ItalianPod - sonobono Conversations http://italianpod.com Learn Italian on Your Terms en-us <![CDATA[Re: Paperino, Paperon de' Paperoni, Topolino... e Calimero]]> Molto divertente,  fmarin;  ti voglio bene "Calimero';  mille grazie,  Al

]]> Molto divertente,  fmarin;  ti voglio bene "Calimero';  mille grazie,  Al

]]> <![CDATA[Re: At the Football Match]]> I'm becoming more conscious of english words used in italian and wondered why "crossing" in soccer would not be something like 'traverse"?

]]> I'm becoming more conscious of english words used in italian and wondered why "crossing" in soccer would not be something like 'traverse"?

]]> <![CDATA[Re: Superstition at the Concert Hall]]> Catherine,  il numero 13 porta sfortuna di solito su venerdi;  ma anche tres persone sulla fiammiferri;  e rottura un specchio e' iella;  auguri,  ciao,  Al

 

]]> Catherine,  il numero 13 porta sfortuna di solito su venerdi;  ma anche tres persone sulla fiammiferri;  e rottura un specchio e' iella;  auguri,  ciao,  Al

 

]]> <![CDATA[Re: Venezia]]>

Italians vote for ugliest English words

For years it was the French who worked themselves into a lather over their native tongue being infected by English.

 

By Nick Squires in Rome
Last Updated: 5:31PM BST 09 Sep 2008

Now it is their southern neighbours across the Alps who are wringing their hands at the growing incursion of Anglo-Saxon words and phrases into every day use.

From 'il weekend' to 'lo stress' and 'le leadership', Italians increasingly sprinkle their conversations with English terms, some of them comically mangled and bizarre sounding to a native English speaker.

'Baby parking', for example, is a strange conflation which means child care centre or nursery.

A 'baby gang', on the other hand, is a more sinister construct. It means a group of young criminals or hoodlums.

As with the French and their use of Franglais, Italians sometimes throw in English words to appear worldly and cosmopolitan, and at other times to describe things slightly alien to the Italian mindset, from 'il fitness' to 'il full immersion training'.

But now a cultural guardian of the Italian language is saying 'basta!' – enough.

The Dante Alighieri Society, a less strident equivalent of France's Academie Francaise which promotes Italian culture and language around the world, has called on Italians to reject Anglo-Saxon linguistic imports, 'Anglitaliano', and return to the true lingua italiana.

Over the last four months the society, named after the Florentine poet Dante, author of The Divine Comedy and regarded as the father of the Italian language, asked visitors to its website to nominate their least favourite Anglicisms.

The results judge the ugliest imports to be 'weekend', 'welfare' and 'OK', followed by 'briefing', 'mission', 'know how', 'shampoo' and 'cool'.

The worlds of business and politics contribute many of the alien words, from 'question time' to 'premier' and 'bipartisan'.

Other English words regularly used by Italians which escaped the ire of the society's correspondents include 'sexy', 'webmaster' and 'water', short for water closet or lavatory.

"Italians unite against il weekend", the society declared on its website. "In short, it is clear that Italians are calling for more respect and more protection for correct language."

Many Italians are unlikely to be swayed by such exhortations.

"I don't think it matters if we use English words," said Alessandra, 25, a secretary in a Rome travel agency. "It's part of globalisation. Often it's faster – like using 'il weekend' instead of 'fine settimana'."

But her boss, Maria, disagreed. "People think it's chic to use English words but I don't like it at all. I want to speak either Italian or English, not an Esperanto mix of the two. It's important to keep language clean."

 

]]>

Italians vote for ugliest English words

For years it was the French who worked themselves into a lather over their native tongue being infected by English.

 

By Nick Squires in Rome
Last Updated: 5:31PM BST 09 Sep 2008

Now it is their southern neighbours across the Alps who are wringing their hands at the growing incursion of Anglo-Saxon words and phrases into every day use.

From 'il weekend' to 'lo stress' and 'le leadership', Italians increasingly sprinkle their conversations with English terms, some of them comically mangled and bizarre sounding to a native English speaker.

'Baby parking', for example, is a strange conflation which means child care centre or nursery.

A 'baby gang', on the other hand, is a more sinister construct. It means a group of young criminals or hoodlums.

As with the French and their use of Franglais, Italians sometimes throw in English words to appear worldly and cosmopolitan, and at other times to describe things slightly alien to the Italian mindset, from 'il fitness' to 'il full immersion training'.

But now a cultural guardian of the Italian language is saying 'basta!' – enough.

The Dante Alighieri Society, a less strident equivalent of France's Academie Francaise which promotes Italian culture and language around the world, has called on Italians to reject Anglo-Saxon linguistic imports, 'Anglitaliano', and return to the true lingua italiana.

