Rick Steves' Italian Phrase Book & Dictionary

Was so well taken care of by tour director that I didnt need to use this book, but enjoyed reading it. Left it with tour director.

I'm going to have to break with other reviewers here, and give my less-than-stellar review of this book. We purchased this before we left for our European trip to Paris and 3 cities in Italy. We also purchased the French book by Steve's. Before we left we thought we'd found the perfect book with the perfect phrases, although they were harder to find due to the way he lays out the book. But after much research we settled on these books and were happy....until we had to use them in France and Italy. I quickly discovered that although the book had helped with pronunciation, almost none of the words we needed were in the dictionary in the back, nor could we find simple words or phrases in the proper sections of travel and dining, that we found in real life situations. This was very disappointing, first in France then in Italy. I quickly went to Google translator, put in all the phrases I needed but did not find in the book, and wrote them all down. This helped tremendously. I also searched for words that weren't in the dictionary and wrote them down, as well. Almost every night I did this as we encountered new circumstances that the book didn't have anything helpful for. Also, when you're in the moment and you need something, trying to find first the section which seems haphazardly placed in the book, then the area of the section where the phrases are located, then go down the list for the correct phrase, is time consuming of time you don't have, and frustrating when after all that time you don't find what you need. Meanwhile the person you're trying to speak to is just staring at you. Things worked much better when I whipped out my handwritten phrases and asked my direct question. Just remember that you probably won't understand what their answer is unless it's a simple yes or no.

After this trip my advise is to borrow basic language books from the library, type out what you need and get a good pocket dictionary if you need, something with substance which this dictionary is not. Use Google translator for the most used phrases you think you'll need and go from there. Save your money on this book.

Good for a quick reference but best to read it before you travel and refer to it when necessary.

This is outstanding for what it is supposed to do: give you a reference to interact at a basic level with Italians. Rick is very people oriented, and seems to want to promote excellent person-to-person relationships, and even country-to-country.

Don't rely on it to teach you Italian; get Pimsleur for that, then follow up with Living Language. Perhaps add Fluenz, if you are really serious, but it is expensive, as is Rosetta Stone, which I would avoid.

This little book is filled with useful phrases that you'll need while traveling in Italy. I've been using some audio and video Italian language programs, but this book will be in my pocket during my entire time in Italy. I highly recommend it.

Rick Steves' Italy 2009 guide, though, left a little to be desired for me. He only covers the areas in Italy that he would recommend you visit. Pesaro, for example was not included in that book, and there was one sentence on Rimini that I can sum up in one word, "over-rated" according to Steves.

You cannot go wrong with this phrasebook/dictionary. If you're considering it, I say go for it. But if you want an Italy guidebook, I would say check out Fodor's Italy 2009 (Full-Color Gold Guides). I looked through various guides in the bookstore, and this one impressed me the most. Happy traveling!