Tag: Italian language

From LA BELLA LINGUA to MONA LISA

                               by Dianne Hales on August 25, 2014

In this guest post Dianne Hales, author of “La Bella Lingua”, tells us how her new book about La Bella Mona Lisa came to life. At the end of the post you can challenge your knowledge of Mona Lisa with a little quiz that Dianne and I have created for you.


“Earlier Version” and the Louvre Mona Lisa – courtesy of the Mona Lisa Foundation

Her name seduced me. The first time that I heard “Mona (Madame) Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo”— many years after I first beheld Leonardo’s portrait in the Louvre — I repeated the syllables out loud to listen to their Italian sounds. Immediately I felt a surge of curiosity about the woman everyone recognizes but hardly anyone knows.

After falling—happily, gladly, giddily—in love with Italian many years ago, I became just as enamored with the life and times of a true Fiorentina, a daughter of the Renaissance, a merchant’s wife, a loving mother, an artist’s muse and, in her husband’s words, “a noble spirit.” Somehow it seemed only natural to go from a passion for la bella lingua to a quest for una bella donna.

On the trail of Lisa’s story, I followed facts wherever I could find them. I sought the help of authoritative experts in an array of fields, from art to history to sociology to women’s studies. I delved into archives and read through a veritable library of scholarly articles and texts. And I relied on a reporter’s most timeless and trustworthy tool: shoe leather. In the course of extended visits over several years, I walked the streets and neighborhoods of Mona Lisa’s Florence, explored its museums and monuments and came to know—and love—its skies and seasons.

Mona Lisa, I discovered, was a quintessential woman of her times, caught in a whirl of political upheavals, family dramas, and public scandals. Descended from ancient nobles, she was born and baptized in Florence in 1479. Wed to a truculent businessman twice her age, she gave birth to six children and died at age sixty-three in 1542.

Mona Lisa’s life spanned the most tumultuous chapters in the history of Florence, decades of war, rebellion, invasion, siege — and of the greatest artistic outpouring the world has ever seen. Her story creates an extraordinary tapestry of daily life in a vibrant city bursting into fullest bloom.

Five centuries after Mona Lisa Gherardini’s death, the world remains eager to learn more about her. Amazon.com chose my book, Mona Lisa: A Life Discovered, published by Simon & Schuster, as one of the “best books of the month” for history and for biography and memoirs. BBC read episodes on the radio for its “Book of the Week” program. CNN and USA Today selected it as one of their “hottest reads” of the summer. Reviewers have praised it as “entertaining,” “enthralling,” “vivid and accessible” and “lyrical.” BRIDES magazine included it on its list of “10 most-read books for your honeymoon.” “Anyone who loves Italy and art—and who doesn’t?—will adore this book,” predicts Frances Mayes, author of Under the Tuscan Sun.

I hope that all of you who love Italian will enjoy this new journey of discovery!

Dianne Hales

monalisaDianne Hales is a prize-winning, widely published journalist and the author of MONA LISA: A Life Discovered. In recognition of her previous book, La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language, as “an invaluable tool for promoting the Italian language,” the President of Italy conferred on Dianne the highest honor its government can bestow on a foreigner, the title of Cavaliere dell’ Ordine della Stella della Solidarietà Italiana (Knight of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity.)
You can follow her prize-winning blog on Italy’s language and culture at www.becomingitalianwordbyword.typepad.com and new blog on discovering Mona Lisa at www.monalisabook.com

 

 

QUIZ:

10 Facts You May Not Have Known about Mona Lisa

Pronti? Via!

 

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Pronunciation Tip #2: “Italian Tongue Twisters”

Suggerimento di pronuncia n. 2: “Scioglilingua italiani

(English follows)

Parlare oscuramente lo sa fare chiunque, ma chiaro pochissimi – Galileo Galilei

(Everyone knows how to do speak obscurely, but very few can speak clearly.)Galileo Galilei, Considerazioni al Tasso, 1589

Non potrei essere più d’accordo con Galileo, ed è per questo che gli scioglilingua, parola che è già di per sé uno scioglilingua, sono utili, almeno per quanto riguarda la parte tecnica del parlare!