Over the last four months the society, named after the Florentine poet Dante, author of The Divine Comedy and regarded as the father of the Italian language, asked visitors to its website to nominate their least favourite Anglicisms.

The results judge the ugliest imports to be 'weekend', 'welfare' and 'OK', followed by 'briefing', 'mission', 'know how', 'shampoo' and 'cool'.

The worlds of business and politics contribute many of the alien words, from 'question time' to 'premier' and 'bipartisan'.

Other English words regularly used by Italians which escaped the ire of the society's correspondents include 'sexy', 'webmaster' and 'water', short for water closet or lavatory.

"Italians unite against il weekend", the society declared on its website. "In short, it is clear that Italians are calling for more respect and more protection for correct language."

Many Italians are unlikely to be swayed by such exhortations.

"I don't think it matters if we use English words," said Alessandra, 25, a secretary in a Rome travel agency. "It's part of globalisation. Often it's faster – like using 'il weekend' instead of 'fine settimana'."

But her boss, Maria, disagreed. "People think it's chic to use English words but I don't like it at all. I want to speak either Italian or English, not an Esperanto mix of the two. It's important to keep language clean."

 

]]> <![CDATA[Re: What happened to you?]]> In Jenny's last line,  should she be saying:

"il mio zio"?

]]> In Jenny's last line,  should she be saying:

"il mio zio"?

]]> <![CDATA[Re: Surprise Party]]> Giant, 

I think I'm beginning to understand what your problem is and it's actually always been one of mine as well;  I could never think in another language;  any other language than English; 

now, we're trying to cram an Italian birth and daily life and a dozen years or more of Italian schooling into a few months or a year of a podcast;

translating written or spoken Italian into English is more a matter of knowing a bit of vocabulary and memorizing some idoms,  then guessing at the sentence structure;  but repetition is only a rote memory game and doesn't really resolve the principle issue;  you don't become Italian that way;

it seems that the real problem comes when you want to think and speak (or write) in Italian as an Italian and have no idea how to assemble and express your thoughts into the Italian language;  especially at the speed of Italian speech!

if the English translation doesn't somehow agree word for word with the Italian words in the dialogues (or monologues),  then I  (or you) have no clue how to say what needs to be said when we need to say it or write it;  even then we'd only be parrotting a literal translation which may not be correct or understandable;

so how do you teach (or learn)  to think in Italian as an Italian thinks?   short of moving to Italy?  I wish I knew;

sorry for the rambling;  ciao,  Al

 

 

 

]]> Giant, 

I think I'm beginning to understand what your problem is and it's actually always been one of mine as well;  I could never think in another language;  any other language than English; 

now, we're trying to cram an Italian birth and daily life and a dozen years or more of Italian schooling into a few months or a year of a podcast;

translating written or spoken Italian into English is more a matter of knowing a bit of vocabulary and memorizing some idoms,  then guessing at the sentence structure;  but repetition is only a rote memory game and doesn't really resolve the principle issue;  you don't become Italian that way;

it seems that the real problem comes when you want to think and speak (or write) in Italian as an Italian and have no idea how to assemble and express your thoughts into the Italian language;  especially at the speed of Italian speech!

if the English translation doesn't somehow agree word for word with the Italian words in the dialogues (or monologues),  then I  (or you) have no clue how to say what needs to be said when we need to say it or write it;  even then we'd only be parrotting a literal translation which may not be correct or understandable;

so how do you teach (or learn)  to think in Italian as an Italian thinks?   short of moving to Italy?  I wish I knew;

sorry for the rambling;  ciao,  Al

 

 

 

]]> <![CDATA[Re: Venice Film Festival]]> Lunetta,  ancora,  mille grazie,  Al

]]> Lunetta,  ancora,  mille grazie,  Al

]]> <![CDATA[Re: What happened to you?]]> Mille grazie, Luneta, questo e' molto utile;

il mio dictionario ha il parole:  'coccolare' --- to cuddle ---  prendere un coccolone --  give me a hug?

ciao,  Al

 

]]> Mille grazie, Luneta, questo e' molto utile;

il mio dictionario ha il parole:  'coccolare' --- to cuddle ---  prendere un coccolone --  give me a hug?

ciao,  Al

 

]]> <![CDATA[Re: What happened to you?]]> Molto interessante!  grazie.

Guarisci presto,  Catherine!

ciao,  Al

]]> Molto interessante!  grazie.

Guarisci presto,  Catherine!

ciao,  Al

]]> <![CDATA[Re: Do you remember?]]> giant,  perhaps I am missing your point because to remove the playful banter and humor from the lessons would render them very dull;  they would become the droning rote lessons which would remind me of my parochial school education with German nuns;  not very palatable.

I don't know about having two Italians teach an Italian/English course, unless one or both Italians were sufficiently bilingual to have no need of an English/Italian teacher;  but then what would be so  different?

