I’m lost (part 1 of 2)

A stranger stops and asks whether you need help, and suddenly you have one chance to explain where you are trying to get to. This part of the conversation hands you the words for exactly that moment: admitting you have lost your way, naming the place you are looking for, and then holding on to a set of spoken directions long enough to actually act on them.

You practice asking whether somewhere is far, hearing distance measured in minutes on foot rather than in streets or metres, and following instructions built from a small set of high frequency words. Mi sono persa gets you help in the first place, Cerco la piazza principale names your destination, and sempre dritto e poi girare a destra is the shape almost every reply will take. The same sentences carry you to a station, a pharmacy or a friend's street, and the polite verb forms in them are the ones you want with someone you have only just met.