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Rick Steves' French, Italian and German Phrase Book |  | Author: Rick Steves
Publisher: Avalon Travel Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $11.95
Buy New: $6.85
as of 7/29/2010 08:42 CDT details
You Save: $5.10 (43%)
New (21) Used (12) from $6.75
Seller: supermoviedeals
Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 45159
Media: Paperback
Edition: 5th
Pages: 224
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 5.9 x 4 x 0.6
ISBN: 1598801872
Dewey Decimal Number: 418
EAN: 9781598801873
ASIN: 1598801872
Publication Date: December 2, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
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
Product Description
Ordering cafe au lait in Paris, calamari in Venice, or bratwurst in Munich, it helps to speak some of the native tongue. Rick Steves, bestselling author of travel guides to Europe, offers well-tested phrases and key words to cover every situation a traveler is likely to encounter. This handy guide provides key phrases for use in everyday circumstances, complete with phonetic spelling; an English-French/Italian/German dictionary; the latest information on European currency and rail transportation, and even a tear-out cheat sheet for continued language practice. Informative, concise, and practical, Rick Steves' French, Italian and German Phrase Book is an essential item for any traveler's backpack.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 18
It was my best friend in Europe November 26, 2000
Alexandra Beaubien (Tampa, Florida)
58 out of 58 found this review helpful
Rick Steves' phrasebook was my best friend during a recent three- month tour of Europe. This book is perfectly written for the budget traveler with clear pronounciations and slices of Rick Steves' humor that his readers have come to love. The book even includes a bit of a "script" for reserving a hotel room over the phone by including the exact phrases in the logical order. Thanks to the book, I was able to eat well in Nice, sleep cheap in Provence, chase the casanovas away in Florence and much more. Overall, this book is probably not essential for those who are only traveling in major cities where travelers are apt to find plenty of English spoken. However, this book is a bible in small towns where no English is spoken. In addition, the book helped me to show most locals that I was taking an interest in their language and not making the assumption that others could speak mine. As a reward, I believe that people were more helpful, more likely to carry on a conversation with me and, when applicable, more likely to respond in English. This was especially true in Paris.
Make Three Books Out It October 24, 2004
Terry Smith (Little Rock, AR USA)
21 out of 21 found this review helpful
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!
The best phrase book July 19, 2000
Econ PhD Student (Cornell University)
24 out of 25 found this review helpful
Easy to find what you are looking for. Has all of the truly importaint words and phrases. I think that the food translations were used the most, by me and anyone else that figured out I had this book. You really do not need a phrase book if you are traveling from big city to big city, but if you find yourself in a small village or town, this book will be very handy. If you want a phrase book, this is the one. Next time I take off over seas, this book will make its way into my backpack.
A great traveling dictionary!! January 9, 1998
jhattan@aero.net (Milwaukee, WI, USA)
20 out of 21 found this review helpful
I brought this language dictionary with me on my two month trip through Europe, and thought it was great. Rick includes translations for all the basic phrases - "where is the hotel?" and"I'm allergic to penicillin" - but also translates more unique phrases not in other dictionaries, which I found to be quite useful when conversing with new friends. When a friend and I, who speak no Italian, were seated next to two Italian guys (who spoke no english) at a restaurant in Florence, we were able to carry on a pretty lively conversation, thanks to Rick's fun phrase translations. That meal was the best one I had on the entire trip! Also, a menu decoder proved itself invaluable when ordering in restaurants. (And since I'm a vegetarian, it was especially helpful - it would've been terrible if I'd ordered "caprese" (mozarella & tomato salad) and gotten "capra" (goat) instead!) This is a great book to travel with, especially if you're hitting a number of countries.
The best French, Itialian, German phrase book ever! September 22, 1998
Dummkopf99@aol.com (NYC, USA)
19 out of 22 found this review helpful
The book is simply THE BEST phrase book out there! It has all the words and phrases that anyone would ever need. It's not packed with 90 plus pages of banking phrases like all the other phrase books, the info in here is actually very useful. Rick Steves has a very good sense of humor and he incorporates that into the book. He even teaches you the dirty words. I definately recommend this book to anyone travelling in these countries.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 18
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