Archive for May, 2013
Typing in Italian on an English Computer/Keyboard Posted by Geoff on May 31, 2013
I’m sure lots of you have a computer with an operating system (such as Windows) which has English set as the default language. You’ve probably also got an English tastiera (keyboard). This can sometimes make writing and spell checking in Italian a bit awkward. Well here’s the simplest method that I’ve found for easily switching…
Shovelling Muck in Tuscany! Posted by Serena on May 27, 2013
La settimana scorsa il tempo ci ha dato un paio di giorni di tregua (questa è la più piovosa e fredda primavera degli ultimi trent’anni!) e così siamo riusciti a fare un po’ di lavoro sul nostro povero orto. Prima di tutto abbiamo vangato, diserbato e ridisegnato un paio di aiuole. Poi siamo andati a…
NUTS! Posted by Geoff on May 24, 2013
Today, our guest blogger Ambra Sancin writes abut idiomatic Italian expressions that use the word nuts. In case you missed Ambra’s previous blog ‘The Language of Coffee’, here’s a quick bio: Ambra is a Sydney-based arts project manager in the cultural/not-for-profit sector and specialise in communications, marketing and producing public programs for festivals and government…
Verdura Nostrana Posted by Serena on May 21, 2013
Carrying on from Geoff’s post about fruit names in Italian, today I’m going to look at the names of the most popular vegetables. Us Italians prefer our verdure (vegetables) to be nostrane (local) and generally try to avoid buying fruit and vegetables imported from foreign countries. A couple days ago I was at the supermarket…
Bananas! Posted by Geoff on May 17, 2013
When I lived in England, bananas were my favourite fruit. But I have to admit that I was never a big fruit fan until I came to live in Italy. I still like bananas of course, but the variety of really fresh and tasty fruit available here leaves me spoilt for choice. Plus, I now…
A Rainy Italian Love Song Posted by Geoff on May 14, 2013
We’re having a really rainy spring this year: Madonna come viene giù! So when I heard the song Piove by Jovanotti in ‘The Sopranos’, one of our favourite TV series, I immediately thought ‘BLOG!’ It wasn’t until I listened to the song properly later on, and read the lyrics, that I realised that it was…
How to say hello in Italian! Posted by Geoff on May 10, 2013
Ciao! is probably one the best known Italian words in the world. It’s an informal greeting which can be used at any time of the day and is also used to say goodbye. Just out of curiosity let’s have a quick look at the etymology of the word: ciao comes from the Venetian dialect word…