Your Survival Guide to Italian When in Italy
Maybe you’re planning a trip to Italy or you’ve met an attractive Italian-speaking someone and you want to sweep them off their feet. Perhaps you have an amazing restaurant in Little Italy you want to visit or your Nona is visiting from the old country and you can’t speak a word to her. Regardless of why you’re learning Italian, you’ll want to try to learn and memorize some key Italian phrases to help you with your goal and we’re here to help! Here’s our list of helpful words and phrases to get you started.
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Photo via Flickr[/caption]
Photo via Flickr[/caption]
Photo via Flickr[/caption]

First up, what do you need to know when meeting someone?
Ciao! (‘Chow’) - Hello & Good-bye Ciao a tutti! or Ciao ragazzi! - Hello everyone! or Hey guys! Come ti chiami? (‘Komeh te kyami’) - What’s your name? Mi chiamo ___ (Me kyamo __) - My name’s ________. Piacere! (Pee-ah-cheray) - Pleased to meet you! Buongiorno (bon-journo) - Good morning! (You can say this up until the early afternoon.) Buonasera (bonah sarah) - Good evening! Buonanotte (bonah nohtay) - Good night/sweet dreams! Come sta? (Comah stah) - How are you? Sto bene! (Stoh benay) - I’m well Non c’è male. (Non chey malay) - Not bad. Di dove sei? (Dee dovay say)- Where are you from? [caption id="attachment_5159" align="aligncenter" width="484"]
Now for all that eating you’re going to do:
Un tavolo per tre, per cortesia. (Un tAvolo por tray, per kortayZIA) - A table for three, please. If you need to, you can replace tre with uno, due or quattro. Scusi, ci può portare il menù? (Skoozi, chee poh potARAY il menoo) Excuse me, can we have the menu? When pronouncing this, you’re kind of swallowing the ‘n’ in menu. Per me… - I’ll have… Here you’ll need to fill in whatever it is that you want to order. E da bere?(Ee da bear-eh?) - And what would you like to drink? Un bicchiere di vino rosso.(Un beekaray dee veeno rosso) - A glass of red wine. Or if you’re me, you’ll be going for the vino bianco. Ci può portare il conto per favore? (Chee poh potARAY il conto por faVORAY)- Can we have the bill please? Now, if you’re lucky you might hear Offro io (Offro eeoh), meaning “It’s on me!” [caption id="attachment_5158" align="aligncenter" width="486"]