Phrasebooks

Other comments:

I always use Rick's phrasebook while traveling in Italy. It is part of my daily armor when I go out. The "pecatta di gola" (sin of the throat) sent our waiter to the kitchen to bring out the cuocco(sp?) in a small trattoria in Le Marche. Good for a comp torta and digestivo!!! In a Roman convent I was told that although I couldn't speak Italian my pronunciation was correct. I love the Italian phrasebook! I get it at the library though, sorry Rick. Brad

brad in kings beach, ca USA 07/13/2008

I am quite deaf, and don't hear much of the spoken French around me. That may be why locals found my guidebook-based approximations quite unintelligible.

Charles Heckel in Riverside, CA USA 12/07/2007

You may want to add a comment in the Email section that French keyboards aren't QWERTY, so be prepared to hunt and peck!

Mike in Boston, MA USA 10/30/2007

We took the French phrase book on our recent 3 week trip to France. It helped us constantly and always had the right information. We carried it all the time. If we forgot it - we went back to the hotel to get it - it was that essential. I bought and read many different language guides before we left and all were useless (I learned how to buy wallpaper, but that was useless to me in travel!). This phrase book had everything we needed. We had to make 3 trips to the pharmacy and the "Health" section made all the trips a success. Thank you so much for the perfect travel phrase book!

Wendy Hudson in Colts Neck, NJ USA 08/04/2007

We used them in Italy, Portugal, Spain and France, and we didn't need anything else. The size is great to fit in the pocket for easy use and the pronunciations work everytime.

Jim Conway in Columbus, NJ USA 03/31/2007

I found the Italian phrasebook incredibly offensive. The average person might flip through it and think that men don't even exist, which is ironic since the book is about Italy. I counted, there are 5 men depicted vs. 13 women and, of course, one of the men (pg. 26) is old and somewhat obsolete and outdated. Almost every chapter heading including Help! (p. 174) showcases a woman and, naturally, all of the women are depicted as vital, vital, vital! Let's be honest, if a serious problem arose, I wouldn't feel warm and fuzzy about a lone female policeman showing up on the scene. Sorry if that makes you mad, but it's the damn truth. Rick, I'm saddened that you have to succumb to the political correctness of the times. Be that as it may, I respect what you do and I think you offer a great service to people. If I receive a response to this message, I fully expect to be castrated for my ‘horribly’ un-PC opinions and told that the problem is somehow due to my own personal insecurity, but I could care less.

Guerino Buccella in Allegany, NY USA 03/09/2007

I had the French phrasebook for my tour of France last year and I noticed that every time I went to look up a word I saw on a menu it wasn't in there, we ended up relying on a French/English dictionary instead. It would be great if you could add more "food" type words in there. For my next trip to Paris, I'm only taking the dictionary, as I have a pretty good grasp on the common phrases (4 1/2 years of French from grade school, high school and college have finally paid off!).

Erika in Seattle, WA USA 02/27/2007

I just wanted to say that Rick's Italian phrase guide was a great asset for my recent trip to Rome and Sicily. Thanks so much for the pocket guide!

Ryan in Lyons, IL USA 01/08/2007

Your “Italian Phrase Book & Dictionary” is magnificent! It’s the only handbook anyone needs to get around competently in Italy. I took it on my last trip along with a complete pocket dictionary, but never used the latter. Yours is so practical and gave me a lot of confidence. After only a week of conversing with your book’s help, people started to mistake me for Italian-speaking! I’ve been telling all of my friends to buy your book!

Sandi Tedford in Atlanta, GA USA 01/06/2007

Your French "Buses and Subways" section lists how to ask for a one-day pass, but it doesn't list the carte orange. I had to dig through my "Best of Europe" book to find the "carte orange" wording for the week-long pass. You may want to consider adding that.

Dara Spears in Del Mar, CA USA 12/05/2006

While in France, dressing and behaving conservatively and maintaining a reserved facial expression is not only polite, it can help ward off the thieves and beggars who prey on tourists. Stowing away your camera unless you are actually using it is also a good idea for the same reason.

Sheila McElwaine in Springfield, MA USA 11/09/2006

Keep up the good work.

James Rankin in Tigard (Portland), OR USA 10/22/2006

I hate to say this, but I finally had to stop at an Autogrill and buy a more extensive English/Italian dictionary to keep up. It finally got to be a game with our traveling companions to see if we could find ANY words in the phrase book that we needed. Batted about .125. Could have used without the dirty word section as it was not helpful in restaurants.

gayle wehrli in st louis, mo USA 10/21/2006

We used your Italian phrasebook on a month long trip to Italy in October 2004 and were not dissapointed. We also used your Italy 2004 guidebook and took your advice on lodging (with Rick Steve's discounts!), and the self-walking tours which were "right-on". I'd like to comment on behalf of our group of four women travellers that your Italian phrasebook was very, very helpful throughout our trip especially when early in our trip we kept boarding the wrong trains. We'd either board at the incorrect track (binario) or board the slow train when we purchased tickets for the fast train! Fortunately for us we met a very helpful and plesant train conductor (capotreno) who directed and informed us how to travel on Trenitalia. He spoke verrry little English and we spoke a little Italian but with the help of your Italian phrasebook we became good friends with him. During our week long stay in the region of Tuscany, Montepulciano we frequently saw him on most of our daily train trips to the surrounding hill towns and into Florence. He always made it a point to stop and converse with us, in Italian of course, and he was eager to check out your guidebook to see the Italian/English phrases and translations, and to give us his lesson in speaking Italian :) On the days we didn't see him on the train it appeared the other capotreno made it clear they were watching out for the 4 American women! Your Italian phrasebook is absolutely wonderful and our group will be using it and your Italy 2008 guidebook on our return to Italy in 2008. Thanks for all that you have written and shared! Patti, Ann, Debbie, DeeDee

Patti Covert in Rancho Cordova, CA USA 09/26/2006

having an additional insert w/the most common phrases (how much, where is) laminated... for easy use w/out tearing the pages

Anathea in Los Angeles, USA 07/15/2006

Love your books. They are very helpful.

CAO in Redwood Shores, CA USA 06/03/2006

We did not find the food section in the German book very helpful, because dishes had names without the words beef, pork, chicken, etc in them.

Paul Grabert in Houston, TX USA 05/04/2006

Merci! Gratzie! Danka! Tak! Spasiba! Shishi, Domo!

Seth Anderson in Grand Junction, CO USA 04/25/2006

I've used the portuguese, spanish, french and italian guidebooks (I'll buy the German one when I finally get to Germany/Austria/Switzerland). My travel buddies and I always get a kick out of the fun phrases thrown in (you never know when you need to say 'I break for bakeries' in France).

Ashley Shields in Nashville, TN USA 04/17/2006

I loved this book!! This book made it so easy to get my point across to people. The only problem was that while they could understand me, I couldn't always understand them. Let's just say when I needed directions, people were kind enough to gesture as they spoke. But this is a very complete book. It was not my first Rick Steve's book, and it certainly will not be my last!!!!!!

Stephanie Hood in Greenville, SC USA 04/17/2006

Overall, we found the Italian phrase book to be useful, funny and economical. I would highly recommend it!

Karla in New York, NY USA 03/09/2006