Archive for 'Italian Language'
Esprimiti! part 3 Posted by Serena on Jul 24, 2009
So far, in the first two articles of this series, I’ve been concentrating on the positive aspect of expressive vocabulary. What a wonderful world it would be if we only ever needed to talk about good and beautiful things! But of course life isn’t always so kind and sometimes we need to express distaste or…
Esprimiti! part 2 Posted by Serena on Jul 18, 2009
In the first article of this series Esprimiti! part 1 I introduced a number of useful words and expressions aimed at extending your expressive vocabulary. Let’s continue in the same vein in part two by looking at a range of descriptive words and phrases that will help you to esprimerti (express yourself). In Italian we…
Insetti! Posted by Serena on Jul 15, 2009
Fa caldo! it’s hot! and from dawn to dusk the air resounds with il frinire delle cicale (the characteristic sound produced by the cicadas). I love this sound, not because I find it musical but because for me it represents the ‘soundtrack’ of summer. Unfortunately my husband doesn’t share my passion for this particularly screechy…
Esprimiti! part 1. Posted by Serena on Jul 12, 2009
Learning another language always has its ups and downs, and it’s quite normal to pass through phases in which you feel that you’re making progress, followed by times where you feel that you’re not getting anywhere. This partly depends on the level of interaction that you have with native speakers of the language that you…
Ogni Posted by Serena on Jul 3, 2009
Following an interesting discussion that arose from my article ‘Talking about the time’ I thought it would be useful to explore the use of ogni, a word which can occasionally cause some confusion. Ogni usually means ‘every’, ‘each’, or ‘all’ and is commonly heard in the following types of phrases: ogni mattina mi alzo alle sette (every morning I get…
Giorno or Giornata? Posted by Serena on Jun 30, 2009
A reader wrote to me asking: “Can you explain the difference between giorno and giornata (both meaning “day” in English) if there is one?” I thought that the answer to this was going to be short, and straightforward, but when I looked in my Italian dictionary, just to check that my comment would be correct…
Talking about the time Posted by Serena on Jun 21, 2009
Many people say that we Italians have a different concept of time, and that domani (tomorrow) often means mai (never). This may or may not be accurate, but it is certainly true that concepts of time are expressed quite differently in English and Italian. This is one of the many cases in which English uses one word…