È interessante notare che in italiano “scioglilingua” significa letteralmente “sciogliere la lingua”. Suppongo che aggrovigliando la lingua attorno a lettere e suoni alla fine s’impara ad allentarla e a non “attorcigliarsi” più.

In effetti, “gli scioglilingua” ti aiutano a migliorare la dizione, e non c’è da meravigliarsi, che i professionisti alla radio o nei film usino gli scioglilingua per migliorare le loro capacità oratorie o per riscaldarsi prima di esibirsi.

Uso gli scioglilingua per i seguenti motivi:
1) per migliorare la scorrevolezza nel parlare,
2) per ridurre e rimuovere accenti e inflessioni,
3) per parlare con più sicurezza e rilassarsi,
4) per divertimento: quello che dici non deve per forza avere senso!

Ogni lingua ha specifici scioglilingua che attivano suoni o parole che provocano lo scioglimento della lingua! In italiano, ad esempio, molti scioglilingua mettono alla prova la capacità di pronunciare suoni vocalici aperti e chiusi. Alcuni scioglilingua sono molto utili per lettere specifiche con cui gli studenti di italiano hanno difficoltà, come “R”, “T”, “S”…

Qui troverai 4 “scioglilingua”, a 2 velocità. La velocità 1 è un riscaldamento, la velocità 2 è dove lasci la tua zona di comforto e non ti preoccupi dei risultati, che arriveranno con pazienza e pratica … stanne certo/a!

Buon divertimento!

I couldn’t agree more with Galileo, and that’s why tongue twisters, “gli scioglilingua”, a word that is already a tongue twister in itself, are useful, at least as far as the technical speaking part goes!

It’s interesting to notice that in Italian “scioglilingua” literally means “tongue loosener”. I suppose that by  twisting your tongue around letters and sounds you will eventually learn to loosen it and no longer stumble on a word, “inciampare in una parola.”

In fact, “gli scioglilingua” help you improve your speaking and your pronunciation, and it’s no wonder, “non c’è da meravigliarsi”, that professional speakers on the radio or in films use tongue twisters to improve their speaking skills or to warm up before they perform.

I use tongue twisters for the following reasons:
1) to improve speaking fluidity
2) to reduce and remove accents and inflections
3) to increase confidence and loosen up when speaking
4) for fun — what you say doesn’t have to make sense!

Every language has specific tongue twisters that trigger sounds or words that cause tongue twisting! In Italian, for example, many tongue twisters challenge your ability to pronounce open and closed vowel sounds.
Some tongue twisters are very helpful for specific letters that students of Italian have a difficult time with, such as “R”, “T”, “S”,…

Here you’ll find 4 “scioglilingua”, in 2 speeds. Speed 1 is a warm up, speed 2 is where you leave your comfort zone and don’t worry about the results, which will come with patience and practice… stanne certo! (you can stay assured!)  Buon divertimento!

Tigre intriga tigre
speed 1

speed 2

particolareggiatissimamente (la parola più lunga registrata in italiano / the longest registered word in Italian)
speed 1

speed 2

Date del pane al pazzo cane, date del pane al cane pazzo (attenti a non scambiare la “p” con la “c” / be careful not to turn the “p” into a “c”!)
speed 1

speed 2

Questa e’ molto popolare / This is a very popular one: Sopra la panca la capra campa, sotto la panca la capra crepa
speed 1

speed 2

It means…: “Over the bench the goat lives, under the bench the goat dies.”
….“senza senso”, meaningless! 🙂

Più fai pratica e più noterai “la lingua che si scioglie”.
Fammi sapere nei commenti qui in basso quali suoni trovi più facili o più difficili da riprodurre!

The more you practice the more you’ll notice “la lingua che si scioglie”, your tongue loosening up.
Let me know in the comments below which sounds you find the easiest or hardest to reproduce!

A presto!
Mirella

Improve speaking and grammar while learning some Italian jokes!

Laughing and learning italian ebook

How to use idiomatic expressions formed by “avere” and “essere”

by Mirella Colalillo on May 3, 2014

 how_to_use_the idiomatic_expressions_formed by_avere_and_essere

It’s well-known by now, “è risaputo ormai”, that Italians are the leaders not only in delicious food, fashion, cultural treasures, but also in expressing feelings, sensations, and opinions. From happiness to dissatisfaction and everything in between.

