Italian hand gesture for “What the bleep?”

An expressive addition to your resource kit to learning Italian is the book by Bruno Munari: “Speak Italian: The fine art of the gesture”.

I definitely recommend adding this humorous tool to your box. The book is an accurate depiction — illustrated in photos with an explanation on the opposite page — of the myriad Italian gestures. My one exception would be the ‘horn’ gesture (see photo below)… which differently from what the book says, is used to communicate to someone that they ‘have horns’ or are ‘cornuto’ … meaning they have been cuckholded, aka cheated on.  Perhaps the single most offensive Italian gesture… it is considered more insulting than ‘the finger’!

“Speak Italian, The fine art of the gesture, a supplement to the Italian dictionary”

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Ti spanciarerai dalle risate (You will bust a gut/split your sides laughing)!

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Comic John Pinette dishes about how his craving for Italian food while on a work stint in south France ends up in a road trip to nearby Italy and an epic food fest once there!

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Buon giorno a tutti!

Read on for…

• A recap of class #6
• A special assignment for Thanksgiving
  
• Important announcements

Remember–no classes the week of Thanksgiving!

There are two classes left in the Fall 2009 series:

Tues/Wed Dec 1/2, and Dec 8/9.

Buon Giorno di Ringraziamento!

(Happy Thanksgiving!)

Be happy & healthy

See you next week,

Jodina

1. Warm-up/Review: Vestiti, Colori, Numeri (Clothes, Colors, Numbers) and the questions: (1) Che cosa e`/sono? (2) Che colore e`/sono? (3) Quanto costa/costono? (4) Ti piace/piaciono?
   
2. New Conversation: Shopping — Un Negozio di Abbigliamento (A Clothing Store)
3. Speaking Partner Check-in: Which of the “50 Ways to Accelerate Your Learning Curve” did you try this week?
4. Nuova Canzone: We learned/studied/practiced the new song “Cannelloni” by Giorgio Conte. This funny song talks about food and eating in a restaurant. Check the “Links” page for a link to the song video on YouTube.
   

1. In  honor of Thanksgiving, answer the question: “Di che cosa sei grato(a)? (What are you thankful for?)  Begin with “Ne sono grato(a) di…” (I am thankful for…) and follow it with your list. Use a dictionary/translator to find the word(s) in Italian for that which you are grateful. We’ll share these next week in class.
   
2. Check out the latest blog posts on Italian proverbs and idioms and a funny video of comic John Pinette on food, eating, & restaurants in Italy.
   
3. Check the “Links” page for an updated “Jodina’s  Movie and Music Picks.”
   

• Make up missed classes:   If you are unable to attend class in your regular location, you are more than welcome to catch the class at the other location (There are two: Carlsbad and Escondido). For addresses, see the “Contact” page.
• Info on next classes is coming soon. I welcome any input, insight, and ideas for upcoming courses and anything you might like to see added. Please communicate via a comment on this blog or an email. Grazie!

Italian proverb:

Chi canta a tavola e fischia a letto, è matto perfetto!

Translated this means: “He who sings at the dinner table and whistles in bed, is perfectly crazy”.  It is meant more as a fun expression that rhymes than as an expression that portrays advice/wisdom.

Salve studenti!

Read on for…

• A recap of class #5
• Outside-of-class assignments/activities
• Important announcements

Buona giornata. Ci vediamo martedi/mercoledi prossimo! (Have a good day. See you next Tuesday/Wednesday, depending on your class location.)

Jodina

1. Special Italian words & sounds: We did the exercises on p.2 of last week’s Cinema Paradiso dialog (Ch. 18, Alfredo Ritorna), focusing on words that are similar in English and Italian and the sounds ‘gn’, ‘gl’, ‘hard/ soft C and G’.
2. Further work on Shopping in Italy: Review of Clothing, Colors, Numbers (Vestiti, Colori, Numeri)
3. New phrases/questions for shopping: (1) Che cosa e`/sono? (2) Che colore e`/sono? (3) Quanto costa/costono? (4) Ti piace/piaciono? Si, mi piace/piacono. No, non mi piace/piacono.
4. We did a fun activity using clothing catalogs to practice the shopping vocabulary and phrases in #2 and #3.
   
5. “50 Ways to Accelerate Your Learning Curve!” We had a round-table sharing of student brainstorm ideas resulting from the question/challenge I posed several weeks ago: “How can you incorporate more Italian language and culture into your daily life?”

1. Re-read “50 Ways to Accelerate Your Learning Curve!” Choose and try one or two ideas that you haven’t tried yet. Be ready to report on your activities in class next week. (Stickers!!! )
2. Study/Review what we covered in class this week.
   

• **NOTE:**  NEXT WEEK’S CLASS (Nov. 17/18) WILL BE IN OUR REGULAR LOCATION. The hands-on cooking tutorial will instead take place during our last class of the series (Dec. 8/9). Details upcoming!
• Make up missed classes:   If you are unable to attend class in your regular location, you are more than welcome to catch the class at the other location (There are two: Carlsbad and Escondido). For addresses, see the “Contact” page.

Salve!

Ecco la frase idiomatica della settimana = Here’s your weekly Italian Idiom, brought to you by Italiano With Jodina:

In bocca al lupo!

Literally, this means “in the wolf’s mouth” and is used to wish someone luck, as with “buona fortuna.”

There is also a response sometimes used when someone tells you “in bocca al lupo,” and that is “crepi il lupo” — literally meaning “that the wolf keels over.” It would be like saying, “yes, when I put my head in the wolf’s mouth, may it keel over (rather than biting my head off”!

Have a great week, and in bocca al lupo!

One more way to get your fix of things Italian is to join the “Italian” group on Yahoo Groups.

To join, go to yahoo.com, click on Yahoo Groups (Click this link), and type in the search phrase “Italian.” Buon divertimento!

This is a fun social group dedicated to “speaking Italian and learning as much as we can while eating and drinking ourselves into fluency!”

It’s an informal way to meet others interested in la bella lingua and cibo buono. (It meets every Monday pm in Leucadia at Vigilucci’s restaurant.)

Visit this link for all the dettaglie! (details)

Buon giorno ragazzi!

Read on for…

• A recap of class #4
• Outside-of-class assignments
• Important announcements.

Che passiate una buonissa settimana–ci vediamo martedi/mercoledi prossimo! (Have an excellent week — see you next Tuesday/Wednesday… depending on your class location!)

Jodina

Nel blu dipinto di blu… Alitalia is offering special fares, round trip, starting at $500, departures from Boston. Must be purchased by Nov.9, travel by March 24, 2010.  March/April is a nice time of year to be in Italy. Spring’s nice there — weather’s usually pretty good and you won’t brush elbows with hordes of tourists.

Here’s the link to more info. It’s been a minute since I’ve priced tix to the BelPaese. Given the current ‘pazzia’ (craziness) of airline companies and the ‘economia’ — would love to hear back from folks if these are indeed good fares. Buoni viaggi!

{Grazie alla mia studentessa Susanna per questo accenno!}