Italiano With Jodina

Decorations (Decorazioni) /day-cohr-ahts-yohn-ee/

As a rule, Italians do not much decorate their homes for the holidays, except for a nativity scene, and perhaps a Christmas tree, but it will usually be small-ish, possibly a live tree still in the pot, and not super-loaded with ornaments. In the downtown areas of cities and towns there will be lights and other decorations along the street. Larger cities will be especially lit up, and some have begun using LED lights because they are energy-saving and less polluting.

Mistletoe (Vischio) /vees-keeoh/

During the Holiday Season it is an old tradition to give Mistletoe, especially the last day of the year. It is often dipped in gold or silver paint, and it is given as a symbol of good wishes, or ‘auguri’. One of my friends reported that, “a large bank in the downtown has mounted a huge ‘vischio’ and they invite whoever wants to stand under it, and two nice shanghai girls take pictures while people kiss one another…”

Ah at long last! An Italian spell-checker….. free & online!

Tho I am pretty good at spelling, I am NOT the world’s best typist… and so as a writer, the spell-checker is one of my favorite tools.

I’ve long wished I could have a spell-checker for Italian at my fingertips (living in the States and having an English version of Word means that the built-in version only checks for accuracy of English spelling).

So, I recently went searching for an online spell-checker, and lo and behold, I found one that is not only free of charge, but doesn’t need to be downloaded AND doesn’t cause all kinds of annoying pop-up windows to open on my computer.

Yaay! No more worrying whether I doubled a consonant unnecessarily!

🙂 No more typos! Try it yourself: http://spellchecker.net

18 dicembre 2009

Oggi e` il compleanno di mia sorella Wendy & le voglio augurare una bellissima giornata–
Ciao bella, che te la godi fin in fondo… ed altro cent’anni così`!!

“Si Chiama Pietro e torna indietro!”

This is a popular and silly idiom/rhyme. What it literally means is “It’s name is Peter (Pietro) and it comes back (torna indietro). It’s a little non-sensical… and is used when you lend something to a friend… it’s a tongue in cheek way of slipping in the fact that you want the item returned… and it is funny because Pietro rhymes with dietro.

So let’s say you lend your friend a book… and you say, jokingly “Si chiama Pietro (the book’s name is Peter/Pietro) and it comes back to me (torna indietro)! Try it next time a friend asks to borrow something!

Buon giorno!

In Class #7 we began prepping for our hands-on cooking tutorial next week. We covered:

1. Italian words for food and cooking
   
2. Conversations in Italian about Thanksgiving and what we are grateful for
   
3. The Italian recipe for Spaghetti Aglio, Olio, Peperoncino (garlic, oil, red chili pepper spaghetti) we will cook next week!

Homework (aka Funwork) for next week –very easy– watch the videos on my blog post “Cuciniamo–Let’s Cook” to get a feel for what we’ll be cooking in class.

Important info for next class:

• – Start time– 6:30pm, directions will be sent by email
  
• — This will be our end-of-class celebration
• — You must RSVP so I get enough ingredients
• — Hope to see you there!
  

Ciao–

As I  gear up for my “holiday & food” end-of-series fall Italian conversation and culture classes, I have turned to the web for inspiration in preparing lessons on my personal favourites of simple and yummy Italian cuisine.

The two most basic and easy of the Italian ‘primi piatti’ (aka first courses or pasta/risotto dishes) are “Spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino” (Spaghetti with garlic, oil and red chili pepper) and another classic, “il Soffritto” (which can be roughly translated as the ‘under-fry’) that is the threshold of many an Italian “sugo” (sauce, aka “salsa”).

Here, the links to some of the most authentic, useful, and/or amusing videos I came accross in my ‘ricerche’ (searching). You’ll note that in each aglio-olio-peperoncino video, each cook uses their own slight variations.
– Enjoy and ‘buon appetito’!

1. The classic: Spaghetti aglio, olio, peperoncino
2. The classic + grana: Spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino
3. The classic + parsely: Spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino
4. Yet more aglio, olio, peperoncino!
   
5. Funniest video, most elaborate version: Aglio, olio, p…
   
6. Soffritto
7. More Soffritto

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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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

What we studied/practiced:

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.
   

Outside-of-Class-Activities: (Aka Homework, except fun!!!)

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.”
   

Announcements:

• 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.