How Will I Be Treated In Italy? (country, place, people)

[ddmhughes]

When I was laid off I decided to learn a second language when I wasn't job hunting so I bought the Italian edition of Rosetta Stone. I am really enjoying it! It really does make a second language fun: Just like the comercials say.

My question is in general how do you think an American will be treated while visiting Italy who can speak the lanaguage. I'm sure it would be a bigger deal if I want to the smaller towns. Since it is probably more common in the bigger citys. Does anyone have any stories of visiting Italy and being able to speak the language? Any Italians on the board have any input on this? Does anyone that visited Italy before wish that they could have spoken the language on their trip? Anything else that might be relevent to this question?

I understand that no one can answer this question exactly and it may sound like a stupid question: But I have been learning Italian and I'm getting excited about visiting there someday.

[Ol' Wanderer]

Of course, people in any country would love to hear a tourist trying to speak their language, but asides from commenting that you speak Italian well, Italians would treat you the same as if you could only speak the basic greetings. People would ask you more questions since you could answer in their language, but that's just about it. Even in tiny Italian village, you wouldn't impress people much unless you could pepper the conversation with idioms and colloquialisms, or if you could speak the local dialect.

If you wish to make a good impression with the Italians, do as the locals do: being polite at all times.

When entering a store (any kind of store), immediately say hello depends on the time of the day (not ciao, that's informal) and do not forget to say thank you and goodbye when leaving the store. Do not rifling merchandises or taking things from the shelves without asking permission. Always use the formal form. Think of the store as someone's house instead of a public place and act accordingly. (Side note: I've been keeping that custom even here in the States, and I noticed a great difference in customer service from all salespersons I encountered: they felt they were treated with respect by me so they became very helpful to me in turn.)

In Italy, that's all you need for fleeting moments of human connection, but those small gestures are more important than the ability to speak the language.