Alsace: Bilingualism a thing of the past

Alsace: Bilingualism a thing of the past on European Journal, Deutsche Welle

Fare il ponte

Fare il ponte: In Italy, if a holiday falls on a Tuesday or a Thursday, people may take the Monday or the Friday off work; given the phrase of making a 'bridge' to the weekend.

I mesi (Months)

This is a traditional Italian nursery rhyme about i mesi, the months of the year.

Gennaio con febbraio fa il paio
febbraietto freddo e maledetto,
marzo è pazzo,
aprile dolce dormire,
maggio è paggio,
giugno la falce in pugno,
luglio canta il cuculo,
agosto moglie mia non ti conosco,
settembre la notte al dì contende,
ottobre chi vuole si copre,
novembre all’inverno si arrende,
dicembre, davanti ti ghiaccia
e dietro t’offende.

January and February are a couple,
Little February, cursed and cold,
March is crazy,
April’s sweetly sleeping,
May is the valet,
June, the scythe in hand,
July, the cuckoo sings,
August, my wife, I don’t know you,
September, the night fights the day,
October, whoever wants covers himself up,
November surrenders to winter,
December, freezes you in the front
and batters you on the back.

gennaio: January

febbraio: February

marzo: March

aprile: April

maggio: May

giugno: June

luglio: July

agosto: August

settembre: September

novembre: November

dicembre: December

Confetti

Confetti, to us in the English-speaking world, refers to the tiny pieces of colourful paper or metallic plastic used in celebrations. However, to the Italians, confetti are actually almonds (or another nut) coated in a hard layer of sugar and gifted as a present on celebratory days such as baptisms, weddings, and anniversaries. There are traditional meanings attributed to the colours; blue or pink for baptism, red for birthdays and graduations, green for engagement, white for marriage, and a myriad of colours for anniversaries.

What we know as paper confetti, is called coriandolo to the Italians; hinting that perhaps coriander seeds, representative of fertility, were once sugar-coated, and later replaced with almonds. Originally, confetti were created by apothecaries who layered sugar syrups around the nuts to form a hard coating. They were for a time passed around as digestivo after dinner parties, and then used as a party favour in the medieval times. The name confetti originates from confit or confiture. The original confetti are sometimes referred to as 'Jordan almonds' or dragée.

The English tradition of throwing paper confetti at weddings is said to have been started by Ven. Thomas Dealty in the latter part of the 19th Century. Dealty was the rector of St. Mary's Church in Swillington, and had previously held post as Archdeacon of Madras, where he had seen the rice throwing at Hindu weddings.

It's fascinating to see the links that the English language has with other languages; the words we have borrowed or stolen, and what meanings have changed in the adaption and translation of them.

Accented Onomatopoeia

'Sounds of all sorts take on different accents in Italian. Rather than with a sloppy 'ah-choo', and Italian sneezes with a daintier eccì. Italian distinguishes between the sound of swallowing water (glu glu glu) and chewing food (gnam gnam gnam). Bells ring din don dan. Trains ciuff-ciuff. Motors vrum-vrum. Clocks tic-tac. Guns fire with a pim pum pam. A telephone's busy signal stutters tuu tuu tuu. Over the years I've been awakened by little birds that cip cip cip, dogs that abbaiano, roosters that go chicchirichì, and crickets that cri-cri-cri. In the morning, Bambola, the mangy stray cat who has become my pet at the villa we rent every summer, curls onto my lap and fa le fusa (purrs).'

from La Bella Lingua - Dianne Hales

Scioglilingua

Here is an example of an Italian tongue twister, scioglilingua.

Al pozzo dei pazzi c'era una pazza
che lavava una pezza mangiando una pizza.
Arriva un pazzo e butta la pazza, la pezza,
E la pizza nel pozzo dei pazzi.

At the well of the crazies, there was a crazy woman
Who was washing a rag eating pizza.
A crazy man arrives and throws the crazy woman, the rag,
and the pizza into the well of the crazies.

