Italian Phrasebook, 2/e

Editors Annelies Mertens and Piers Kelly would like to thank the entire cast and crew that made this great debut possible ...
Publishing manager Jim Jenkin who brought the whole production to life. Project manager Fabrice Rocher for keeping everything running backstage.
Series designer Yukiyoshi Kamimura for his great illustrations and cover design. Virtuoso designer Patrick Marris for chipping in.
Karina Coates, Pietro lagnocco and Susie Walker for their diligent translations of the libretto. The all-singing, all-dancing commissioning editor and translator Karina Coatessuccessfully juggled many roles at once.
Thanks also to commissioning editor Karin Vidstrup Monk and the ensemble of fellow editors Ben Handicott, Meg Worby and Emma Koch. A round of applause to bilingual eagle eyes Adrienne Costanzo and Susie Walker for excellent proofing.
Special thanks to loyal layout designers Nicholas Stebbing, for carrying the project through to the end, Belinda Campbell, who filled in over the festive season, and Katie Cason and Sally Morgan who helped out at the last minute. Thanks to cartographer Natasha Velleley, special projects managing cartographer Paolo Piaia and map editor Wayne Murphy for producing the language map.
Susie Walker would like to thank Luciano Furfaro, Mirna Cicioni and Amy Furfaro for their help with translating, transliterating and proofreading.
Karina would like to thank Pietro lagnocco and the chorus of Lygon Street locals for the opportunities to rehearse.

　　Maurice Riverso
　　Maurice Riverso is a main author of some books published by the Lonely Planet Publications Ltd.
　　
　　The Lonely Planet Publications Ltd
　　When Tony and Maureen Wheeler arrived in Sydney the day after Christmas 1972 after a six month Asia overland trip from Europe they had 27 cents left between them. In late 1973 they started Lonely Planet Publications to publish Across Asia on the Cheap, the story of their trip from London to Australia. From that self-published guidebook Lonely Planet Publications has grown to become the world’s largest independent guidebook publisher with more than 500 titles in print, over 400 staff and offices in London and Oakland as well as the head office in Melbourne.

I.　　Features extensive two-way dictionary & easy-to-use sentence builder; pronunciation for every word; real language for a truly authentic Italian travel experience - art, soccer, food & wine plus classic pickups & put-downs and special traveller's Latin for decoding historical sights.

II.　　Part of the acclaimed and many would say ?invaluable? Lonely Planet phrasebook series. The book features an extensive two-way dictionary and easy-to-use sentence builder ;pronunciation for every word; real language for a truly authentic Italian travel experience - art, soccer, food & wine plus classic pick-ups & put-downs; and special travellers' Latin for decoding historical sights.

III.　　ITALIAN – THE FACTS

　　NAME: ITALIAN
　　NAME IN LANGUAGE: ITALIANO
　　LANGUAGE FAMILY: ROMANCE BRANCH OF THE INDO-EUROPEAN FAMILY
　　CLOSEST RELATIVES: SPANISH, FRENCH, PORTUGUESE, ROMANIAN
　　NUMBER OF SPEAKERS: 65 MILLION WORLDWIDE
　　OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF: ITALY, SWITZERLAND, SLOVENIA, ISTRIA (CROATIA)

IV.　　DID YOU KNOW?

　　Italian is spoken in the African nation of Eritrea as well as in parts of Croatia. It's also spoken by minorities in Switzerland, Slovenia and France and by large immigrant communities in Australia, Argentina and the US.
　　Italian is really a Tuscan dialect that became the national language in 1861.

V.　　THE ITALIAN ALPHABET
　　The Italian alphabet has 21 letters:
　　A a B b C c D d E e F f G g H h I i L l M m N n O o P p Q q R r S s T t U u V v Z z

　　Italian does not have the letters j, k, x, w or y but you will see them in words that have been borrowed from other languages, such as jazz, kasher (kosher) and xenofobia.

VI.　　MYTH ABOUT ITALIAN
　　Italians speak very fast.
　　Although it might sound to you like a rapid flow of melodious syllables, Italians don't speak any faster than most English speakers. Italians love talking and might use more words to express a simple statement, but this just gives you more opportunities to make sense of it all.

　　Italians wave their arms around randomly when speaking.
　　It’s true that Italians do gesture quite a lot for emphasis when they speak – as do the French for that matter. There are however many hand and face gestures in Italian which imply specific meanings. There are specific gestures to convey meanings such as ‘let’s go’, ‘I’m hungry’ and ‘you're crazy’, for example.

　　Italy
　　A country of southern Europe comprising the peninsula of Italy, Sardinia, Sicily, and several smaller islands. It was settled in antiquity by Italic tribes, Etruscans, and Greek colonists. The non-Roman peoples were gradually supplanted as the power of Rome grew from the fourth century B.C. After the fall of the Roman Empire (A.D. 476), Italy was ruled by various barbarian tribes, local families, and popes. Nationalism in the 19th century led to unification under King Victor Emmanuel II in 1870. Italy became a fascist state under Benito Mussolini, whose regime (1922–1943) was allied with Germany in World War II. After surrendering to the Allies in 1943, Italy was reconstituted as a republic in 1946. Rome is the capital and the largest city. Population: 58,100,000.

　　Italian Language
　　Romance language spoken in Italy (including Sicily and Sardinia) and in parts of Switzerland and France (including Corsica). Its 66 million speakers worldwide include many immigrants and their descendants in the Americas. Written Italian dates from the 10th century. The standard literary form is based on the dialect of Florence, but many Italians do not speak it, instead using regional dialects. These include Upper Italian (Gallo-Italian); Venetian in northeastern Italy; Tuscan; the dialects of Marche, Umbria, and Rome; of Abruzzi, Puglia, Naples, Campania, and Lucania; and of Calabria, Otranto, and Sicily. See also Italic languages.
　

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