Flavia Cresswell-Turner is overwhelmed by the warmth and generosity of the Italians Il mio amore per l’Italia è cresciuto nel corso degli anni, e specialmente dopo la mia visita a Roma quest’ultima Pasqua. Da quando ero bambina, i miei genitori hanno assecondato questa passione, portando spesso me e mia sorella in vacanza in Italia, […]
Pesto (n.m.) Pesto. The word pesto comes from the Italian ‘pestare’, meaning ‘to pound, or crush’, or indeed to ‘pestle’, and is of course also cognate to our noun ‘pestle’ (Italian: ‘pestello’, Latin: ‘pistillum’) – so there is absolutely no need to ever again get confused about which is the pestle and which is the […]
Pronunciation or Intonation? Benny Lewis, author of Fluent in 3 Months (published by Collins) gives us his tips on understanding the ‘network’ of intonation in a language, with the help of a friendly Italian polyglot. At first glance, it can seem that the differences between a native accent and a foreign accent are all […]
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 […]
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 […]