simply italian

7/28/2019 Simply Italian

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www.italymag.co.ukProduced by Italy Magazine

Copyright Italy Magazine 2012
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Introduction 2

Lesson 1: Amazing Food 3

Lesson 2: Stunning Landscape 5

Lesson 3: Romantic language 7

Lesson 4: Friendly People 8

Dual Language: Il Circolo 10

Crosswords: Test your Vocabulary 13

Practise and Sing 15

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IntroductionDear Italy Magazine readers, we know many of you are in love with Italian,one of those languages you want to learn simply because you fall in love withits melodic, musical sound.

Our language lessons and dual language articles are usually very popular, sowe decided to prepare an ebook to help you get your Italiano ready for yournext trip to Italy.

The e-book includes four lessons by Italian language teacher Alesha Keene,an Oxford graduate of Italian who lived in Rome for five years. Her love forthis beautiful language led her to develop some interesting ways for teaching it.We share four of her lessons developed around different topics: Amazing Food,Stunning Landscape, Romantic Language and Friendly People.

To test your language skills, you can then work on our dual language arti-cle which actually suggests ways to set up a circolo (club) to get people whowant to learn Italian together and, set up language classes and special events.See how we circled around (pun intended) on the topic!

As we imagine you reading your ebook while relaxing on a hot summer dayon the beach, enjoying a glass of Italian wine in your garden or sitting on aplane on your way to Italy, we added a crossword to let you test your newfoundskills and have some fun at the same time.

Finally, we included the lyrics of Andrea Bocellis famous song Con Te Partiro.What a better way to practice this musical language if not singing a wonderfulsong.Buon divertimento!



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Lesson 1: Amazing Food

We all know famous Italian dishes such as Spaghetti, Lasagne, Pizza Margheri-ta, but what about some tasty Roman food treats? Suppl: balls of rice ina little tomato sauce filled with mozzarella and deep fried Filetti di baccala:battered cod fillets Fiori di zucca: Courgette flowers which are deep fried andfilled with mozzarella and anchovies.

All of the above are called fritti (fried food) and are often eaten as an an-tipasto (starter) at the pizzeria. Roman pizze have a thinner and crispier basethan Neapolitan style pizze.

But what about some tasty Roman food treats?

Suppl: balls of rice in a little tomato sauce filled with mozzarella and deep fried.

Filetti di baccala: battered cod fillets.

Fiori di zucca: Courgette flowers which are deep fried and filled with moz-zarella and anchovies.

All of the above are called fritti (fried food) and are often eaten as an an-tipasto (starter) at the pizzeria. Roman pizze have a thinner and crispier base

than Neapolitan style pizze.

Some Roman piatti (dishes) include:

Pasta alla gricia: pasta with pancetta-like guanciale, pecorino cheese andpepper.

Bucatini allamatriciana: long pasta like spaghetti with a hole through themiddle, the sauce is tomato based, with the ingredients used in gricia.

Pasta cacio e pepe: pasta in a creamy pecorino cheese and black peppersauce.

Porchetta: roasted pork with herbs, garlic and black pepper, typical from



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the roman countryside.

If we wanted to order food in a restaurant in Italy, we could use the follow-ing sentences:

Prendo un suppl: Ill have a rice ball.

Prendo la pasta alla gricia: Ill have the pasta with guanciale and pecorino.

To order drinks, we could say to the waiter:

Posso avere una bottiglia di vino?: Can I have a bottle of wine?

Posso avere dellacqua?: Can I have some water?

And if we like our food, we could express our pleasure with the following easy-to-remember adjectives:

E buono/a: Its nice (depending on whether the noun is masculine or fem-inine).

E buonissimo/a: Its really nice (depending on whether the noun is mas-culine or feminine).

Thats all for now, buon appetito (enjoy your meal)!



