovely time!

sodablackcurrant · 03/06/2017 13:49

I was in Italy in May, Bologna, Ravenna, dying to try out my Italian. Forget it, they love using English.

All I used was Grazie Mille, prego, buon giorno, ciao. That was it. The minute I opened my mouth in Italian (obviously not fluent or anything), they replied in English. They are just being helpful not arrogant.

Depends on where you go though I suppose. Google translate on your phone is a godsend when out in the sticks.

Have a great time.

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