I don’t know a lot of Italian, but I’ve chatted to taxi drivers in Naples and Rome who haven’t spoken much English without great difficulty.

How?

I was able to do this because of three things.

The first and most important is that taxi drivers throughout the world like to talk.

Secondly, I know maybe two hundred words of Italian.

Thirdly, when you visit a foreign country people are generally pleased when you talk to them in their language, however imperfectly, and respond positively. A tourist talking in Italian stands out as different, not just another tourist, because most visitors don’t make this effort.

The fact that you can’t understand a lot of what is said isn’t important.

Did I understand what the drivers said to me ? Yeah. Right. Of course not. Who cares? I’m no great linguist or interpreter. I’m someone on holiday in a taxi acknowledging that I’m in a different country.

I haven’t learnt any Italian grammar. I’m not trying to speak correctly . Now you could call this lazy, but I live in Europe where you can hear and speak any number of languages. So my aim is just to communicate at a very basic level when I visit a country, to make an effort, to show appreciation of the language and culture.

If you are not formally learning the language and instead aim to communicate in the widest possible sense, it is possible to pick specific areas and learn words and phrases that you have a good chance of using.

So what have I learnt ?

Not a huge amount. I travel to different countries and I don’t have time to learn long lists of words and phrases in multiple languages.

I’ve learnt:

Basic expressions. Yes, no, please, thank you, I don’t understand, I’m lost.

Numbers.

A few phrases used to be affable e.g. Italy is a beautiful country. Is that the Forum ? That was a lovely meal.

Conversational phrases. Where are you from ? My name is ……

Adjectives such as big, small, hot, cold which are always useful.

I’ve also learned expressions I will need in obvious situations. For example when I visit Italy, I travel by boat, metro, bus and taxi and have learnt key words and expressions to buy tickets, ask directions and so on.

I don’t want to have to eat in tourist restaurants and so have learnt basic words for ordering food. For example, one of the best meals I ate in Italy was near Vatican City in a local restaurant where no English was spoken.

The language you pick depends on what you will be doing and how much time you have available to memorize it. If you intend to do a lot of shopping learn the appropriate vocabulary. “How much does it cost” or “this is expensive” , but remember to pick the phrases that you see yourself using.

If you decide to learn a little Italian, every time you visit Italy and practice what you have learnt, you will be astonished at how much more you acquire. For example, I will always remember the Italian word chaotic, because as we were driving through the Naples traffic, the driver kept pointing at the traffic, smiling and saying “caotico” and “traffico”. Now, there were all sorts of words in between which I didn’t know, but that didn’t hide the meaning of what he was saying to me.

Many people don’t have the time to reach a high standard in another language, but if before you leave for Italy you learn a few words and a few expressions, not only will you be showing appreciation of a beautiful language, but you will enjoy your visit to this appealing country even more.