{"id":8683,"date":"2015-02-23T18:42:10","date_gmt":"2015-02-23T17:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=8683"},"modified":"2015-02-23T18:42:10","modified_gmt":"2015-02-23T17:42:10","slug":"useful-conversational-rejoinders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/useful-conversational-rejoinders\/","title":{"rendered":"Useful Conversational Rejoinders"},"content":{"rendered":"

As learners of Italian we\u2019ve all found ourselves in situations where our limited vocabulary makes us sound like fumbling four year olds, vero<\/strong>? Yes we\u2019ve studied our grammar, we\u2019ve rehearsed fantastical Italian conversation in our heads, we\u2019ve made grand speeches on the most fascinating of topics in la bella lingua<\/strong> \u2026. and suddenly there we are, confronted with a real live native Italian telling us about their lumbago or the latest amusing antics of their pet snail \u2026 and everything goes pear shaped! We stand there like idiots, heads bobbing up and down like those nodding dogs that one used to see in the back of cars (do people still have them?)<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s all\u00a0a rather complex problem: we have to concentrate extra hard to follow all the information that we\u2019re being bombarded with whilst at the same time trying to work out some kind of vaguely intelligent reply\u00a0\u2026 \u201cwait, hang on, what was that word \u2026 damn, now I missed the next bit \u2026 now why are they staring at me as if I\u2019m meant to answer, should I nod, smile, shake my head?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact\u00a0we all tend to find\u00a0ourselves\u00a0doing nodding dog impersonations\u00a0rather too much in these situations. Yes, occasionally we manage to\u00a0come out with one of our stock rejoinders such as \u201cche bello\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0= “how lovely” or \u201cche peccato\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0= “what a shame”, but those replies can get old pretty quickly.<\/span><\/p>\n

However,\u00a0never fear, Geoff is here. Let\u2019s see if we can\u2019t expand our vocabulary of useful conversational rejoinders. Here are a few short extracts from some of my fictional conversations.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/a>

Robert Newton as Long John Silver in Treasure Island, 1950 – Public Domain<\/p><\/div>\n

1. mi dispiace \u2026<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Il capitano si rivolse al marinaio: \u201cRossi\u201d disse \u201coggi il mio pappagallo non si sente tanto bene\u201d \u2026 \u00a0\u201cmi dispiace<\/span> capitano\u201d rispose il marinaio<\/strong>.
\nThe captain addressed the sailor: \u201cRossi, my parrot\u2019s not feeling very well today\u201d \u2026 \u201cI\u2019m sorry to hear<\/span> it\u00a0captain\u201d replied the sailor.<\/span><\/p>\n

N.B. mi dispiace<\/strong> = I\u2019m sorry\/sorry to hear it, (literally: it displeases me)<\/em>\u00a0is NOT, despite appearances,\u00a0the opposite of mi piace<\/strong> = I like (literally: it pleases me)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

2. che strano \u2026<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Luisa: \u201cStanotte ho sognato che mia zia che abita a Napoli, sai quella che canta come un gatto strozzato,\u00a0ha vinto il primo posto al Festival della canzone italiana di Sanremo\u201d \u2026 Zoe: \u201cche strano \u2026\u00a0ma bello per\u00f2<\/span>\u201d.
\n<\/strong>Luisa: \u201cLast night I dreamt the my aunt who lives in Napoli, you know, the one that sings like a strangled cat, won first prize at the Sanremo Music Festival\u201d \u2026 Zoe: \u201cHow strange \u2026 but lovely none the less\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

3. davvero, caspita, pensa un po\u2019 \u2026<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Here we have, three rejoinders for the price of one. Take your pick, use them individually or in combination to liven up your conversations:
\n<\/span>Vecchietto al giovanotto: \u201cFanciullo mio, quando avevo la tua et\u00e0 camminavo quindici chilometri al d\u00ec, senza scarpe, per andare a scuola\u201d \u2026 Giovanotto (ad alta voce): \u201cdavvero, caspita, ma pensa un po\u2019!<\/span>\u201d (sotto voce): \u201cma che stronzate raccontano ‘sti vecchietti, non vedo l\u2019ora di tornare ai miei videogiochi\u201d.
\n<\/strong><\/span>Old man to young lad: \u201cmy lad, when I was your age I walked fifteen kilometres a day without shoes to get to school\u201d \u2026 young lad, (out loud): \u201creally, wow, just think about that!<\/span>\u201d (mumbling to himself): \u201cwhat bullshit these old people talk, I can\u2019t wait to get back to my video-games\u201d. (note to self: Geoff, shame on you for using\u00a0such horrible stereotypes) <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I hope you have fun using this vocabulary. If you want more leave me a comment below. A presto …
\n<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

As learners of Italian we\u2019ve all found ourselves in situations where our limited vocabulary makes us sound like fumbling four year olds, vero? Yes we\u2019ve studied our grammar, we\u2019ve rehearsed fantastical Italian conversation in our heads, we\u2019ve made grand speeches on the most fascinating of topics in la bella lingua \u2026. and suddenly there we…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":8689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[351125,351126],"class_list":["post-8683","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-how-to-reply-in-italian","tag-italian-expressions"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8683"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8691,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8683\/revisions\/8691"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}