If you run into your Italian friend and ask her how she is doing, forget about “I’m good, and you?” for an answer, and instead, prepare for a detailed description of “vita, morte e miracoli”, as we say in Italian. If you don’t want to be labeled as “antipatico/a”, I suggest you follow along and do the same. At worst, “male che vada”, you might end up enjoying yourself “al bar”, at the coffee shop. And let’s be honest, going for your daily jog in the park and rushing to update your Facebook, Twitter, “e chi più ne ha più ne metta”, and so on and so forth status can wait anyway.

“Ascoltare. Non c’è cosa migliore da fare che ascoltare chi ha qualcosa da dire” @parlate_it
(Tweet-worthy!)

(Translation: “To listen. There is nothing better to do than to listen to someone who has something to say.”)

The best way to make a good impression, “fare una bella figura”, is to learn the most common idiomatic expressions in Italian that use “avere” (to have) and “essere” (to be), which, as many of you have complained “all’italiana” (Italian style), do not correspond to the English expressions. For example: “Io ho sonno” (I’m sleepy), “Io sono stanco” (I’m tired).

Avere + noun is used in many idiomatic expressions in Italian, but the equivalent English expressions are generally formed with essere + adjective.

There is no specific rule that explains this difference. The best advice is to:

  1. first learn the conjugations of the verbs “essere” and “avere” starting with il “presente indicativo”
  2. then learn each expression correctly
  3. and as always practica, pratica, pratica!!

Here are some idiomatic expressions in Italian that use “avere” and “essere”.

“Avere” is used in the following expressions:

avere caldo – to be hot

avere freddo – to be cold


avere fretta – to be in a hurry

avere paura – to be afraid


avere bisogno di – to need


avere voglia di – to want, to feel like


avere a che fare con – to deal with


avere sete – to be thirsty


avere sonno – to be sleepy


avere fame – to be hungry

 

“Essere” is used in the following expressions (just like in English!):

essere stanco/a – to be tired


essere arrabbiato/a – to be angry


essere contento/a – to be happy


essere annoiato/a – to be bored


essere felice (m/f) – to be happy


essere triste (m/f) – to be sad


essere entusiasta (m/f) – to be enthusiastic


essere preoccupato/a – to be worried


essere in ritardo – to be late


essere testardo/a – to be stubborn

 

Allora, come sto?
Oggi sono felice e ho voglia di fare una passeggiata. Non ho freddo, perché è finalmente arrivata la primavera in Canada! Sono molto entusiasta!

(How am I? Today I am happy and I feel like taking a walk. I’m not cold, because spring has finally arrived in Canada! I’m enthusiastic!)

E tu come stai? Let me know in the comments below.

Remember there is no quick fix in learning idiomatic expressions… practice makes perfect!

If you liked this post please share & like!

Grazie,
Mirella

 

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Pronunciation Tip #1: “Practice Italian with a flawless speaker!”

Imagine learning lots of grammar and vocabulary only to discover that listeners find it hard to understand what you say…è terribile per la comunicazione!
Also, if you can’t pronounce a word correctly, then you may not be able to hear it when spoken by another person either… ancora più terribile per la comunicazione!

This is a very common problem so don’t fret (non ti allarmare). I put together 7 solutions to improve your pronunciation based on my experience teaching Italian and learning languages.

In this post I’ll share my 1st tip: “Practice Italian with a flawless speaker!”

“Learning proper Italian from the start saves you time and frustration later correcting what you’ve learned incorrectly.”

It can sometimes be very difficult to correct what you’ve learned incorrectly as it turned out for my friend who had a teacher in elementary school that was very passionate about English, but was hardly proficient enough to teach simple words, such as “apple”, which sounded more like “apele” (similar to the word “ape”, “scimmia” in Italian), although she knew all the grammar. Till this day, over 20 years later, my friend still struggles to pronounce “apple” properly.

His English teacher, also a relative of mine in my little town, wanted to share her passion and land a job, but teaching is a serious matter. When I started teaching English in Italy, although I had reached the advanced level C2, according to the “Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment”, I felt it would be fair to teach only levels A and B since I wasn’t speaking English on a daily basis and wouldn’t be able to teach successfully at a higher level.

