Archive for April, 2014
How to Write a Hotel Booking Letter in Italian Posted by Serena on Apr 14, 2014
Thinking about taking a well deserved holiday in Italy? Perhaps it’s time to start booking that hotel. Last week we looked at how to structure a formal letter in Italian, so let’s expand on that by concentrating on the corpo (content) of a hotel booking letter. The sample letter below contains a range of questions…
How to Write a Formal Letter in Italian Posted by Serena on Apr 11, 2014
Writing a formal letter is never an easy task unless you’re a trained professional, and it’s even more difficult of course if you have to do it in Italian. In a formal letter it’s important to use the correct opening and closing formulas, and to use the appropriate formal language. Here’s a formulary that you…
What’s Happening in the Garden? Posted by Geoff on Apr 9, 2014
…. Flowers are Happening! Yesterday I had to do one of my least favourite chores … tagliare l’erba nel giardino col decespugliatore (cut the grass in the garden with the strimmer/brush cutter). I dislike this job for two reasons, 1: it’s noisy and smelly, and 2: although I know it’s necessary I hate cutting all…
A Chat with Cocò the Cat Posted by Serena on Apr 7, 2014
Ciao … sono Cocò! Serena: “Buongiorno Cocò, come stai? dormito bene?” “Good morning Cocò, how are you? Did you sleep well?” Cocò: “…giorno, uffa! Dove sono i miei croccantini?” “…morning, humph! Where are my biscuits?” Serena: “Sempre molto gentile, eh? Pensare che da piccolino eri così allegro e chiacchierone. La mattina venivi sempre a salutarmi…
Pancakes from Pontremoli? Posted by Serena on Apr 3, 2014
Italian pancakes? Well sort of … Yesterday evening I went to a very interesting workshop all about il testarolo pontremolese cotto nei testi (Pontremoli testaroli cooked inside testi). Il Testarolo is a sort of pancake made with water, flour and salt which is cooked in un testo, a large heavy cast iron skillet with a…
How to use Molto Posted by Geoff on Apr 2, 2014
I remember when I was beginning to learn Italian that I frequently experienced moments of confusion over what should have been the simplest of things. Sound familiar? One of those theoretically ‘simple’ things was the use of molto. Let’s have at look at it’s various translations, and some examples of how we use it: 1…