Every country has some stereotypes about other countries and their citizens. And it’s said that each stereotype contains at least a grain of truth. So, in today’s article I want to focus on eight of the most common stereotypes about Italians, and give you my opinion about them. 1. ITALIANS GESTURE A LOT That’s true. …
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Italian comparative – comparativo di minoranza e uguaglianza
In a past article I introduced the Italian comparative, talking about the comparative of superiority – il comparativo di maggioranza. Today, I explain instead the formation rules of the Italian comparative of minority and equality – il comparativo di minoranza e uguaglianza. COMPARATIVO DI MINORANZA – EXPRESSING MINORITY FORMATION To express minority Italian uses the …
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Learn Italian color idioms
Idiomatic expressions are one of the most problematic areas for any language learner. The difficulty arises from the fact that these sentences don’t have a literal sense. This means that both their composition doesn’t come natural to learners, and their meaning isn’t easy to guess. For these reasons idioms are usually taught when students already …
Learn the comparativo di maggioranza – the comparative of superiority
As the word suggests, the comparative is a construction that allows to compare two or more entities – verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives or adverb – expressing some degree of superiority, inferiority or equality. The first entity is the primo termine di paragone (first term of comparison), while the second is the secondo termine di paragone …
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Learn Italian false friends
Who’s never used a word assuming it meant something else and, in so doing, s/he has created misunderstandings or awkward situations? Don’t worry, this is perfectly normal. In fact, it’s typical of the language learning process: learners rely on what they know to try to communicate into another language. One of the nightmares par excellence …
Twelve Italian words you won’t learn from coursebooks
The most common way to start learning a foreign language is at school with some coursebooks. Coursebooks are generally well thought out. Indeed, they focus both on grammar and vocabulary, and they also give you an insight into the foreign culture. However, people who’ve learnt Italian on books and have then had the chance to …
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The truth about book translation – Are indie authors’ concerns justified?
Book translation is something many indie authors seem to be concerned about. They worry about both the quality of the service, and the fact that even if they find good translators, these may choose to change some segments of their books. I well understand their fears. In fact, authors make strong efforts to create a good …
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How to get rid of bad luck – Italian practices
One day, you wake up late: your alarm clock didn’t go off. Damn it! You have an exam today! You rush to get your car but you stumble and fall. When you finally get to school, you fail your exam. And, on the way back to your car, a bird decides to poop right on …
Google translate: is it really so effective?
Since the start of the digital revolution, more than fifty years ago, the quality of machine translation has largely improved, and, nowadays, it is considered by many people a good way to overcome linguistic barriers and to transfer culture easily. Indeed, at times, it happens to hear some people complaining about the prices of human …
How to deal with the days of the blackbird: coconut biscuits
The days of the blackbird – i giorni della merla – is an Italian expression meaning the coldest days of winter – specifically the 29th, 30th, 31st of January. No one knows exactly the origins of this expression, but there are some folk legends about it. The most famous one is about a female blackbird …
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