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A Morning Post members' tool · travel phrases with audio

Italian phrases for your holiday — with audio, and a pocket card to print.

Tell it where you're going and when you fly. It spreads about 130 useful phrases — ordering, paying, asking, thanking, getting help — across ten-minute lessons until you leave, with clear audio on every phrase and a pocket card to print and take. Italian, French, Spanish and Japanese, plus a courtesy pack for Bali.

Italian · French · Spanish · Japanese · IndonesianTen minutes a dayA pocket card to print
See what membership includes →$79 a year · covers the household · 60-day money-back guarantee
A Holiday Phrasebook lesson: meeting today's Italian phrases, Quanto costa? and Posso pagare con la carta?, each with Hear it and Slowly buttons
See it working

A lesson, the phrasebook, the pocket card — the real thing.

Real screens from the tool, six weeks out from an invented trip to Italy.

Lesson 4, step 1 of 7: meet today's phrases
Feature 1

Meet today's phrases

Four new phrases a lesson, each with the Italian, a plain-English sound guide ('KWAN-to KOS-ta'), what it means, and a 'Why?' note on when to use it. Hear each one at normal speed, then slowly — as many times as you like.

The Say It step: Say 'How much is it?', with an 'I've said it — reveal' button
Feature 2

Say it out loud, then check

The step that actually teaches: you're shown the English, you say the Italian out loud before you reveal it, then hear it and rate yourself honestly. Phrases you know come round less often; the ones you fumble come back sooner.

The phrasebook tab: Being polite — Buongiorno, Buonasera, Arrivederci, each with Hear it and Slowly buttons and a search box
Feature 3

The whole phrasebook, searchable

Every phrase by situation — being polite, the café, the restaurant, getting around, the hotel, shopping, health, small talk, numbers, days — with audio on each. Search for 'coffee' or 'toilet' when you need it at the table.

Good to know in Italy: the coperto, bar prices two ways, cappuccino has a bedtime
Feature 4

The notes that save embarrassment

The coperto, why bar prices come two ways, why a cappuccino has a bedtime — short culture notes for each country, from people who've made the mistakes.

The printed pocket card: Italian — the essentials, thirty phrases in three columns with sound guides
Print and keep

The pocket card you print and take

One A4 sheet, landscape, folded in three: the essentials on the front, numbers, days and emergencies on the back. Print it the night before and it lives in a jacket pocket for the whole trip.

The printed show-this card: Please read — Italian, with allergy and medical lines in large type
Print and keep

A 'show this' card, in large print

Allergies, medication, a pacemaker, 'please call this number' — eight lines in their language, 22-point type, for the moment you'd rather point than pronounce.

The Say It step on a phone
On the phone

Ten minutes on the phone

Every phrase plays on a tap. The lesson fits a phone screen, so the ten minutes can happen on the tram or in the waiting room.

How it works

Pick the trip. Do ten minutes a day. Print the card.

1

Pick your trip

Where you're going, when you fly, and whether you've got five or ten minutes a day. The phrasebook plans the lessons to fit — and if the trip's only a fortnight away, it concentrates on the essentials.

2

Ten minutes a day

Hear a phrase, pick it out, build it from tiles, say it back. Phrases you know come round less often; the ones you fumble come back sooner. A week out, a quick 'ready check' shows what's stuck.

3

Print your pocket card

A fold-in-three card — greetings and numbers on one side, emergencies on the other — plus the full phrasebook, and a large-print 'show this' card for allergies, medication and medical needs.

Why it's different

Holiday phrases, not a language course.

Ten situations you'll actually be in

Being polite, the café, the restaurant, getting around, the hotel, shopping and markets, health and emergencies, small talk, numbers and paying, days and times — plus twenty signs you'll see and need to read.

No streaks, hearts or timers

The language apps are built to keep you tapping. This is built to get you to the café. There's nothing to lose, nothing to chase, and nothing telling you off.

Sound guides in plain English

Every phrase carries a how-to-say-it line — 'bwon-JOR-no' — what it literally means, and a note on when to use it. You don't need to type accents or know any grammar.

The notes that save embarrassment

Say bonjour before anything else in France. Don't tip in Japan. Which coins to keep handy for the loo. Short culture notes for each country, from people who've made the mistakes.

The audio

Every phrase, spoken clearly — twice.

The point of a phrasebook is being understood when you say it. So every phrase is recorded at a natural pace and again slowly, in a native-accent voice for each language.

Twice, at two speeds

Hear it as a local would say it, then slowly enough to copy. Tap to play, as many times as you like — nothing autoplays.

Honest about how it's made

The audio is generated from a native-accent voice and every clip is checked automatically against its text. It isn't a recording of a native speaker, and we don't pretend otherwise — it is clear, consistent and correct.

A card in large print

The 'show this' card puts your allergies, medications and 'I need a doctor' in 22-point type — for the moment you'd rather point than pronounce.

How to use it

Included with Morning Post membership.

The Holiday Phrasebook is one of the members' tools — alongside all 18 classes, both workbooks, the four mysteries and the other tools. Language apps charge $72 a year or more; membership is $79 a year for all of it — about $550 of value, for the whole household.

Morning Post Members
$79 / year
  • The Holiday Phrasebook — five languages
  • All 18 classes, both workbooks, four mysteries
  • Brain training, bill check, garden planner, family tree
  • Covers your household
  • 60-day money-back guarantee
See what membership includes →

Already a member? Go straight to the tool →

Questions

The details.

Which languages?

Italian, French, Spanish (as spoken in Spain, with notes where Latin America differs) and Japanese — about 130 phrases each — plus a shorter Indonesian courtesy pack for Bali. Greek, Vietnamese and German are the ones members are voting on next.

Can I get the Italian phrases as a printable PDF?

Yes — three of them. The pocket card (one A4 sheet, folded in three), the full phrasebook by situation, and the large-print 'show this' card all print from the tool, and printing to PDF works the same way. They're for members, so they're not on this page.

Will I be fluent?

No, and it doesn't try. You'll be able to greet people, order, pay, ask for directions and help, and say thank you properly — which is what a holiday needs, and more than most travellers manage.

Is the audio real people?

It's generated from a native-accent voice for each language, and every clip is machine-checked against its text so nothing ships garbled. It isn't a native speaker in a studio, and the phrasebook says so on the page rather than hide it.

My trip is in ten days. Is it too late?

No. Tell it the date and it concentrates on the essentials — greetings, numbers, the café, emergencies — instead of the full set. You'll have the pocket card either way.

Does it work on the phone?

Yes — phone, iPad or computer. Every phrase plays on a tap. If the phone's on silent, iPhones need the side switch flipped to hear it; the page reminds you once.

More members' tools

Also included in membership.

Energy Bill CheckIs your bill higher than it should be?Daily Brain TrainingSix exercises, ten minutes a morningThe Garden PlannerWhat to plant now, for your postcodeThe Family TreeKeep the stories, not just the dates