Improvised language teachers are not a good deal!

So how do you know if a teacher speaks proper Italian?

Talk and listen to them a bit before jumping into it and, depending on whether the teacher is a native speaker or a non-native speaker, the pronunciation issues, if there are any, will differ.

I would ask both if they have any particular accents or regional intonation, hoping they’re aware and honest!

However, to be certain, I would go ahead and look out for more specific issues….

In the case of the native speaker pay attention to:

  • how they pronounce the grave or acute vowels such as in the words “verde” (the “e” is acute “vérde”), “cosa” (the “o” is grave “còsa”);
    “verde” correct:
  • “cosa” correct:

    • whether they tend to pronounce single consonants as double consonants instead; an example is “amore” sometimes mistakenly pronounced with a double “m” (the“o” is acute);
      “amore” correct:
    • whether they shorten the infinitives stressing the last vowel, like “mangià” instead of “mangiare”, “parlà”, instead of “parlare”, and so on;

    While you’re at it, you can also check some grammar, which will give you a better idea of their speaking accuracy:

    • how they say: “I hope you are well.” (correct: “spero che tu stia bene”),
    • how they say: “Can you speak Italian?” (correct: “sai parlare l’italiano?” – not ‘puoi’ parlare l’italiano?”);

    In the case of the non-native speaker, issues usually concern:

    • pronouncing the vowels,
    • stressing the words correctly,
    • pronouncing the “r”, the “t”, the “sch”, double consonants,
    • pronouncing the vowels at the end of the words and pronouncing them correctly (they are not all acute, only the ones with accents on them).

    A way to verify that they are flawless speakers is to find a short audio snippet and ask them to repeat it. You can find excellent and reliable audio from Italian language manuals.

    “Speaking properly is a form of respect for a language.”

    Let me know in the comments below what your experience has been learning Italian.

    Stay tuned for my next tip about my favourite language sharpener!

    If you liked this post please share & like!

    Grazie,
    Mirella

    La Grande Bellezza

    “Io adoro i trenini”, I adore congas (in Italian “little trains”), Jep says. “My trenini are the most beautiful in all of Rome because they take you nowhere…” I’m blown away, puzzled, sad, and hopeful all at once as the final credits of the film transport me under and beyond i ponti romani, the Roman bridges.

    It’s a trick….È un trucco. If you desire answers in life, you will find them hidden under the bla bla bla bla bla bla bla. They are all sedimented under the chatter and the noise, silence and feelings, emotions and fear.

    “Il fatto che tu non abbia capito non vuol dire che nessuno possa capire.” Just because you didn’t understand, it doesn’t mean that nobody can understand.

    “Diamo sempre il meglio con gli sconosciuti”, we always give our best with strangers.

    There’s much competition in our society to appear different and at the same time a desperate need to belong to the same trenino, making you no different than anybody else. This is where human weaknesses are at their best: menzogne, vacuità, lies, emptiness. Nobility and clergy included, of course.

    An illusion of movement as time passes, uno scatto fotografico alla volta, one photo click at a time, until we regretfully come to realize that nothing ever changes if there is no personal evolution. Precious opportunities are missed, unless we question ourselves, our direction, and our company.

    “Roma mi ha deluso”, Rome has disappointed me. Disappointment comes from the choices we make as individuals and as a community when they are generated by a lack of responsibilty and by false ambitions that come from the ego and not from the heart, whether we are in Rome or Nepi or any other city. Roma, la città eterna, the eternal city, center of the world for centuries, is just a symbol of the decandence of our times. “Roma o morte”, Rome or death, was pronounced by Giuseppe Garibaldi whose intent was to tear Rome from the Pope. However, to conquer Rome, it was necessary to wait for the entire European geopolitical landscape to change. And the change eventually came.

