Rick Steves' French, Italian, and German Phrase Book and Dictionary

Paperback - May, 2003 - Avalon Travel Publishing
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By: Rick Steves
ISBN: 1566915341

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About this book

If you're planning your Continental tour, or just heading Europewards and letting the winds of fate waft you this way and that, you'll want some language assistance, preferably in a form that doesn't require an extra set of luggage. Rick Steves, noted Europe expert and writer of candid, accurate, and entertaining guide books, has a phrase book and dictionary that contains the three major languages you're likely to encounter in ramble around Europe or a trek in the Alps.

For each of the three languages, there are chapters on basic survival phrases, numbers, money, and time, transportation, sleeping, and eating, plus activities such as sightseeing, shopping, and nightlife. There are also sections on phoning and mailing, health and emergencies, and making small talk--including the essential section on animal noises (because what's woof woof to you is ouah ouah to the French, bau bau to Italians, and wuff wuff in German). There are also lists of the animal noises made by humans (also known as profanity) so you can enjoy the linguistic color as the man next to you drops his fragile souvenir, or swear like a Roman when you stub your toe in the Coliseum.

The menu decoders are quite useful, and, despite the book's small size, it covers most contingencies--from bartering over hotel-room prices to rental-car considerations, interpreting train schedules to discussing medical conditions such as constipation and diarrhea, hemorrhoids and indigestion, body odor and the giggles. The dictionary in the back shows the English, French, Italian, and German for each of 1,200 words, and there's an appendix of useful information, including the European phone numbers for various calling-card operators as well as their international access codes and country codes, a chart of monthly temperatures for each country and a metric conversion table, as well as tongue twisters in French, German, and Italian, to while away the train-travel hours and impress your compartment mates with your willingness to launch into their language and dare to sound like a fool. --Stephanie Gold

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Reviews by readers

Make Three Books Out It

I took the Italian section of this book with me on a two-week backpacking trip through Italy. It was highly-useful, especially in the restaurants. It's well-organized with all the phrases you'll need. The "Menu Decoder" section is great for looking up words in a dictionary format. Since I was traveling light and only needed the Italian section, I cut the book into three parts and bound each with duct tape. Now I have three phrase books!

AWESOME!

This is one of my best purchases in Amazon, it's amazing how good is this book. It's very practical for any traveler around the world, it has detailed content in subjects like: what to tell to italian men if they are bothering you (and as a woman... this can become very handy!) or everything you need to say in a medical emergency or how to enjoy the food in a restaurant (because you can understand now the menu). I really recommend this book if you are looking for a better experience in your trips or if you are learning a foreign language (like me). Greetings from Mexico. Nayeli

I'm glad I bought this book BEFORE going to Europe

This book is full of practical advice and essential information that kept me from making some mistakes on our vaction this summer. Though I probably won't return to Europe for a few years, this book will stay in my bookshelves for future reference. I have always enjoyed Rick Steves' travel shows because of his down-to-earth, straight-forward style. The book follows that pattern perfectly. I highly recommend this book to any European travel novice.

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