2010 May | Italian Language Blog

Posts from May 2010

Bed and Breakfast

May 31 2010

Benvenuti Ai Chiosi

Due mesi fa la nostra amica Adriana, che possiede un Bed and Breakfast qui a Pontremoli, ha dato alla luce un bel bimbo. Ovviamente Adriana al momento è molto occupata col bebè, perciò ha chiesto a me e a mio marito di gestire ‘Ai Chiosi‘, il suo B&B . Così, un paio di giorni fa abbiamo fatto i bagagli e ci siamo trasferiti giù a valle.

Two months ago our friend Adriana, who owns a Bed and Breakfast here in Pontremoli, gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. Obviously at the moment she is very busy with the baby, therefore she has asked me and my husband to manage her B&B, ‘Ai Chiosi’. So a couple of days ago we packed our suitcases and moved down to the valley.

Ai Chiosi was once the farm complex belonging to the ‘Villa Dosi’, a large 17th century villa, framed by two majestic Lebanon Cedars, which is located on the northern periphery of Pontremoli. The farm building and a bit of land were acquired in 1929 by Adriana’s bisnonna (great-grandmother) who had emigrated to England, and invested the money she earned in various properties around Pontremoli.

In 2001 Adriana’s family decided to open the farmhouse as a Bed and Breakfast, and since then they have gradually expanded the business, converting il vecchio fienile (the old barn) into three en-suite bedrooms and un piccolo appartamento indipendente (a small self-contained apartment). Aspettate un attimo, ché c’è qualcuno alla porta………….. (wait a moment, there’s someone at the door)………..

Scusate l’interruzione, ma c’era un’emergenza! (Sorry about the interruption, but there was an emergency!) One of the girls who’s staying here tonight knocked frantically on our door saying: "Scusate il disturbo, ma le devo chiedere un grande piacere: c’è una bestia enorme in camera nostra! Non so che cos’è, ma ha mille zampe, e siamo troppo paurose per schiacciarlo! (Excuse the inconvenience, but I have to ask you a big favor: there is an enormous beast in our bedroom! I don’t know what it is, but it has got thousands of legs, and we are too scared to squash it!) So Geoff gallantly entered their room, armed with just a dustpan and brush, to save the maidens from the savage beast, which turned out to be un centopiedi mediterraneo (a Mediterranean centipede) all of three centimeters long! Geoff successfully evicted the uninvited guest from the window (he always tries not to harm animals, and spends hours maneuvering insects out of the way, even scorpions).

Allora, visto che staremo qui al B&B per un po’ di tempo, i prossimi blogs arriveranno dal vivo da ‘I Chiosi’, un posto bellissimo e tranquillo, immerso nel verde, a due passi dal centro storico di Pontremoli.

Well then, since we will be staying down here at the B&B for a while, the next blogs will arrive live from ‘I Chiosi’, a beautiful, tranquil place, surrounded by trees and fields, just a short walk from Pontremoli’s historical center.

If you want to find out more about ‘Ai Chiosi’, you can visit this site: Ai Chiosi

Una Mela al Giorno – part 2

Posted by Serena 3 Comments

May 27 2010

Grazie a tutti for the interesting responses to my blog ‘Una Mela al Giorno’

I asked you to help me out by finding English equivalents for five common Italian sayings or proverbs. Here below are those that I consider to be the closest in meaning:

Proverb	Meaning
chi fa per sè fa per tre	‘who does for themselves does for three’ meaning: Sometimes it’s easier or better to do a job on your own. English equivalents: 1. If you want a job doing properly, do it yourself 2. Too many cooks spoil the broth
il diavolo fa le pentole ma non i coperchi	‘the devil makes the pans but not the lids’ meaning: the truth will come out in the end. English equivalents: 1. Everything comes out in the wash 2.The truth will always out 3. If you make your bed, you have to lie in it
tra il dire e il fare c’è di mezzo il mare	‘between the saying and the doing there is the sea in the middle’ meaning: it’s much easier to say something than it is to do it. English equivalents: 1. Easier said than done 2. It’s easier to talk the talk than to walk the walk 3. Words are cheap
il lupo perde il pelo ma non il vizio	‘the wolf looses its pelt but not its vice’ i.e. meaning: the external appearance may change, but not what’s inside. English equivalents: 1. Old wine in new bottles 2. A snake may lose its skin, but it’s still a snake inside 3. The leopard cannot change his spots
la gallina che canta ha fatto l’uovo	‘the chicken that sings laid the egg’ meaning: the person who begins to make a fuss about something is probably the culprit. English equivalent: She doth protest too much, methinks

Here are a few more detti (sayings) suggested by readers:

Detto	English equivalent
campa cavallo che l’erba cresce	when pigs have wings
o mangi questa minestra o salti dalla finestra	beggars can’t be choosers
ogni morte di papa	once in a blue moon
come il diavolo e l’acqua santa	like oil and water

Take a seat

Posted by Serena 14 Comments

May 24 2010

Take a seat…but where? Here is a useful list of some of the most common things that we sit on:

la sedia	the chair
la sedia a sdraio	the deck-chair
la sedia a dondolo	the rocking chair
la sedia a rotelle	the wheelchair
il sedile	the seat, e.g. in a car, bus, train, etc.
il seggiolino	the child’s seat in a car
il seggiolone	the child’s high chair
la seggiovia	the chair lift
la panca	the bench / pew
la panchina	the garden bench / football bench
il divano	the sofa
il divanoletto	the sofa bed
la poltrona	the armchair

When I was a child I used to love sitting on l’altalena (the swing), while my mother sat on la panchina (the bench) watching me dondolare (swing).

Not many of us get a chance to sit on il trono (the throne), but, there again, you don’t often find kings or queens sitting on lo sgabello (the stool) in a bar!

If there’s nothing else available you can always sit per terra (on the ground). Oh, and by the way, the part of you that does the sitting is il sedere (the bottom)!

In part two we’ll have a look at how we ask or tell people to sit down.

L’Italia in Cinque Parole – la risposta!

Posted by Serena 11 Comments

May 21 2010

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog entitled ‘L’Italia in Cinque Parole’ in which I asked readers to describe Italy and the Italians in five words or short phrases. The response was quite overwhelming, and I began to think that I’d bitten off more than I could chew! The hardest part of the exercise was to get our Italian friends to participate. Either they replied with the ubiquitous ‘Boh!’ or they composed lengthy odes to their country and culture, see for example my mother’s comments at the end of this blog.

However, after much head scratching, heated discussion, and writing of lists, here is what we have come up with. The table below is an amalgam of all of the readers’ comments. There are five categories listed in order of importance, with the most frequently recurring words highlighted in red. The sixth row lists general observations:

People friendly passionate helpful family expressive celebratory proud warm happy ‘appreciative of food’ bella figura	- welcoming temperamental loving healthy cynicism anarchic generous emotional unpretentious pleasantly crazy religious formal	- music loving traditional conversational gracious cheerful open animated ‘unfriendliness towards tourists’ distant sultry
Food delicious excellent great wine great cuisine pizza	- slow food strong coffee good seafood good olive oil	- pasta ice cream fresh ingredients Parmigiano
Country/Landscape beauty beautiful landscapes vineyards mountains plains ‘varied land & seascapes’	- le piazze beautiful towns historical cities quaint mountain towns touristy nature	- beautiful houses beaches ‘heavenly Tuscan landscapes’ fertile gardens
History & Arts Art Roman ruins architecture (history of) Renaissance	- historical cities churches elegant design expressive art/music	- opera folk music ‘key to development of Western civilization’
Politics Berlusconi Mafia	- ‘hostile to centralization’	- ‘cynicism towards government’
General fashion football chaotic disorganization crazy/erratic driving ‘quality rather than quantity’ elegance	- Mediterranean sea surprising/predictable shopping passeggiata (going for a stroll) beautiful language Catholic Church	- sun/climate endangered variety exquisite light festivals doggie do do! good public transport