Eleven Languages

 

Twenty-year-old Alex Rawlings can currently speak eleven languages - English, Greek, German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Afrikaans, French, Hebrew, Catalan and Italian. He has won a national competition in the search of Britain's most multilingual student (aged between sixteen and twenty-two). This BBC News video features Rawlings speaking in all eleven languages about his learning experiences.

Oh my goodness. To know this many languages would be incredible. I wish New Zealand had more emphasis on bilingualism, let alone multilingualism.

Spassiaturu

'The air chilled in the early evening. As shopkeepers pulled their heavy wooden doors shut, the streets grew crowded with villagers on their way home for supper. This was the time of the spassiaturu, dialect for passeggiata.

Every city, town, and village in Italy has an unstated but universally understood time during which the entire population emerges from their houses in their evening best. No one discusses it; no one makes appointments to meet anyone; they all just converge to find one another out on the street.'

from Stolen Figs by Mark Rotella

Pinco Pallo e Tizio, Caio, Sempronio

In Italian, 'Pinco Pallino', or 'Pinco Pallo', is used to refer to a generic 'someone' in a somewhat derogatory or ironic manner, similar to the use of 'Joe Bloggs' or 'John Doe'.

The names 'Tizio, Caio, Sempronio', are used to reference of a group of hypothetical people; similar to the English concept of 'Tom, Dick, and Harry'. The use of these specific names has legal origins, when situation examples were provided in court. In France, they say 'Pierre, Paul, et Jacques', and in Germany it is 'Hinz und Kunz'.

Le virgolette - Quotation marks

For ages, I've always wondered why on Italian news sites such as Corriere della Sera and in Italian books, there are always little marks that look like these; '«', '»'. In an act of procrastination, but one that will relate to the research into foreign languages I am doing for university, I looked them up. In Italian these punctuation marks are named caporali, and signify quotation marks. The small arrows are also used in other languages, particularly in French, where they go by the name of guillemets, after Guillaume le Bé who was a printer and punchcutter in the 1500's. '«' and '»' were for a long time the standard and only symbols for quotations, but after desktop publishing became widely common in the 1980's, the use of these punctuation marks reduced as many font sets did not offer the use of them. In Italy, other newspapers such as La Repubblica use doppi apici (","). Both these forms of quotation marks are used for direct discourse, jargon, and foreign language, while singoli apici (',') are used to signify a quotation within a quotation, or words meant to be taken ironically.

The choice to use either the caporali or the doppi apici is a stylistic decision more than anything else, as they mean the same thing; often the typeface will dictate which is available for use. What is more important is that the use of punctuation remains consistent within a body of text.

Another difference in punctuation between Italian and English, is that in the language of the former, commas and full-stops are written outside the quotation marks, both for the caporali and the doppi apici. Where the English would write "I went to the beach.", the Italians would write «Sono andato alla spiaggia». Or "Sono andato alla spiaggia".

Focolare

'The word 'focus' comes from the Latin for fireplace. In Italian, it's focolare - the centre of the home where we cook and eat and talk, all of which gives focus, a clarity to life. Without our food, we fall apart.'

from In Tuscany by Frances Mayes

Chiacchiera

Chiacchiera: chat, gossip

One of my favourite examples of how words sound so much better in Italian!

Emily

Etymology will never cease to fascinate me, especially that of names. My name, Emily, is derived from the Roman patrician family Aemilia, one of the oldest patrician houses of Rome. It is believed that the family began in the reign of Numa Pompilius, who was the second King of Rome, and the Aemilii were one of the gentes maiores, the major patrician families, with its members holding some of the highest offices of the state, throughout the Republican years into the Imperial. In 187BC, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, who was a Roman consul, Pontifex Maximus, and censor, oversaw the construction of Via Aemilia, the main road from Piacenza to Rimini, which is still one of the major roads of Northern Italy. He also supervised the completion of the Basilica Aemilia in the Roman forum. Marcus Aemilius Scaurus was a Roman consul and considered one of the most influential politicians of the Republic. In 115BC he oversaw the construction of the Via Aemilia Scauri road which connected Rome to Placentia and Pisa, running through Genoa. The region of Emilia-Romagna, derives the former half of its name from Via Aemilia. There is so much history behind names that we never really think of, it's kind of overwhelming to think how far back they originated.