Also,  with regard to fast forwarding and rewinding, I believe if you are a premium user you can isolate the lesson dialogue/monologue;  on your RSS feed as well.

ciao,  Al

]]> giant,  perhaps I am missing your point because to remove the playful banter and humor from the lessons would render them very dull;  they would become the droning rote lessons which would remind me of my parochial school education with German nuns;  not very palatable.

I don't know about having two Italians teach an Italian/English course, unless one or both Italians were sufficiently bilingual to have no need of an English/Italian teacher;  but then what would be so  different?

Also,  with regard to fast forwarding and rewinding, I believe if you are a premium user you can isolate the lesson dialogue/monologue;  on your RSS feed as well.

ciao,  Al

]]> <![CDATA[Re: Do you remember?]]> giant,  another thought:  you don't have to listen to the entire lesson when you're repeating it;  you can stop/start or move backward or forward at will and avoid any areas you don't like;  Al

]]> giant,  another thought:  you don't have to listen to the entire lesson when you're repeating it;  you can stop/start or move backward or forward at will and avoid any areas you don't like;  Al

]]> <![CDATA[Re: Do you remember?]]> giant,  I don't understand why you are picking on Catherine?   she's doing a great job,  especially in interpreting Marco's Italian for novices like me;  ciao,Al

]]> giant,  I don't understand why you are picking on Catherine?   she's doing a great job,  especially in interpreting Marco's Italian for novices like me;  ciao,Al

]]> <![CDATA[Re: What's it called?]]> When I lived in Baltimore,  Maryland,  they had a local beer called Boh,  short for National Bohemian;  ciao, Al

]]> When I lived in Baltimore,  Maryland,  they had a local beer called Boh,  short for National Bohemian;  ciao, Al

]]> <![CDATA[Re: Do you remember?]]> giant,  your english is much better than any second language I have;  

though I agree with anna8,  I think it might be better to have Marco speak in italian in every lesson,  maybe even Newbies;  it adds a dimension which is missing until intermediates;  it helps me get into the rhythm of the language and makes the rapid flow of words more understandable;  just a thought;  ciao,  Al

]]> giant,  your english is much better than any second language I have;  

though I agree with anna8,  I think it might be better to have Marco speak in italian in every lesson,  maybe even Newbies;  it adds a dimension which is missing until intermediates;  it helps me get into the rhythm of the language and makes the rapid flow of words more understandable;  just a thought;  ciao,  Al

]]> <![CDATA[Re: San Francesco d'Assisi]]> fmarin,   mille grazie per tutti e particularmente per 'cara italia' e San Francesca;   molto interessante che questo semba un misto a latin and l'italiano;  a Dante?  anche interessante e che 'cantico delle creature'  e molto simile de nativo americano.

Let me explain in english:  Native American ceremonies always begin with an address to the four winds or directions and often include praises to the sun, moon, mother earth  (pachamama) and all their relations within the hoop of creation.

Il mio l'italiana non troppo buon,  pero;  ciao,  Al

 

]]> fmarin,   mille grazie per tutti e particularmente per 'cara italia' e San Francesca;   molto interessante che questo semba un misto a latin and l'italiano;  a Dante?  anche interessante e che 'cantico delle creature'  e molto simile de nativo americano.

Let me explain in english:  Native American ceremonies always begin with an address to the four winds or directions and often include praises to the sun, moon, mother earth  (pachamama) and all their relations within the hoop of creation.

Il mio l'italiana non troppo buon,  pero;  ciao,  Al

 

]]> <![CDATA[Re: August Holiday in Genova]]> Fabrizio's website includes music and videos:

http://www.fondazionedeandre.it/index.html

ciao, Al

]]> Fabrizio's website includes music and videos:

http://www.fondazionedeandre.it/index.html

ciao, Al

]]> <![CDATA[Re: Problems with the Laundry]]> 'Va' could also be translated 'happening';  an old hippie expression as in 'come va?'  ---  what's happening or what's up.

]]> 'Va' could also be translated 'happening';  an old hippie expression as in 'come va?'  ---  what's happening or what's up.

]]> <![CDATA[Re: Would you open the gate, please?]]> Il grande auito,  Michele;  mille grazie;  ciao,  Al

]]> Il grande auito,  Michele;  mille grazie;  ciao,  Al

]]> <![CDATA[Re: Would you open the gate, please?]]> Why 'col' not 'con'?  is there a grammatical reason or is it a colloquialism?

]]> Why 'col' not 'con'?  is there a grammatical reason or is it a colloquialism?

]]> <![CDATA[Re: What a windy day!]]> Che cosa e' "Oh porca Eva"?

]]> Che cosa e' "Oh porca Eva"?

]]>