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Lesson 2: Stunning Landscape

We explore the beautiful Italian landscape of Italy which varies from the nord(north) to the sud (south) of the peninsula and out to the isole (islands). Eachregione (region) is different, and the the landscapes include:

Citta: CitiesCampagna: CountrysidePaesi: VillagesMontagne: MountainsMare: SeaColline: Hills

Campi: FieldsVigneti: VineyardsFiumi: RiversBoschi: WoodsScogliere: CliffsVulcani: VolcanosLaghi: LakesCanali: CanalsPiste da sci: Ski slopesSpiagge: Beaches

To ask for directions to these places in Italian, we would say:

Dov e la spiaggia?: Where is the beach?Dove sono le montagne?: Where are the mountains?Il lago e qui vicino?: Is the lake near here?Quanto tempo ci vuole per arrivare sulle piste?: How long does it take toget to the slopes?E lontana la citta?: Is the city far away?Come faccio ad arrivare in campagna?: How do I get to the countryside?

To describe the landscape we can see, we can use adjectives like:

Bello/a: Beautiful



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Stupendo/a: WonderfulFavoloso/a: FabulousFantastico/a: FantasticImpressionante: ImpressiveStraordinario/a: ExtraordinaryMozzafiato: BreathtakingPittoresco/a: PicturesqueAnimato/a: Bustling, busy

Some example sentences using the vocabulary above are:

Il bosco e bello: The wood is beautifulLa vista e mozzafiato: The view is breathtakingI canali sono straordinari: The canals are extraordinaryIl paese e animato: The town is bustlingQuel vulcano e impressionante: That volcano is impressiveQuestisola e stupenda: This island is wonderful

Thats all for now, buon viaggio (enjoy your trip)!



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Lesson 3: Romantic language

The romantic nature of Italy is instantly obvious when visiting places such asfairy-tale Venezia (Venice) and beautiful Verona where people flock to La casadi Giulietta (Juliets house), made famous from Shakespeares play Romeo andJuliet. And at the Fontana di Trevi (Trevi fountain) in Roma, legend has itthat if you throw one coin it means youll return to Rome; throw two coins,youll return to Rome and fall in love with an Italian; throw three coins, youllreturn, find love, and marry an Italian!

It has become popular for i giovani innamorati (young lovers) of Rome to

hang i lucchetti (padlocks) on bridges to represent their everlasting amore(love). This tradition came about following a well-known romantic book writ-ten by Federico Moccia, which tells of a love story set in Rome. In fact, thereare many books and films and songs about love in Italian, and heres an intro-duction to the vocabulary so you can understand or even experiment yourselfwhen visiting romantic Italy. . .

Frasi damore: Love phrases

Ti voglio bene: (TVB): I love you (used with family and friends, express-es affection you feel for them, like I wish all the best for you)

Ti amo: I love you (in a romantic way)Ti adoro: I adore youAmore mio: My loveSono innamorato/a: I am in love (masculine / feminine)Sei la mia anima gemella: You are my soul mateBaciami: Kiss meMi manchi: I miss you

Thats all for now, good luck with your storia damore (love story)!



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Lesson 4: Friendly People

Ive met many friendly people in Italy over the years, and below we look at theways to express the different facets of friendship and universal personality traitsin the Italian language.

Amico/a: friendMigliore amico/a: best friendAmicizia: friendshipTi voglio bene (TVB): I love you (used with family and friends, expressesaffection you feel for them, like I wish all the best for you)Bacio: kiss

Abbraccio: hugCarattere: characterPersonalita: personalityOttimista: optimistPessimista: pessimistSocievole: sociableEstroverso: extrovert, outgoingDivertente: funBuffo/a: funnyAffidabile: trustworthyDiligente: hard-workingTestardo/a: stubbornGeloso/a: jealousEgoista: selfishOrgoglioso/a: proud

See below some proverbi sullamicizia (proverbs on friendship):

Chi trova un amico trova un tesoro: He who finds a friend, finds a treasure.

Nel bisogno si conosce lamico: A friend in need is a friend indeed.

Lamico non e conosciuto finche non e perduto: You dont truly knowa friend until you lose him.



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Meglio soli che mal accompagnati: Its better to be alone rather thanwith bad company.

Cuor sincero, amico vero: A sincere heart, a true friend.

E meglio il morso di un amico che il bacio di un nemico: A bite from afriend is better than a kiss from an enemy.

Lamico certo si conosce nellincerto: In times of difficulty, youll knowyour true friends.

Lamico di tutti non e amico di nessuno: A friend of everyone is a friendof no one.

Se trovi un amico nuovo non obliar lantico: If you find a new frienddont forget your old one.