Sprezzatura

Sprezzatura: 'a certain nonchalance, or as a so called effortless grace so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does or says appear without effort and almost without any thought about it'.

The Italian word sprezzatura originates from Il Cortegiano (The Book of the Courtier) by Baldassare Castiglione. The book describes the perfect courtier, and this appearance of effortless and ease was, in Castiglione's opinion, a vital trait to possess.

Escape

'The struggle with literature is in fact a struggle to escape from the confines of language; it stretches out from the utmost limits of what can be said; what stirs literature is the call and attraction of what is not in the dictionary.'

- Italo Calvino

Dolce far niente

Dolce far niente: pleasant and delicious idleness; the sweetness of doing nothing

La Frutta e La Verdura (Fruit and Vegetables)

This morning I bought a Berlitz Intermediate Italian language course, and am listening to the CD's now, so excited to revise and teach myself more Italian! Listening to all the talk about food is making me ridiculously hungry.

l'albicocca: apricot
l'ananas: pineapple
l'anguria: watermelon
l'arancia: orange
la banana: banana
le ciliege: cherries
la fragola: strawberry
il lampone: raspberry
il limone: lemon
la mela: apple
la pera: pear
la pesca: peach
il pomodoro: tomato
il pompelmo: grapefruit
la susina: plum
l'uva: grapes


l'aglio: garlic
il broccolo: broccoli
il calvofiore: cauliflower
la carota: carrot
il cavalo: cabbage
il fagiolini: green beans
il fungo: mushroom
il mais: corn
la melanzana: aubergine
la patata: potato
il peperone: capsicum
i piselli: peas
il porro: leek
gli spinaci: spinach
la zucca: pumpkin
la zucchina: zucchini


la fetta di pera: the slice of pear
il torsolo di mela: the apple core

Colori (Colours)

Di che colore è?: What colour is it?

bianco: white

giallo: yellow

arancione: orange

rosa: pink

rosso: red

marrone: brown

verde: green

azzurro: light blue

blu: blue

viola: violet

grigio: grey

nero: black

rosa chiaro: light pink

rosa scuro: dark pink

lattéo: milk white

leonato: lion, tawny yellow

citrino: lemon yellow

persichino: peach

corallino: coral pink

carnadino: carnation pink

rosacéo: rose colour

morellotto: flaming red

rosso ciliega: cherry red

rosso rubino: ruby red

rosso inchiostro: colour of red ink

scarlatto: scarlet

castagnato: chestnut brown

canarino: canary yellow

paglierino: straw-coloured

giallo oro: golden yellow

giallo ambrato: amber yellow

verde acqua: pale green

verde bottiglia: bottle green

verde oliva: olive green

verde smeraldo: emerald green

celestro: sky blue

grigio perla: pearl grey

grigio azzurro: grey blue

acciaio: steel grey

piombo: lead grey

I giorni della settimana (Days of the Week)

lunedì (looh-neh-dee): Monday

martedì (mahr-teh-dee): Tuesday

mercoledì (mehr-koh-leh-dee): Wednesday

giovedì (mehr-koh-leh-dee): Thursday

venerdì (veh-nehr-dee): Friday

sabato (sah-bah-toh): Saturday

domenica (doh-meh-nee-kah): Sunday

il lunedì - il sabato: on Monday-Saturday

la domenica: on Sunday

ieri (yeh-ree): yesterday

oggi (ohj-jee): today

domani (doh-mah-nee): tomorrow

dopodomani (doh-poh-doh-mah-nee): day after tomorrow

giorno: day

mattina: morning

pomeriggio: afternoon

sera: night

Che giorno è...: What day is...

Che giorno è oggi?: What day is it today?

Oggi è venerdì: Today is Friday

Domani è sabato: Tomorrow is Saturday