Wednesday, March 22. 2006

Basic Italian phrases to practice

One of the difficulties of trying to learn a language when you don't have a tutor, or ready access to native speakers is that you have to rely on your language course books. This makes it very difficult to practice the language, and Italian is no different. We decided to translate all of our most common phrases we use in conversation with each other and then make a point of using them at every opportunity. The phrases originally posted here turned out to be incorrect,

Good morning darling = buon giorno tesoro (amore)
What's on TV tonight? Cosa c'� in TV stasera?
Can I have a hug? = abbracciami (posso avere un abbraccio?)
Breakfast is ready = la prima colazione � pronta
Shut up = Chiudi (la porta e.g.)
Luckily, one of my site visitors was able to correct these phrases, and actually gave us a really good insight into how to use our dictionary to make up phrases. Let me tell you using a dictionary isn't all it's supposed to be, so much of a different language is based on context and often a direct translation doesn't work.

After buying many books and short courses in Italian, I finally came across David Rivera's Italian course, which is an absolute gem. The course works differently from most other courses I've tried and its really helping me with my Italian, instead of providing endless conversations like you find in phrase-books, or lists and lists of words to memorise, David adopts a different technique using puzzles and memory games. It's well worth taking a look. Also check out the cheap Italian ebook available at six languages.

Ceejay and I are very interested in meeting other students of Italian, we plan to visit Italy before the middle of 2008, she has a dream of living in Tuscany so learning Italian is close to our hearts, and so meeting new people is something we're genuine about. Thanks.
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Posted by Carl in Italian at 15:32   Comments (7)
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tesoro, caro, amore, bambino
I'm confused, I need help from an Italian speaker. My partner and I tend to call each other darling even in public. Personally I feel awkard when she calls me by my name, it seems to lack the intimacy that we have being a couple. So in English I would
Weblog: Carl Galloway
Tracked: Mar 28, 19:19

Comments

  1. renata said,

    Friday, March 24. 2006 at 11:47 (Reply)

    salve!!!
    how amusing- i am just helping my friend to put up a website based on serendipity for her dance school when I decided to click myslef through to you- actually triggered by my little problems with the bazooka theme whcih we contemplate using. the funny part is that our site will be all in italiano...
    do you have some dance shoes tucked away in your design drawers that could help us with broadway-dance.it? we are in sardegna... my friend is from buffalo, me from berlin and we both had our fun :-) learning italian...
    i like bazooka, my favorite for me personally is senza dubbio idea, it was amore a primo visto...
    my idea is to set up an intellignet page which reflects danza classica, hip-hop, tip tap (what a terrible expression!).. look in your scrivana - maybe you will do us a meraviglio?
    ciao e saluti
    renata di sardegna

  2. Carl said,

    Friday, March 24. 2006 at 21:41 (Reply)

    Ciao Renata, piacere

    My partner and I are keen dancers, and I competed in Australia in Ballroom and French Jive. I never won a competition but it was fun and kept us fit. I would be very happy to help you both with your blog, but I must admit that my Italian is very basic. I keep looking at the map of Italia and thinking Sardegna, what is there, why am I drawn to visit. What is it like? Are foreigners with bad accents made welcome?

    I will email you so we can talk about your blog design - perhaps you could send me some photos of your classes or dancers in competition. My partner is a whizz with Photoshop and would be happy to make a new theme for you, perhaps taking some of the 'Idea' elements - how does that sound?

  3. renata said,

    Tuesday, March 28. 2006 at 04:24 (Reply)

    hello again!! i had window-itis, means my pc crashed, fortunately with enough warning to do a few backups (erratically, i am better at baking cakes or thinking about life and the universe).
    how can we best communicate??
    broadway-dance.it needs sharpening up, and if i get my designer-boots on, it might work, it might not.
    write to me when you can. i think that the dance items, particularly the shoes make nice background items (yeahh, you know i got the coccinella-syndrome (lovebug)), and i can surely let you have some pictures, even a fab video of the tap-section (it is instructional and really "the works". ciao for now- my casalinga (housewife) duties are calling me.

  4. renata said,

    Sunday, March 26. 2006 at 00:29 (Reply)

    fab..
    my girlfriend who runs the school is from buffalo, usa, and after many years here one or the other "glitch" in language happens here. i only settled here 1 1/2 y ago, and i spoke niente italiano which proved abbastanza difficile as they do not speak languages here, but at the same time it probably was that challenge that brought me up the curve!
    sardegna- best coast of the med, i think, that's why the aga khan develloped here (about 100 km from us), mountains, well-developed streets, interesting nature and lots of things you thought you'd never see in your life (like those little trucks on three wheels called "ape" - the bee). great wine-fields, decent wines, decent food, and just 1/2 hour flight from rome the whole thing!
    the blog really needs just a bit of that extras-spice that makes it different, i looked at a lot of dance pages and flet they were slow, bland and lacked pictures. for lori, my friend, the more "sweet" themes like bazooka and the crawling bugs woudl be more appealing- i LOVE idea as it is beautiful in its simplicity ( i used to be an investment banker- thus my simple mind). i think dance shoes (jazz, tap, ballet) lend themselves as decorative objects...
    tell me about french jive in australia (and where in australia??). i remember my young days in germany lerning ballroom. and dancing with the french later... ohhhhhh...
    era meraviglioso....

  5. Carl said,

    Sunday, March 26. 2006 at 09:15 (Reply)

    Renata, Thank you so much for sharing your insight about Sardegna, molto interessante, we love fine dining and good wine!

    French jive is the most exciting partner style for me, and you can break it up by throwing a little waltz or Cha Cha into the beat as you move around the floor and I like it when the music lets you do that. Rock and Roll is not so flexible, and if you tried that in any other classical dance style you'd be aked to leave the dance floor.

  6. Nereo said,

    Monday, March 27. 2006 at 08:39 (Reply)

    Hello Carl,
    the correct translations are:
    Good morning darling = buon giorno tesoro (amore)
    What's on TV tonight? Cosa c'è in TV stasera?
    Can I have a hug? = abbracciami (posso avere un abbraccio?)
    Breakfast is ready = la prima colazione è pronta
    Shut up = Chiudi (la porta e.g.)

    I'm going to setup a blog for a friend of mine and found your template. As soon as the blog is ready I'll email you :-)
    Thanx

  7. Carl said,

    Monday, March 27. 2006 at 09:18 (Reply)

    Thank you, learning Italian is a lot of fun but when you just use a dictionary to work things out it isn't the same as getting it straight from an Italian speaker - I'll update my postit notes I have scattered around the house and learn your translations.

    Carl

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