1. A meeting at the bus stop

Beginners: Level of difficulty 4/10: It's 8am on a Monday morning in May when two strangers meet at a bus stop in Italy. One is a middle-aged man, Aldo, and the other one is a young woman, Linda. They have a brief conversation in Italian about the weather and their nationality. Then they introduce themselves and talk about where they are going. One is going to the museum and the other one is going into the town centre to do some shopping. In this dialogue in Italian between two people meeting and greeting each other, you learn the basic conversational phrases that are typical of two strangers meeting.

Title: A meeting at the bus stop: Aldo and Linda | Un incontro alla fermata dell'autobus: Aldo e Linda: Although you may not want to give your name to a total stranger in real life, in a language-learning situation, the two characters are being polite and friendly and they do introduce themselves and talk about where they are going – at least for Italian language-learning purposes! Then the bus comes and they say goodbye. These are the types of phrases that Italians use in typical conversational situations in which they greet a stranger and then starting having a conversation with that person.