Archive for December, 2008
La Pronuncia, part three! Posted by Serena on Dec 10, 2008
I had not originally planned a part three, but as I received an interesting question by e-mail from Andrew I thought other people might find my reply helpful, so I’m publishing it here as a mini-blog. Andrew asked: “How do you pronounce sch as in bruschetta, please?” During the time I lived in…
La Pronuncia, part two. Posted by Serena on Dec 8, 2008
In part one of this blog we looked at the vowels, a e i o u and the consonants c, g and h. Now I want to continue with some combined letter sounds, and double consonants but firstly I’d just like to clarify that all examples of English words given as a guide to correct…
Torta di Mele Posted by Serena on Dec 6, 2008
The other morning one of my neighbors turned up at my doorstep with a wooden box full of mele (apples) or rather meline (small apples). They were small, but full of flavor, so I decided to bake a torta di mele (apple cake). I learned this recipe many years ago from a book that my…
Acqua Alta a Venezia Posted by Serena on Dec 2, 2008
On Monday this week acqua alta (high water) reached 156 cm above its normal level in Venezia, creating a lot of damage and discomfort to the city and its population. The whole of the lagoon was flooded and the passerelle (gangways), which are normally set up to allow people to walk on in the event…
La Pronuncia, part 1. Posted by Serena on Dec 1, 2008
Italian, as I’m sure you will have discovered by now, is a ‘challenging’ and often confusing language, and for every rule there seem to be twenty-five exceptions. The good news however is that one set of rules is consistent, and those are the rules governing la pronuncia (pronunciation). Once you have mastered these fixed rules…