Archive for January, 2012
Quanto bene conosci l’Italia? Le Soluzioni Posted by Serena on Jan 13, 2012
Well done everyone who had a go at my quiz ‘Quanto bene conosci l’Italia?’. Here are the correct answers: 1. Roughly how many inhabitants does Italy have: a. 40million, b. 50million, c. 60million, or d. 70million? c. 60,000,000 – according to Istat, The National Institute for Statistics, “Al 31 dicembre 2010 risiedevano in Italia…
La Voce Posted by Serena on Jan 11, 2012
Let’s take a look at some of the vocabulary which describes ways in which we use la nostra voce (our voice): sussurrare / bisbigliare (to whisper): Laura ha sussurrato qualcosa alla sua compagna di classe (Laura whispered something to her classmate), or non capisco quello che stai bisbigliando (I don’t understand what you’re whispering) mormorare…
Quanto bene conosci l’Italia? Posted by Serena on Jan 9, 2012
How well do you know Italy? Here’s a quiz which will put your knowledge to the test. Leave your answers in the comments section. 1. Roughly how many inhabitants does Italy have: a. 40million, b. 50million, c. 60million, or d. 70million? 2. Which city is famous for its romantic songs? 3. On which Italian island…
La Lingua in Italia Posted by Serena on Jan 6, 2012
One of the main aims of my blogs is to help you to understand the Italian language. It’s important to remember, however, that due to complex social and historical reasons Italian isn’t necessarily the first language of all Italians. There are, for example, linguistic minorities in Italy whose first language is German (in Trentino Alto…
Parole e Accenti Posted by Serena on Jan 4, 2012
I recently wrote a blog about the accent in Italian verbs explaining that there weren’t any fixed rules, and that they had to be learned by heart. In order to show how important it is to get the accent in the right place, let’s have a look at a few words that change their meaning …
Una Selezione di Blog del 2011 Posted by Serena on Jan 2, 2012
Allora, here we are at the beginning of a new year. I thought it might be interesting to start this year with a mini review of my 2011 blogs. Let’s take a look back at some of the diverse topics that we covered last year. I’d be very interested to hear from you, our readers…