# I need to quickly learn Italian **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 6, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-quickly-learn-italian/577424 "2011-04-06T17:43:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-quickly-learn-italian/577424/21 "2011-04-07T21:16:32Z")
> [@Nathan\_S](#): > > Don’t worry, people speak English in Poggibonsi, too. 😃 I go through there pretty often. Ha ha, I’ve been stuck there too. We ended up having a good conversation in a bar with some fellow strandees and concluded that someone in that town bribed the bus-company to make sure that they got there share of the tourist euro. ---
**Author:** ![Nathan\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/47e85d/32.png) [@Nathan\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nathan_S)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-quickly-learn-italian/577424/22 "2011-04-08T13:42:43Z")
> [@PookahMacPhellimey](#): > > Ha ha, I’ve been stuck there too. We ended up having a good conversation in a bar with some fellow strandees and concluded that someone in that town bribed the bus-company to make sure that they got there share of the tourist euro. That is entirely withing the realm of possibility. The only thing Poggibonsi has going for it, really, is its funny sounding name. It sounds goofy to Italians, too, you know. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-quickly-learn-italian/577424/23 "2011-04-08T14:16:52Z")
> [@PookahMacPhellimey](#): > > Ha ha, I’ve been stuck there too. We ended up having a good conversation in a bar with some fellow strandees and concluded that someone in that town bribed the bus-company to make sure that they got there share of the tourist euro. You weren’t there in mid-December when it snowed, were you? My wife and I were so happy we’d swapped our day trip to Volterra for the Pitti Palace that day- we heard that buses were stranded on the roadside for a couple days, etc… ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-quickly-learn-italian/577424/24 "2011-04-08T14:21:17Z")
> [@bump](#): > > One thing though - “Il conte, per favore” is nice to be able to intelligibly say; Italian restaurants won’t bring you the check automatically, so you may sit there a while until you ask for the check. The hand sign for that is mimicing writing, while looking directly at the waiter; doing both things at the same time is good. It doesn’t work if they’re not looking in your direction, of course. I would’a sworn it was “il conto, prego”, but maybe that was a matter of local dialect, I was mostly in small towns in Lombardia. Yes, they used “prego” both to say “please” and to say “you’re welcome” - so? They also use the same word for “hello” and “goodbye”! ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-quickly-learn-italian/577424/25 "2011-04-08T14:28:04Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Yes, they used “prego” both to say “please” and to say “you’re welcome” - so? Same in German: “Bitte” or “Bitte schön” means both. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-quickly-learn-italian/577424/26 "2011-04-08T14:50:02Z")
Forget about the language. Buy yourself a scooter and some nice clothes. Zoom around everywhere you go suavely saying ‘ciao.’ You’ll blend right in. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-quickly-learn-italian/577424/27 "2011-04-08T21:03:14Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > And, “where’s the fucking embassy?” > > ETA: I really can’t envision any circumstances under which I’d need to be able to say “my hovercraft is full of eels” in more than one language. Are you kidding? Is that really what it means? I actually almost posted that as the obligatory Monty Python reference but demurred (fortunately as it turns out). I thought my semester of Italian decades ago would have been sufficient but my best guess was that it had something to do with planes or flying–and a comb. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-quickly-learn-italian/577424.md?page=1)