Archive for 'Italian Language'
Il Dialetto Pontremolese Posted by Serena on Oct 12, 2010
I have often mentioned in my blogs that here in Italy we have lots of different dialects, and that they vary not just from region to region, but from town to town, and even village to village!. When we first moved to our little village near Pontremoli in Tuscany, my poor husband, who had already…
Mezzi di Trasporto – 1 Posted by Serena on Oct 9, 2010
If you’re visiting Italy, and you don’t have your own mezzo di trasporto (means of transport), then you will probably have to use i trasporti pubblici (public transport). Here is a bit of vocabulary to help you get around: 1. l’autobus (the bus) prendere l’autobus to take, or catch the bus domani mattina prendo l’autobus…
Misleading Word of the Day – part 7 Posted by Serena on Sep 27, 2010
Today’s ‘misleading word’ is yet another ‘false friend’, i.e. an Italian word that sounds more or less the same as an English word, but has a different meaning: Italian word sounds like English actual meaning geniale genial ingenious, talented The English word genial is usually defined as: ‘jovial’, ‘kindly’, ‘sociable’, etc. It also has the…
Misleading Word of the Day – part 6 Posted by Serena on Sep 21, 2010
Every now and then, when I’m interpreting or translating between Italian and English, examples of ‘falsi amici’ (false friend) pop up and cause ‘un po’ di casino’ (a bit of confusion). Falsi amici or ‘false cognates’ are words which sound the same in both English and Italian but which in reality have different meanings, often…
Quanti Anni Hai? Posted by Serena on Sep 13, 2010
‘Quanti anni hai?’ (How old are you?). This, and the corresponding reply ‘Ho dodici anni’ (I am twelve years old) is something that students of Italian learn within their first few lessons. The first thing to note is that we use the verb avere (to have) instead of essere (to be), i.e. ‘Ho dodici anni’…
Colloquial Italian – 4 Posted by Serena on Sep 3, 2010
It’s been a while since I’ve written one of my colloquial Italian blogs. In these blogs I discuss the meaning of those little expressions or words which we Italians tend to use all the time, but which are rarely learnt in Italian classes. So, without further ado, here is another small collection with, as usual…
Andiamo al Mare! Posted by Serena on Aug 13, 2010
Eccoci in pieno agosto! (Here we are in full August!) and Italy is officially closed for the summer. L’esodo (the exodus) has left the cities abandoned to tourists, and families have packed their costumi da bagno (swimming suits), crema solare (sun cream), secchielli e palette (buckets and spades), teli da mare (beach towels), and ombrelloni…