Popular Italian Names – 1. Male Posted by Geoff on May 1, 2017
Beppe, Totò, Fede, Gino … these are all common abbreviations for Italian male names. Where do they come from, and do they have an equivalent in English? The table below gives some of the most common Italian male names together with their variations and abbreviations. Nome Varianti/Abbreviazioni Equivalente Inglese Alberto Alessandro Alessio Andrea Angelo…
The Italian Subjunctive – 1. Present Tense Posted by Geoff on Apr 28, 2017
The congiuntivo (subjunctive) is one of the more challenging forms to learn in Italian, especially as it is rarely used in English. The complexity of Italian grammar is also its beauty as it allows for many subtle shades of expression and a wealth of creative possibilities. This is part of the pleasure of mastering the…
Totò In Milan Posted by Serena on Apr 26, 2017
A few days ago was the 50th anniversary of the death of Totò (Napoli, 1898 – Roma, 15th April 1967), one of Italian cinema’s greatest comedians. Totò is the pseudonym of Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno Porfiro-genito Gagliardi de Curtis di Bisanzio. Guess why he used the nickname Totò! Totò (a common abbreviation…
Breakfast In Viareggio – English Translation Posted by Geoff on Apr 24, 2017
Here’s the English translation of Serena’s article Tales From The Bar – Breakfast In Viareggio, published last Friday. Frequentavo il Liceo Classico a Viareggio. La mattina presto insieme ad altri miei compagni di scuola prendevo la corriera della Lazzi che partiva da Lucca alle 7 del mattino ed arrivava a Viareggio alle 7.30. La scuola…
Tales From The Bar – Breakfast In Viareggio Posted by Serena on Apr 21, 2017
Here’s another little scene from bar life in Italy. Today I want to tell you about when I was a secondary school student in Viareggio, near Lucca. We’ll publish the English translation at the beginning of next week. That gives you all weekend to work on your own translation. Frequentavo il Liceo Classico a Viareggio…
When In Rome ……. Posted by Geoff on Apr 20, 2017
So, if you’ve studied our recent blog Parliamo Romanesco! you should be getting the hang of the Roman dialect by now, and ready for your next challenge. Here it is … To get a real flavour of the Romano dialect it goes without saying that you need to hear it spoken, or sung, by a…
Parliamo Romanesco! Posted by Serena on Apr 18, 2017
Last week I wrote an article based on the poem La Margherita (The Daisy) by the Italian writer Trilussa. The poem is written in the musical Romanesco dialect which was Trilussa’s preferred means of expressing himself. If you have a reasonable grounding in the Italian language, Romanesco isn’t too difficult to read. You just need…