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A quote by Camilleri

Andrea Camilleri the author of the famous stories about the Inspector Montalbano, writes the following on Nuovi Argomenti quoting Pirandello:

“Dice ad un certo punto Pirandello: di una cosa data la lingua esprime il concetto, della medesima cosa il dialetto esprime il sentimento. E’ come se le due cose andassero parallelamente, proprio di pari passo. E ancora una volta dico: guardate che l’uno non può fare a meno dell’altro, perché veramente i dialetti sono la forza della lingua.” (*)

It is a great quote, isn’t it? 🙂

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Italian Compound Words

Some words in Italian are made by joining two different words. Let’s see some of them:

Chissà: from CHI SA, who knows, “chissà chi vincerà le elezioni negli Stati Uniti” =>”Who knows who will win the elections in the United States”.
Perciò: from PER CIO’, for that, for that reason. “Avevo fame perciò mentre guidavo mi sono fermato e ho comprato un panino.” =>”I was hungry as I was driving so I stopped and bought a sandwich.”
Cioè: from CIO’ E’, it is, it means. It is used when you want to give a better explanation about something. “I can not find my wallet, let’s say, I went out, I bought the newspaper and then I have not seen him…”, “”
Lassù: from LA’ SU, up there. “Lassù dove cantano gli angeli” => “Up there, where the angels sing”.
Laggiù: from LA’ GIU’, down there. “Laggiù fa un caldo pazzesco” => “Down there is really hot”
Stamattina/Stasera: from QUESTA MATTINA e QUESTA SERA. This morning, this evening.

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Similar but different Italian Verbs

Especially when you start to learn Italian, it is easy to confuse some similar verbs. Let’s see them together with their different meaning:

PRENDERE/PERDERE (To take and to loose)
LAVARE/LAVORARE (To wash and to work)
TOGLIERE/TAGLIARE (To take out and to cut)
CHIUDERE/CHIEDERE (To close and to ask)
VOLERE/VOLARE (to want and to fly)
SBAGLIARE/SBADIGLIARE (To make a mistake and to yawn)

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“Cosa pensano le ragazze”

Last week was the 8th of March, the women celebration. Here following you find a collection of videos, well done and well structured, where you will be able to watchdaily interviews with several women of various age. Is titled “Cosa pensano le ragazze”.

Learn Italian Compound WordsLearn Italian Compound Words

Here is also a self-ironic vignette about March the 8th. You find it as first in its original formulation in Roman dialect and then in Italian. There is a joke with the date “L’otto Marzo” (March the 8th) and with the Italian words “Lotto”, I fight, and “M’arzo” (Mi alzo in Italian), I get up.

In short it means “I fight since I get up”.

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Italian Cuisine worth going to prison for

Chiudiamo con un ristorante che sta avendo molto successo in queste ultime settimane a Milano, che si chiama InGalera. “It is inside the Bollate penitentiary, a medium-security prison with 1,100 inmates on the outskirts of Milan. The waiters, dishwashers and cooks have been convicted of homicide, armed robbery, drug trafficking and other crimes.” It seems it is a dizzying triumph. Seeing is believing!

An interesting article has been written on March on the New York Times about it .

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(*) “At a certain point Pirandello says: of a thing the the language expresses the concept while the dialect expresses the sentiment. It is like the two things go in parallel, they go at the same pace. And once again I say that one can not do without the other, because the dialects are really the strength of the language.”
 

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