Archive for October, 2014
Rita’s Story Posted by Serena on Oct 15, 2014
A few days ago we received a fascinating e.mail from one of our long-time readers, Rita. The mail was written in the form of a very brief autobiography, and her story reminded me of my aunt Vicky, who, like so many Italians, was forced by circumstances to leave Italy and begin a new life abroad…
Breaking News … Cannabis Can Restore Your Trullo! Posted by Geoff on Oct 13, 2014
I can never hear the word cannabis without being transported back to my hippy days in the mid 70’s. My friend’s father used to keep budgerigars, and in those days bird feed contained fertile cannabis seeds. I think it was during the extraordinarily hot summer of 75 that a strange leafy plant of gigantic proportions…
Now It’s Your Turn – The Translations Posted by Geoff on Oct 10, 2014
Italian translations by Serena, photos by Geoff So, how did you get on with your English to Italian translations of Lucky Number Seven – Now It’s Your Turn? Here are our versions for reference. N.B. As you will see, there may be several possible translations for some of the sentences. From Part 1: a. I…
Halloween Jam Posted by Serena on Oct 8, 2014
Halloween is getting closer, and with it the pumpkins season arrives. What to do with so many pumpkins? Some time ago I wrote a traditional northern Italian recipe for tortelli di zucca (pumpkin tortelli). Today I’m going to give you a recipe from Sicily in the very south of Italy: la marmellata di zucca (pumpkin…
Lucky Number Seven – Now It’s Your Turn! Posted by Geoff on Oct 6, 2014
All photos by Geoff Chamberlain In our first two blogs about Amber, the kitten that we rescued three weeks ago, Serena wrote the text in Italian followed by an English translation. In the third blog I wrote in English followed by an Italian translation. Well, here’s part 4, and this time it’s your turn dear…
Who’s Who? Posted by Serena on Oct 2, 2014
I’ve often noticed that English speakers who are learning Italian tend to mistakenly use chi instead of che. Of course, they look and sound very similar, and English to Italian dictionaries tend to give chi as the primary translation for who. If only it were that simple! Today we’re going to look at the difference…
Why Can’t The Italians Speak ‘Proper’ Italian Posted by Geoff on Oct 1, 2014
… just like I learnt in my grammar book? I know that I mention this topic frequently but I’m very aware that the difference between ‘exercise’ book Italian and colloquial Italian is a major source of frustration for students. A reader recently asked me to write more posts highlighting some of the frequently used expressions…