Thats all for now, un bacio a tutti i miei amici (a kiss to all my friends)!

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Alesha Keene is an Oxford graduate of Italian who is now back in London afteryears spent living and working in Rome as a language teacher and PR consultant.Alesha is CEO and Italian teacher at Aleshas Italian Masterclass, which runsItalian immersion courses at authentic Italian cafe in Borough Market (Lon-

don Bridge). You can contact her at mailto:[email protected] orthrough Facebook or Twitter. Her website it www.italianmasterclass.co.uk.

http://[email protected]/http://www.italianmasterclass.co.uk/http://www.italymag.co.uk/http://www.italymag.co.uk/http://www.italianmasterclass.co.uk/http://[email protected]/http://www.italymag.co.uk/


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Dual Language Article: Il CircoloByron Russell suggests setting up a circolo Italiano. Try reading ortranslating the Italian version first then check with the English versionbelow.

Italian Version

UN CIRCOLO

Circolo letteralmente significa cerchio, ma indica anche un gruppo che siincontra regolarmente per condividere un mutuo interesse. Se ti attira tuttocio che e italiano (e se stai leggendo questo articolo, allora scommetti di si!)inserirti in un associazione italiana e un ottima idea. Ma al di fuori delluniver-sita o delle scuole superiori, il problema e spesso trovare un gruppo del genere.Dunque se non riesci a trovare un circolo al quale iscriverti, perche non ne creiuno tu stesso?

DIVERTIMENTO, CIBO E UN PO DI CULTURA

Con litaliano raramente insegnato nelle scuole, la maggior parte delle personedevono imparare la lingua da zero. Se parli italiano, puoi organizzare un corsoper principianti tu stesso o assumere un insegnante locale. Se non riesci a farequesto, considera la possibilita di formare il tuo gruppo di studio a casa, incon-trandovi una volta a settimana per studiare una lezione di uno degli eccellenticorsi con filmati della BBC, come Italianissimo, o usare le svariete fonti disponi-bili sul web.

Laltro must-have per ogni circolo che si rispetti e, naturalmente, il latosociale. Gite a ristoranti italiani locali, cinema, conferenze e proiezioni di dia-positive sono alcune delle possibilita. Enoteche locali spesso inviano un rappre-

sentante per una degustazione serale, a volte gratuitamente sul tacito accordoche vendera alcune casse, alla fine della manifestazione. Si potrebbe forse in-vitare un esperto per parlare di comprare una proprieta in Italia. Tutti questisono eventi relativamente facili da organizzare.

ORGANIZZAZIONE

Hai semplicemente bisogno di tempo, una personalita estroversa, e un saccodi entusiasmo. Dovresti anche avere delle doti di organizzatore! Prima di tuttodecidi cosa vuoi dal circolo - e chi potrebbero essere i membri del circolo. Quan-

to spesso vi incontrerete, e quale sara il contenuto dei primi incontri? Quantotempo puoi dedicare? Se non riesci a trovare almeno due o tre sere al mese una per gli incontri e le altre per organizzare il tutto allora forse non haiabbastanza tempo.



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Dovrai far conoscere lidea. Il passaparola puo essere sufficiente, anche sepotresti anche fare pubblicita nel giornale locale e nella gazzetta parrocchiale.Se ne hai le capacita, considera la possibilita di creare un sito internet semplice.Incomincia con un primo incontro avendo cura di preparare un buon programma.Questo potrebbe sembrare troppo formale, ma senza un punto di partenza e unodi arrivo, il primo incontro potrebbe essere lultimo! Qualsiasi cosa hai in mentedi fare, il denaro sara coinvolto prima o poi. Per tenere le cose trasparenti, apriun conto separato in banca.

LA CILIEGINA SULLA TORTA

Se il tuo circolo sta andando molto bene, potresti provare lesperienza pi u ac-cattivante del circolo, organizzando un viaggio in Italia tutti insieme. Questopuo essere un viaggio turistico o essere centrato intorno ad un tema, come lafotografia, la cucina o la lingua. Puoi utilizzare i servizi di un agenzia di viaggi,ma se ti senti coraggioso puoi organizzare il trasporto e lalloggio tu stesso,ricercando una scuola di lingua, d arte o di cucina. Quale miglior modo perfinire un anno di studio della lingua dellandare nel Bel Paese per un lungo finesettimana e mettere cio che avete imparato in pratica? Buon divertimento!

