Using Music to Learn Phrases Benny Lewis, author of Fluent in 3 Months (published by Collins) gives us a brief singing lesson to help remember key phrases in a new language. While learning words is certainly very important, I recommend you start with phrases or full sentences, which allow you to communicate real ideas from […]
Farfalla (n.f) Butterfly. Farfalla is a strange word because, although it does derive directly from Latin, the way that it has morphed into modern Italian is unusual. The Latin, ‘papilio’, has become ‘papillon’ in French, and the word retains its ‘p’ form in Old Florentine (the basis of modern Italian), in the Bolognese, Milanese and […]
The Missing Ingredient: Passion Benny Lewis, author of Fluent in 3 Months (published by Collins) tells us about what made him passionate about learning a language, and how this can help you to find what really motivates you. In my new book, Fluent in 3 Months, I focus on independent learners, rather than those sitting […]
Mazzo (n. m.) a bunch. That’s nice. A nice bunch of flowers for our word for the week. How kind. Well, don’t be too hasty because although this entry does begin with a nice bunch of flowers it ends with brutal and violent death. But for now let’s get back to the flowers – un […]
Reading Dante: From Here to Eternity Prue Shaw, Liveright, £20 (paperback) Dante Alighieri wrote an epic poem about the afterlife that, 700 years later, is still universally recognised as the greatest work in the history of Italian literature. In this introduction to the Comedy, Shaw not only interprets the text but also explains how it […]
Nuvola/Nube (n.f.) Cloud. Bargain: two Words for the Week for the price of one! You may think. But it’s not really. It’s more like one and a half. As we’ll see… Here the Italian words are very different from the English one. ‘Cloud’ is Old English – and is actually related to ‘clod’, as in […]
Carnevale (n.m.) Carnival The tradition of Carnevale has never truly been part of the Protestant tradition, but its history in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches is ancient and rich – the Venice Carnival has been going strong since 1268, except notably for a few years at the end of the 18th century when the […]
You can’t beat a course in Italy to learn Italian. These schools are tried an tested by Italia! AbbeySchool CiaoItaly – Turin www.ciaoitaly-turin.com Situated in an early 20th-century building in the heart of the Crocetta district, one of Turin’s most elegant areas and just a short walk from the Polytechnic, AbbeySchool CiaoItaly specialises in […]
Sebastian Cresswell-Turner looks British drinking habits compared to the Italians, and why the Brit pub culture can never quite translate across the water… Alcohol As a general rule, the Italians disapprove of British drinking habits. “I just couldn’t believe how much they all drank,” said an Italian friend of mine who was at Cambridge […]