Italian Survival Guide: The Language and Culture You Need to Travel With Confidence in Italy

Italian Survival Guide is a down-to-earth, bare-bones introduction to Italian that aims to make a trip abroad as smooth and enjoyable as possible. This information-packed mini-course concentrates on preparing readers to travel in Italy in a limited time by focusing on what is most useful or interesting to travelers and cutting out unnecessary vocabulary and grammar.

This Survival Guide helps readers communicate in the Italian language and culture. It prepares travelers for what to expect and how to deal with it, what to say and when to say it. It's like three books in one--a phrase book (so you know what to say), a grammar book (so you know how to say it), and a culture book (so you understand daily social expectations)--all focused on a traveler's needs.

Learn how to greet people and introduce yourself in Italian, how to line up lodging, order food and pay properly, how to shop and ask for directions in Italian, how to drive a car or take the train in Italy, how to get help in an emergency or talk about your family or discuss the weather, and much, much more!

Get key insights into Italian social conventions: how to talk to people, how to avoid taboo subjects, how not to look like a tourist, how to tip, how to have good table manners, how to be a gracious guest, how to discourage unwanted admirers, how to overcome poor customer service, how to avoid petty crime.

Discover the fine points of city buses, grocery stores, train stations and coffee shops. Read how to achieve la bella figura--the style and classiness Italians prize. Learn gestures and geography and how to pronounce Giorgio.

Italian Survival Guide is packed with culture notes, study tips, travel hints, and reality checks galore. It includes optional exercises for practicing material from the lessons, Italian-English and English-Italian dictionaries, and inside-the-cover Survival Summaries travelers can use on the spot. In addition, Italian pronunciations are written throughout the book, so users always have guidance on how to pronounce new words and phrases. Includes an extensive index to help readers find the topics they want, fast. All this packed into one volume small enough to tuck into a bag and take along.