Archive for January, 2017
Il Treno A Vapore Posted by Serena on Jan 13, 2017
Here’s a challenge for you: today’s blog is entirely in Italian. I’ll publish the English translation next Monday, which gives you the whole weekend to work on it! Un vero treno a vapore, e per di più a Pontremoli! Non potevo credere ai miei occhi quando la mia amica Clara mi ha mandato una mail…
Like A Boss Posted by Geoff on Jan 11, 2017
Fabio Rovazzi is a young Milanese video maker who appeared out of nowhere in 2016 to release what was to become il tormentone estivo (the big summer hit) Andiamo A Comandare (Like A Boss). It became the first song ever to win il disco d’oro (the golden disc) solely by means of streaming, and went…
The Italian Adjective Bello Posted by Serena on Jan 9, 2017
In today’s exercise, we’re going to focus on the aggettivo ‘bello’ (adjective ‘beautiful, nice‘). As with the preposizioni articolate, the Italian adjective bello models its ending on the definite articles il, lo, la, i, gli, and le (the) when followed by a noun (see links to articles about the preposizioni articolate at the end of…
Viene La Befana Posted by Serena on Jan 6, 2017
Today, the sixth of January, we celebrate l’Epifania (the Epiphany), which commemorates the arrival of i Tre Re Magi (the Three Wise Men) in Bethlehem. Today also marks the end of the Christmas festivities (collective sigh of relief!). Before the modern era of globalization, and the adoption of certain traditions from America, l’Epifania was the…
I Rimedi Della Nonna Posted by Serena on Jan 5, 2017
What to do when you have the flu? Are i rimedi della nonna (grandma’s remedies) any use, or are they merely placebos? There’s an old aphorism which says: “Il raffreddore è una malattia che, se curata, dura sette giorni, altrimenti dura una settimana.” (“The cold is an illness which, if cured, lasts seven days, otherwise…
We Have Been Influenced! Posted by Geoff on Jan 2, 2017
The Christmas and New Year period have been a complete blank for us this year because siamo stati tutti e due influenzati (we’ve both had the flu). Influenza, like so many Latin words that we take for granted in the English language, actually has a very interesting etymology. In order to discover why English speakers…