Archive for the year 2011
Fabrizio De André – Giovanna d’Arco Posted by Serena on Aug 5, 2011
(N.B. for the not too computer literate: clicking on the blue text below will take you to a web page or video) Fabrizio De André – (born: Genova, 18 febbraio 1940 – passed away: Milano, 11 gennaio 1999) was one of our most important and revered cantautori italiani (Italian singer songwriters). I recently heard for…
Agosto Posted by Serena on Aug 2, 2011
The month of agosto (August) is named after the first Roman emperor Ottaviano Augusto (Augustus), who died on the 19th of August 14 AD. Festività (Festivals): Traditionally here in Italy agosto is the month when all the factories close down. Everybody goes on holiday to the seaside, the countryside, or up into the mountains, and…
Il Meteo–part 2 Posted by Serena on Jul 30, 2011
In Il Meteo – part 1 we had a look a typical example of le previsioni del tempo – the weather report. When we talk about the weather in everyday conversation, however, we don’t normally use such fancy meteorological terminology and explanations. Let’s have a look at some common ways of discussing the weather. 1…
Il Meteo – Part 1 Posted by Serena on Jul 27, 2011
Le previsioni del tempo – literally the weather forecasts (N.B. we use the plural in Italian) is more commonly known as il meteo (think of the word meteorological). Like any specialized field, il meteo has its own particular vocabulary, which can be pretty daunting when all you want to know is whether it will be…
Angelino Posted by Serena on Jul 24, 2011
When we were children my mother taught us a little bed time prayer dedicated to l’Angelo Custode (the Guardian Angel), which went like this: Angelino bellino bellino, vieni e stammi sempre vicino, fammi buono come sei tu, e poi portami da Gesù. Beautiful beautiful little angel, come and stay always by my side, make me…
Fa Male! Posted by Serena on Jul 20, 2011
In a recent blog I discussed some alternative translations of the verb ‘fare’. See: Il Verbo Fare In this blog I’m going to look at one of the many idiosyncratic uses of fare. By combining fare with male (bad) we express the concept of ‘to hurt’. Let’s find out how it works with a few examples…
Similitudini Posted by Serena on Jul 17, 2011
A few days ago a reader wrote to me saying that he really enjoyed Italian similitudini (similes) such as cieco come una talpa (‘as blind as a mole’), and asked if I knew any more of them. Here is a list of some popular similitudini: dormire come un ghiro (‘to sleep like a dormouse’) furbo…