English Version

A CIRCOLO

A circolo is literally a circle, but also a group which meets regularly to sharea mutual interest, a club. If this interest is everything Italian (and if yourereading this, thats a pretty safe bet!) then a great idea is to join an Italiansociety. But outside a university or college the problem is often finding such agroup. So if you cant find a circolo to join, why not start one yourself?

FUN, FOOD AND CULTURE

With Italian rarely offered at school, most people have to learn the languagefrom scratch. If you speak Italian, you can set up a beginners course yourself,or employ a local teacher. Failing these, consider forming your own home studygroup, meeting once a week to go through a unit of one of the excellent BBCvideo courses, such as Italianissimo, or using some of the many sources availableon the web.

The other must-have for any self-respecting circolo is, of course, the socialside. Outings to local Italian restaurants, films, talks and slide shows are allpossibilities. Local wine warehouses will often send a representative for a wine-tasting evening, sometimes for free on the tacit understanding that theyll sell



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a few cases at the end of the event. You could perhaps invite an expert to talkabout buying property in Italy. All of these are relatively straightforward eventsto organise.

GETTING ORGANISED

All you need is a bit of time, an outgoing personality and lots of enthusiasm.Ideally you should also have some organisational skills! First decide what youwant from the club and who are your potential members. How often will youmeet and what will the first few meetings be about? How much time can you

afford? If you cant dedicate at least two or three evenings a month one for themeetings and the others for organisation then maybe you havent enough time.

You will need to market the idea. Word of mouth may be enough, thoughyou could also advertise in the local paper or parish gazette. If you have theskills, consider setting up a simple website.

Begin with an initial meeting with a proper agenda. This may sound too formal,but without a starting point and a place to go, the first meeting could be thelast! Whatever you plan to do, money will be involved somewhere. To keep

things transparent, set up a separate bank account.

THE ICING ON THE CAKE

If your circolo is going really well, you could try for the ultimate circolo ex-perience and organise an Italian trip together. This can be straight- forwardtourism, or centred around a theme, such as photography, cookery or language.You can use the services of a tour operator, but if youre feeling brave you canfix the transport and accommodation yourself, researching a language, art orcookery school. What better way to end a year of Italian classes than going toIl Bel Paese for a long weekend, and putting what youve learned into practice?Buon divertimento!



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Crosswords: Test your Vocabulary



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Across Down

1. Hello 2. love5. bathroom 3. price6. sea 4. dear8. house 7. thanks9. stars 9. discount10. square 12. left11. museum 13. beaches14. kiss 15. pizza

16. swimmingpool 17. road19. vineyards 18. shop21. red 20. waiter22. white 24. bread23. fizzy 25. bottle30. star 26. sales31. cold 27. countryside34. wine 28. city35. restaurant 29. good morning36. expensive 31. queue

37. villa 32. right40. down 33. ticket42. room 37. view43. hug 38. good night45. up 39. entrance46. flat 41. still47. cities 44. bar48. water 47. hot51. mountains 49. you are welcome52. funny 50. flowers53. bill 51. menuok54. good evening55. street



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Practise and SingCon Te Partiro, Andrea Bocelli

Quando sono solo Quando sei lontanasogno allorizzonte sogno allorizzontee mancan le parole, e mancan le parole,Si lo so che non ce luce e io s lo soin una stanza quando manca il sole, che sei con me,

se non ci sei tu con me, con me. tu mia luna tu sei qui con me,Su le finestre mio sole tu sei qui con me,mostra a tutti il mio cuore con me, con me, con me.che hai acceso,chiudi dentro me Con te partiro.la luce che Paesi che non ho maihai incontrato per strada. veduto e vissuto con te,

adesso si li vivro.Con te partiro. Con te partiroPaesi che non ho mai su navi per mariveduto e vissuto con te, che, io lo so,adesso si li vivro, no, no, non esistono piu,Con te partiro con te io li rivivro.su navi per mari Con te partiroche, io lo so, su navi per marino, no, non esistono piu, che, io lo so,con te io li vivro. no, no, non esistono piu,

con te io li rivivro.Con te partiro.Io con te.
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