Language spoken in Venice

[joyus]

I am preparing for our trip on NCL out of Venice in Sept. I like to know a few important words in the native country we are visiting whenever we're traveling out of the country. I also read somewhere on this board that the some people of Venice like to hear tourist speak a little in their language. So what is the language of Venice as I understand it is not Italian or French. If you learned a few words before going, please tell me what website you used. What was your experience with the language or should we even bother attempting to learn the language. Thank you

[CruiserBruce]

Venetian is a local dialect, but you would probably shock the heck out of a local if you tried to speak it.

 

Italian (official language) or English will do just fine.

[marazul]

Veneziano is spoken by native Venetians, who are abandoning the city in droves because of high prices and tourists. Everyone speaks the official language - Italian.

 

It's good that you want to learn some of the local language. It would be great if everyone made the effort. But stick to Italian in this case.

 

BTW - try http://www.duolingo.com a free language app.

Edited March 31, 2018 by marazul

[cruisemom42]

Italy is a country of local dialects, where someone from five miles away is considered a 'stranieri' (stranger) because they don't speak the same as folks in your own village.

 

But speaking Italian is all that would be expected of any visitor, and they will be pleased that you try. (Unless, of course, the proprietor is not even Italian, as I've recently found in Venice....but that's a different story.)

[joyus]

Thank you. I normally use Doulingo. Good to know it's a language offered by that website. I was concerned that it was the venetio language which is not offered by them. Are many of the signs in both Italian and English?

[cruisemom42]

Most signs are only in Italian, but they mainly refer to the names of places (which are the same or very similar in Italian and English). For example, it's common to see little white or yellow signs on the buildings pointing the direction to the main landmarks of Venice, for example:

 

San Marco or S. Marco (St. Marks)

Rialto or Ponte Rialto (Rialto bridge)

Vaporetto (the so-called water buses)

Piazzalle Roma or P. Roma (same; area where you can catch the People Mover to the cruise port)

 

Here are some images:

 

 

(Ferrovia = train station)

 

Try not to think too much about the fact that the signs aren't always very clear -- it's very difficult to get too lost in Venice, the area just isn't that big.

[cirpi]

Italy is a country of local dialects, where someone from five miles away is considered a 'stranieri' (stranger) because they don't speak the same as folks in your own village.

 

But speaking Italian is all that would be expected of any visitor, and they will be pleased that you try. (Unless, of course, the proprietor is not even Italian, as I've recently found in Venice....but that's a different story.)

 

So very, very true. Years ago, an Italian friend and I bicycled into a speck of a village on the highlands near Asiago to ask directions. No one, except for two young men at a bar, spoke Italian. All the others spoke only Cimbro, an ancient language closely related to 14th Century Austrian. The village was about 10 miles from Asiago where my friend's family has had a summer for at least 50 years.

[joyus]

Thank you everyone for your response. IdI also like to ask 2 more questions about Venice. We're staying on the mainland at Hotel Plaza Venice which is directly across the street from the train and bus station. My question is what time of night does either one stop running? Also, are the menu in the non-tourist areas generally in English also?

[euro cruiser]

That's about six miles from Venice, unfortunately.

 

The last regional train of the night departs Venice (Santa Lucia) at 11:11 PM and arrives to Mestre at 11:23 PM.

 

The last bus is a little over an hour later, departing from Piazzale Roma at 12:40 AM: http://muoversi.venezia.it/sites/default/files/attachments/pdf/UM/U-2.pdf

[joyus]

That's about six miles from Venice, unfortunately.

 

The last regional train of the night departs Venice (Santa Lucia) at 11:11 PM and arrives to Mestre at 11:23 PM.

 

The last bus is a little over an hour later, departing from Piazzale Roma at 12:40 AM: http://muoversi.venezia.it/sites/default/files/attachments/pdf/UM/U-2.pdf

Thank you. I understand it's about a 10 minute ride to Venice from the hotel in Mestre which is fine with us considering the difference in the cost of hotels on the mainland vs on the islands.