Archive for 'Italian Language'
La Dolce Lingua – part 2 Posted by Serena on Feb 19, 2010
In my blog ‘La Dolce Lingua’ I wrote: “Now I don’t wish to start a controversy about the expressive merits of one language over another”, ecco, come diciamo in Italiano ‘ultime parole famose’ (as we say in Italian ‘famous last words’). Well, I had a feeling that this might be a controversial topic for the…
La Dolce Lingua Posted by Serena on Feb 16, 2010
Learners of Italian often ask me if my native language sounds as beautiful and musical to me as it does to them. In a recent comment for example, Vince wrote “when I read “Sotto casa nostra” it sounds beautiful to me but it just means, “Below our house” which sounds totally mundane in English”. This…
Farsi Male Posted by Serena on Feb 10, 2010
My last blog, Una Veduta dall mia Finestra was inspired by the landscape that I see from my window. This blog draws inspiration from a rather different source, my accident prone husband Geoff. Within the last three weeks he has managed to fall from a two meter wall and crack his ribs, remove a patch…
Una Veduta dalla mia Finestra Posted by Serena on Feb 7, 2010
When we learn a foreign language, we tend to concentrate primarily on the prosaic, rather than the poetic, and hence we become pretty good at using the utilitarian language that helps us to achieve practical everyday tasks, such as shopping or asking for information. However, when it comes to describing things, or events in a more…
Avvertimenti – Part 2 Posted by Serena on Feb 4, 2010
In my previous blog we had a look at a few of the warning signs that you might encounter when visiting Italy. Today I’m going to continue with the same theme by giving you some useful warning phrases and explain how to use them. Now it’s all very well being able to make sense of what a warning…
Avvertimenti Posted by Serena on Feb 1, 2010
When traveling in Italy, visitors are bombarded by a plethora of signs and warning notices, most of which will probably turn out to be irrelevant. Some of these signs are easy to understand because they are international, or pictographic, for example the word STOP written at a road junction will make sense to anyone who…
Smog Blog Posted by Serena on Jan 29, 2010
The word ‘smog’, as you can probably tell, is not an Italian creation, but we have certainly become experts at producing it! ‘Smog’ is an amalgam of two English words: smoke, and fog, and was originally coined to describe the appalling, asphyxiating conditions in London when the smoke from thousands of coal fires, and factory chimneys combined…