learn Italian speaking Italian

Ciao a tutti,

I know, it can be difficult and frustrating to learn Italian as second language or foreign language and I dislike such frustration.

I teach on line, but unfortunatley I know that on line lessons are no substitute for someone to talk and listen to you, because you need to speak with a native speaker in a natural way.

If you really love to learn Italian, you have to know the main thing: you need an Italian teacher with “know how” and experience.

I also teach in an Italian language school in Rome that specialises in small groups and one-to-one lessons. I teach the lessons in Italian and I usually joke with my students, therefore the lessons are not frustrating, but funny, and we talk about things students are interested in.

I use the Italian language to communicate with my students and vice versa, this forces the students to be resourceful to understand what I tell them. The purpose is to communicate, not just to do an academic exercise, so the students can improve them vocabulary and comprehension and it works for sure!

I have created this blog to help students to have more fun studying for their basic Italian, here you can find useful tips. An useful piece of basic grammar information about ” le tre (=3) coniugazioni italiane” is on line, and you can read it on page “Italian classes”, but before, read the dialogue and try to understand the general meaning. I suggest listening to Italian songs to improve your listening skill and your confidence in Italian language. I often use Jovanotti’s songs because his pronunciation is clear. Here you can find one song to to improve your listen skill and your confidence with interrogative form. [clik here for song and lyrics]

Please be careful, when you are studying Italian avoid the temptation to make absolute comparisons to English. I am sorry but, although there are many similarities (many Italian words look like English words and have similar meanings: there are only differences in spelling), there are too many fundamental differences between the two languages.

Have fun and enjoy Italian! 🙂

 

Olympics

Copyright: Bruno Bozzetto

Se vi piacciono le animazioni di Bruno Bozzetto (vi ricordate che in passato avevo già segnalato “Europe & Italy” del 1999), date un’occhiata a questa sua parodia dei Giochi olimpici (2003); tutte le animazioni che troverete in quella stessa pagina risalgono a qualche anno fa, ma sono sempre molto gustose e attuali.

Ecco un altro link con numerose animazioni.

Buon divertimento e buon fine settimana!

Learn Italian calendar: Ferragosto an Italian holiday!

[read in Italian- leggi in italiano]

What is the meaning of Ferragosto? The 15th August is called “Ferragosto” from Latin “Feriae Augusti” = “the rest of August”, in honor of Octavian Augustus (from which derives the name of the month August). “Ferragosto” has ancient origins: it was a day off, the time for resting and thanksgiving for the fruits received from the ground but in 18BC were called “Feriae Augusti”. On “Ferragosto” the workers had the rest and used to receive a tip from the master.
After the fall of Roman Empire the Church transformed the Ferragosto, it became the “Assunzione” (the Assumption, one of the dogmas of Catholicism).
Keep in mind, when a holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, most of Italians “fanno il ponte” (literally, they make a bridge), or make a four-day holiday, by taking off the intervening Monday or Friday.

Buon ponte di Ferragosto!

Stereòtipi

learn Italian with an Italian teacher speaking Italian

Ciao a tutti, ieri mattina ho fatto una lezione sugli stereotipi o “luoghi comuni”. Lo scopo di questo tipo di attività è sempre quello di ridere su come gli altri ci vedono, ma soprattutto di far nascere il dubbio che forse gli stereotipi sono solo generalizzazioni dovute alla poca conoscenza che tutti noi abbiamo degli altri popoli.

Ho cominciato la lezione parlando io stessa e raccontando come gli altri ci vedono: ho quindi iniziato col dire che spesso ci dicono che noi italiani mangiamo solo pizza e pasta (prima ci dicevano “mangiaspaghetti” o “maccheroni”), che siamo tutti “griffati”, che siamo mammoni e mafiosi. Naturalmente questo elenco non piace a nessun italiano, ma soprattutto questi sono veramente degli stereotipi e non aiutano a conoscerci. A questo punto faccio un elenco di come noi italiani ci consideriamo (con grande stupore degli studenti che spesso sorridono increduli), mettendo in evidenza che la percezione interna e quella esterna sono spesso molto differenti.

Il vantaggio di proporre questi elenchi di luoghi comuni è che questo mi permette poi di chiedere elenchi simili ai francesi sui francesi, agli americani sugli amercani, ai polacchi sui polacchi, etc. In questo modo tutti possono finalmente riconoscere i preconcetti che loro stessi hanno sugli altri popoli e che esistono sui loro paesi.

Naturalmente questo tipo di lezione deve essere fatta con molta ironia, autoironia e gioco (per evitare di urtare la sensibilità di ogni partecipante). A tal proposito vi consiglio di vedere questa divertente animazione di Bruno Bozzetto che con grande spirito prende in giro, esagerandole, alcune cattive abitudini nostrane, senza per questo creare tensioni: l’autoironia è una grande qualità!

Gustatevi l’animazione, ma per favore non generalizzate: non tutti gli italiani guidano in quel modo e la burocrazia è molto migliorata (anche se a Roma una decina d’anni fa era probabilmente come la descrive Bozzetto).

Il silenzio è d’oro

Inserito originariamente da Italian Photo Album

Un nuovo proverbio e una foto per ricordarlo:

– Il silenzio è d’oro 😉
– (Talk is silver), silence is golden.
– (Reden ist Silber), Schweigen ist Gold.

Però se volete parlare sarebbe meglio farlo in italiano 😉

Se ricordate qualche altro proverbio, segnalatemelo!

Italian subjunctive mood and songs

Ciao a tutti, (qualche parola in inglese, ma non solo)

as you know I have created this blog to help students who cannot go to Italy, to enjoy their learning of Italian language and spend less money. I like to create resources for learners of Italians, and I believe that students could save a little bit of time (and money) by making use of Internet resources and of this site.
I am trying to give lots of grammar information and listening activities (Italian songs), so that anytime you want to work a little on your Italian you can come here and find useful tips.

I try to give you not too many complicated explanations and some examples (see on page Italian classes), because what you need is memorize the language situations – as if you were in Italy (in a natural way) – and you need to repeat until you really have learned them. I recommend that you repeat them with an Italian native speaker (Italian people are everywhere around the world).

Some suggestions:

When you find an Italian text (grammar or song), and you have difficulty with, do not run away!, Come back and read it or listen to it again, try it again until it becomes clear, but do not translate in the literally way (it does not works! English and Italian have different structures). I am sure, you can do it because it is possible and I saw it a lot of time!
To develop your skills, take notes in Italian on what you hear or read and then try to explain it again and again, but only in Italian, and then, also do not forget to sing the songs again and again 😉
In this way you can improve your vocabulary and comprehension skills for listening, reading, writing but also speaking.

A new piece of grammar information about the subjunctive mood: [leggi in italiano: è meglio!]

Italian subjunctive mood includes 4 tenses. It is generally used in subordinate clauses (after the “che”), when we do not speak about real facts (see indicative mood), but we express personal opinion, personal wishes, personal willingness or orders [… more] . Do not forget to listen to these songs by Mina and Irene Grandi!

Have fun and practise your Italian every day! = Divertiti e pratica l’italiano ogni giorno!