    “Perché non hai scritto più libri?” “Cercavo la grande bellezza, ma non l’ho trovata…”
    “Why haven’t you written anymore books?” “I was looking for the great beauty, but I didn’t find it…

    The night obscures, the morning clarifies, and at the age of 65, overwhelmed by regrets, sleeping on a sofa bed, un divano-letto, he finally chooses to see la grande bellezza of everything that surrounds him: youth, nature, love, and Rome. He’s ready to admit the answer to the question that troubled him all his life, “Perché Elisa mi lasciò?”  Why did Elisa leave me? He lost the woman who loved him by choosing the easy way: deceiving himself and embracing fear over courage, indifference over love.

    “Dunque, che questo romanzo abbia inizio”, may the novel begin…

    This is a deleted scene of the film, una scena tagliata del film, with Giulio Brogi, that I really like.
    Buona visione!

    “Abbiate rispetto della vostra curiosità. Assecondatela. Molti la frenano.”
    “Perché la frenano?”
    “Perché….sono pigri, moralisti, indolenti. Sono scettici. Oddio, anche ignoranti.”
    Translation:
    “Have respect for your curiosity. Indulge in it. Many hold it back.”
    ”Why do they hold it back?”
    “Because….they’re lazy, moralists, indolent. They’re skeptical. Gosh, even ignorant. “

    Michelangelo’s Visual Grocery List

    How to communicate if you don’t speak or read a language? Draw it! (disegnalo) Michelangelo, of course, knew that well. It was actually a common practice in the old days to hand-draw (disegnare a mano) items for the illiterate, such as Michelangelo’s servant in this case.

    I was still living in Florence when I embarked in an adventure to retrace Michelangelo’s steps while I was reading “The Agony and the Ecstasy” by Irving Stone. I learned much about il Grande Genio; that he was a humble and poor man (un uomo umile e povero), who only obtained wealth in his later years and that paper was a necessity but also a luxury (una necessità ma anche un lusso) for him; therefore, it would never go wasted. He would save and recycle scraps of paper to draw and write on. He would also destroy his sketches (i suoi schizzi) as he only wanted his polished works to be seen. I don’t think he would be happy to know that his grocery list has now gone viral on the internet! He had un caratteraccio, a temper, that’s for sure! But that is what made him great.

    Casa Buonarroti in Florence, an important museum, often overlooked by tourists, is where this document is archived. It was my final emotional stop. It’s the house he built and died in after revolutionizing the world for 88 years!

    Here are the 15 grocery items written in 16th century Florentine:pani dua (two loaves of bread)
    un bochal di vino (a bottle of wine)
    una aringa (a herring;a line like that over a letter or word stands in for an unwritten “n” or “m”)
    tortegli (tortelli)

    una salama (a salame)
    quattro pani (four loaves of bread)
    un bochal di tondo (a bottle of tondo, or full ‘rotund’ wine)
    e un quartuccio di bruscho (a quarter of rough wine)
    un piattello di spinaci (a plate of spinach)
    quattro alice (four anchovies)
    tortelli (tortelli)

    sei pani (six loaves of bread)
    due minestre di finocchio (two fennel soups)
    una aringa (a herring)
    un bochal di tondo (a bottle of tondo).

    I find illustrations or drawing the vocabulary myself very useful to be able to memorize it better.

    Are you a visual learner like me?

    Top 10 Mistakes To Avoid When Learning Italian

    I was inspired to write this handy little guide to help students improve the quality of their Italian learning practice. It is the fruit of my experience teaching Italian and English as a second language for over 10 years, and learning 4 languages during and after my bachelor’s degree in linguistics.

    I’ve listed the 10 most common mistakes that I’ve noticed students make when they’re learning Italian. It might be the first time you’re exploring a second language, and you’re not sure what it entails, especially with a fascinating and complex language such as Italian. Perhaps you’ve been studying for a while and you feel that you are not advancing as much as you wish to. In this case, if any of the mistakes listed are true for you, then you’ll soon be back on track, as I’ve also added some tips to help you avoid or overcome il problema.

    So whether you are starting from scratch or you need to refocus, I hope this guide encourages you to stay motivated and helps spark renewed passion in your viaggio della lingua italiana.

    Non aspettare, don’t wait, subscribe to Una Parola Al Giorno newsletter by and you’ll receive the free e-book, “Top 10 Mistakes To Avoid When Learning Italian”.

    Buono Studio!
    Mirella