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Italian Without Words

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" The pictures are in black and white"

You don’t need words to speak Italian. All you really need is this unique "phrase book" of the most common Italian expressions, complete with authentic Italian gestures and body language. There's no faster or funnier way to learn how to communicate in Italy, Italian restaurants, with your grandparents or your friends.

You don’t need words to speak Italian. You don't have to study Italian or travel to Italy to communicate like a true paesano. All you really need is this unique "phrase book" of the most common Italian expressions, complete with authentic Italian gestures and body language. It's the fastest and funniest way to learn Italian ever published. Now, even if you don't know a single word of Italian, you can learn the most common greetings and expressions, dinner-table comments, hot vows of love, bargaining tricks, insults, threats and curses. This book shows you how. There's no faster or funnier way to learn how to communicate in Italy, Italian restaurants, with your grandparents or your friends.

112 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 1989

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5 stars
11 (19%)
4 stars
12 (21%)
3 stars
14 (25%)
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
Profile Image for Liquidlasagna.
3,293 reviews115 followers
August 14, 2020
has anyone actually unraviolied the potential secrets to this book?
Profile Image for Harrison Large ラージ • ハリソン.
263 reviews9 followers
November 16, 2019
Surprisingly good!

It's a five minute read (like those new Ladybird's The XXX: A short guide) you could probably finish in the store, but instead of witticisms it's stereotypical Italian gestures linked to phrases.
The cover is the book, really.

It's pretty good though, for what it is. Funny enough, if you find it for a buck in a used store, to get and give to someone as a cheap gift or a stocking filler.
Profile Image for Cagne.
546 reviews7 followers
June 14, 2015
What I think as an italian (Northerner, while the authors are Southerners, so I'm not a real expert of their local gestures, but I can be a valid test as the universality of them).

The book is somewhat forced, there are a lot of signs I don't recognize as used (who's going to touch their knee while telling you they are going to kneecap you), or have some strange addition, like the handgun gesture popping up often. 20% of it seems a sign language manual.

Some signs involve motion to be performed correctly, so a photo doesn't really convey them but they have a Youtube video so you can use that as an aid.

Overall it makes mostly a good funny gift, and I guess it's a decent intro to gestures for people interested in italian colture/mannerism, but what you will retain from it will need a huge refinement to match real life, possibly from italian movies.
Profile Image for Indah Threez Lestari.
13.5k reviews274 followers
July 7, 2012
631 - 2012

Hahah, jadi inget film-film yang orang italianya ekspresif banget.
Mungkin bisa dicoba, ngomongnya pake bahasa Indonesia, tapi body language-nya pake gaya italia.

Buku ini memberi contoh body language untuk greetings, questions, common expressions, insults, threaths, dll. Keknya yang insults dan threaths bisa dilihat contohnya di film-film mafia.
Profile Image for Stay Fetters.
2,647 reviews217 followers
March 1, 2015
Browsing the book section of the thrift store and my eye catches this on the shelf. I read the title and look at the cover. You say, nah it cant be. You open it up and oh yes it is. Flip through it and its one of those random awkward books you must add to your collection.
Very derogatory and maybe a wee bit racist. Some funny laugh out loud moments. Maybe keep them to yourself.
Va fa'n culo!
Profile Image for Jaime.
1,572 reviews2 followers
October 22, 2016
Having married into an Italian family, I greatly appreciated this humorous short book. It is humorous look at how Italians communicate with hand gestures and facial expressions. There were some surprises and it was a fun read,
Profile Image for Simon.
1,414 reviews26 followers
April 4, 2011
Great, now I can use this in real life...maybe.

It's a nice way of getting the culture and language across.
5 reviews4 followers
May 4, 2015
Great for hard headed guys unwilling to learn spoken italian
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews