Ronald Glenn Wrigley - The Everything Italian Phrase Book: A quick refresher for any situation

THE
EVERYTHING
Series

Dear Reader,
Ciao! And a heartfelt grazie for picking up TheEverythingItalian Phrase Book, my second book with Adams Media.

My passion for the Italian language and culture started when I was very young. My maternal grandfather, Eugenio Savastano, was born in Italy, in a small town in the Provincia di Caserta called Orchi. Though he died when I was very young, my memories of him as a kind and gentle man are indelible. Never wanting to forget my grandfather, I suppose my passion for everything Italian is my way of keeping hi s memory alive, and honoring the family legacy that he left behind.

Ive been studying, teaching, and speaking Italian for about twenty-five years. Hopefully, some of my passion (and experiences!) will come through in this book. Try hard to use as much Italian as you can when traveling youll find that Italians are generally very receptive to your efforts to speak their language.

Ronald Glenn Wrigley

The EVERYTHING Series

These handy, accessible books give you all you need to tackle a difficult project, gain a new hobby, or even brush up on something you learned back in school but have since forgotten. You can read from cover to cover or just pick out information from our four useful boxes.

Alerts: Urqent warnings

Essentials: Quick handy tips

Facts: Important snippets of information

Questions: Answers to common questions

When youre done reading, you can finally
say you know EVERYTHING!

PUBLISHER Karen Cooper

DIRECTOR OF ACQUISITIONS AND INNOVATION Paula Munier

MANAGING EDITOR, EVERYTHING SERIES Lisa Laing

COPY CHIEF Casey Ebert

ACQUISITIONS EDITOR Lisa Laing

SENIOR DEVELOPMENT EDITOR Elizabeth Kassab

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Hillary Thompson

Visit the entire Everything series at www.everything.com

THE
EVERYTHING
ITALIAN
PHRASE
BOOK

A quick refresher for any situation

Ronald Glenn Wrigley, M.A.

Copyright 2009, F+W Media, Inc.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher; exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.

An Everything Series Book.
Everything and everything.com are registered trademarks of
F+W Media, Inc.

Published by Adams Media, an F+W MEdia Company
57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322 U.S.A.
www.adamsmedia.com

ISBN 10: 1-59869-756-0
ISBN 13: 978-1-59869-756-8
eISBN: 978-1-4405-0165-4

Printed in Canada.

J I H G F E D C B A

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
available from the publisher.

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations

Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book and Adams Media was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed with initial capital letters.

This book is available at quantity discounts for bulk purchases.
For information, please call 1-800-289-0963.

Visit the entire Everythingseries at www.everything.com

Dedication

For Ellen and Matthew

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to my beautiful wife, Ellen, for her support, to Matthew for his good cheer, and to my family for their inspiration. And many thanks to Lisa Laing and Elizabeth Kassab, and to all of the folks at Adams, for their guidance along the way.

Contents

What Your Italian Teacher Never Taught You

Introduction

Forty million tourists visit Italy each year. Two of Italys major citiesFlorence and Romeare among the most visited cities in the world. On any given day of the year, this equates to 110,000 foreign tourists in Italy. Many travel guides recommend that tourists make an effort to get off the beaten path; to find that small, out-of-the-way place that few tourists ever visit. It is in these areas where the real Italy can be experienced; it is also in these areas where very little English is spoken by the general population. This book will be very useful for the 110,000 foreign tourists who hope to have a unique, off-the-beaten-path experience in Italy.

This book will be a useful tool to help integrate both the inexperienced and experienced traveler into many essential aspects of daily life. For these tourists, a very basic understanding of the language can enhance their stay in Italy. Italians treasure politeness, and everywhere in the world people can appreciate the good manners of a thank you or youre welcome. Italians will respond to your efforts to communicate in their language with wholehearted appreciation. By making an effort to learn some basic phrases and expressions, you will feel safer and more assured to take the path less traveled, you will discover useful and interesting facts, you will cope with unexpected situations, and you will be greeted with much greater kindness.

This book will also be a useful resource for high school and college students who wish to enhance their in-class learning experiences. It will be a handy resource to help students sharpen their speaking ability by learning useful expressions (and their correct pronunciation) that pertain to everyday life.

The EverythingItalian Phrase Book offers grammar and pronunciation sections for easier, more effective use and contains essential information for first-time and experienced travelers alike. It features more than 1,400 words and phrases, covering all subjects that people are likely to encounter in their travelsfrom reserving a hotel room or ordering dinner at a restaurant to using a cell phone or changing a flight. There is also a detailed phonetic pronunciation table plus an extensive word list and grammar guide that will enable travelers to construct basic sentences.

Chapter 1
Introduction
to Italian

I talian is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people in Italy and parts of Switzerland. Modern standard Italian was adopted by the Italian government after the unification of Italy in about 1871 and has its roots in the region of Tuscany, in central Italy. There are many dialects of Italian spoken throughout the Italian peninsula. Dialects are generally not used for purposes of mass communication and are usually spoken in local, informal contexts by native speakers. Most all Italians speak a dialect (Venetian, Neapolitan, Sicilian, etc.), but they can easily switch to standard Italian.

Reading and Pronouncing Italian