Jun 032013
WorldSpeak Global Translator
- Complete world-wide global translator
- Features a collection of the most widely used languages
- Easy translation to and from English
- Includes 20 different languages
- Easily look up word definitions and more recently used words
List Price: $ 29.99
Price: $ 29.99
Rick Steves’ Italian Phrase Book and Dictionary
Buon giorno! From ordering calamari in Venice to making new friends in Tuscan hill towns, 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-Italian and Italian-English dictionary; the latest information on European currency and
List Price: $ 8.95
Price: $ 4.49
Overall Good,
Ok I searched a bunch of translators for my trip to Europe and found this one to be the best.
Don’t expect to be speaking the language or translating the bible into Romanian.
It is good if you have a background in a language and need something to help out your vocabulary. It takes about 5 to 10 seconds to find the word you are looking for and translate it into whatever language you desire.
More popular languages or those more broadly spoken have a much larger volume of words. Overall if you are traveling to Europe or parts of Asia it would be difficult to find a word you could not translate. I wish I had this when I was in school for both my spanish and german classes.
Cons: You don’t transfer all 20+ languages onto your handheld, rather you pick which ones you want. I selected about 8 but I still have plenty of memory to bring a few more. Rare languages will only have basic words so don’t expect too much. Also no dirty words translated.
Pros: Hey if you are in a science class this is a MUST. I was a science major and the latin translation would have helped out a ton since most biology/anatomy is labeled in latin. If you are traveling this is nice to have when looking at a menu and making sure you aren’t ordering sheep balls or something. Its quick to switch from german to english to english to french. Its like having a pocket translation book for 20 languages in one dictionary. All words come with brief (and i mean like 3 or 4 words) defintion.
Overall this product does just what it says. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars because the CD is having problems now after 2 months. It may just be mine or a scratch I accidentally did, but whatever the case I can’t add greek which I wanted.
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|Most Useful and Entertaining!,
A friend bought Rick Steves’ Italian Phrase Book & Dictionary for me last summer before I embarked on my first trip abroad. My Italian speaking friend had actually lived in Italy for a few years, and after careful consideration, felt that this phrase book/guide would be useful for me. He was absolutely right.
The book proved to be invaluable. It was compact enough that I could carry it around with me in a small purse/backpack that I carried with me throughout my entire trip. I did not speak any Italian whatsoever, and found the words and phrases in the book to be exactly what I needed to get around and communicate effectively. I especially appreciated the pronunciation guide to each Italian word in the book- that was extremely helpful. The practical advice given throughout the book proved to be invaluable, as well as humorous, and the menu decoder was also of particular help. I quickly got over any “qualms” I may have had over appearing too “touristy” on my trip and used the phrase book repeatedly as it proved to be a most definate asset. Thank you Rick Steves’ for so accurately predicting the needs of the average beginning traveler. The book greatly enhanced a most wonderful traveling experience. In fact, I am still studying it in anticipation of my next trip to Italy.
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|Prego…,
Now if you read this book, you’d know what that means (Can I help you. Do you speak Italian? Here it is). It’s not a high school langauge class, but it’s a lot more fun, and with some time you’ll get pretty good.
I think Rick does a great job is laying out the phrases that you’ll need if you go to Italy. We’re going in a few weeks, and it’s really helping. Now if he could only improve the memory.
The book is small, will fit in a shirt pocket. It’s broken down into sections (basics, eating, chating, etc.) so you can focus in on a section that you need, master it, then move to another section. After you’ve been through it all, you can then start combining different phrases and make some great sentences. It’s got a lot of mnaterial in it, so start early when you decide to use it.
Thanks Rick, I actually feel that I can go into the Italian world and be somewhat understood. And, not to worry, I’ll smile as I butcher the language, use my hands a lot, and laugh at the whole thing.
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|Is there one better?,
Admittedly, maneuvering your way through the sections may be a little tricky at first, but we found that most relevant phrases and lingo was repeated in several different sections to reinforce the learning process. We had looked at and even purchased a couple of other phrase books and dictionaries but found this to be the best one overall. Great pronunciation guides, common everyday conversational items and even the humor is a good break in the studies. I already speak decent Italian, my wife did not, and she found Rick’s guide to be much better in format and usability and was the one we chose to take to Italy with us.
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