Now let’s see what Italians have to say about themselves:

People creativi/immaginazione indisciplinati ‘attaccamento alle radici’ ‘paurosi verso tutto ciò che è diverso’ mentalità anziana mammoni ‘negati per le lingue straniere’ furbi altruisti mangioni buoni spendaccioni disordinati ‘genii nella disorganizzazione’ ‘artisti nell’artigianalità’ ‘In Patria tendiamo a disprezzare la nostra Nazione e all’estero se qualcuno disprezza le medesime cose noi andiamo facilmente in bestia’ ‘straordinaria capacità di confondere la passione con l’amore’	- creative/imagination undisciplined ‘attachment to our roots’ ‘afraid of everything that is different’ old mentality ‘tied to our mother’s apron strings’ ‘hopeless at foreign languages’ shrewd altruists big eaters good big spenders untidy ‘geniuses of disorganization’ ‘artists in craftsmanship’ ‘In our own Country we tend to scorn our Nation, and abroad if someone does the same thing we get angry straight away’. ‘extraordinary capacity to confuse passion with love’
Country/Landscape ‘bella in tutte le sue varietà’ ‘paesaggio di una bellezza incredibile’ ‘ricchezza dell’habitat’ ‘varietà di paesaggio e clima’	- ‘beautiful in all its varieties’ ‘incredibly beautiful landscape’ ‘richness of habitat’ ‘variety of landscape & climate’
Food buon cibo buon vino cucina regionale	- good food good wine regional cooking
History & Arts bellezza artistica stupefacente ‘grande ricchezza storica e artistica’ ‘il fardello della storia’	- astonishing artistic beauty ‘great historic and artistic wealth’ ‘the burden of history’
Politics Mafia ‘Non cittadini ma sudditi (non vogliamo prendere decisioni)’ ‘L’Italia è poco coraggiosa nel far sentire la propria voce nel mondo’	- Mafia ‘not citizens but subjects (we don’t want to take decisions)’ ‘Italy lacks courage in making its voice heard to the rest of the world’
General varietà culturale diversità linguistica/dialetti sole ‘armonia nel comunicare con tutto il corpo’ ‘la bellezza della lingua e del modo di esprimersi con tutta l’anima’ ‘vita vissuta all’aperto’ calcio beltà eleganza	- cultural variety linguistic diversity/dialects sun ‘harmony in communicating with the whole body’ ‘the beauty of the language and of the way in which one expresses oneself with the whole soul’. ‘life lived in the open’ football beauty elegance

Here are my mother’s comments:

‘L’Italia è un Paese bello e vario, scaldato dal sole, accarezzato dal mare, rivestito di verdi boschi, incoronato di bianca neve’ (Italy is a beautiful and varied country, warmed by the sun, caressed by the sea, covered by green forests, crowned by white snow).

‘L’Italia è il giardino di tutte le Muse, però purtroppo ormai invasa da tutti gli pseudo intellettuali e artisti autodefinitisi tali’ (Italy is the garden of all the Muses, but unfortunately it has now been invaded by all the pseudo, self proclaimed, intellectuals and artist).

‘Gli italiani sono un popolo geniale, ospitale, generoso, ma insofferente di ogni ordine e legge’ (Italians are ingenious, hospitable, and generous people, but are intolerant of any order and laws).

Finally, a thought from my friend Cecilia:

‘L’Italia può essere paragonata alla maschera carnevalesca di Arlecchino: il suo vestito multicolore fatto da tanti pezzi diversi di stoffe rappresenta l’Italia che è fatta dall’unione di tanti piccoli stati diversi. Inoltre, Arlecchino è sempre allegro, ma anche molto povero e sfortunato’ (Italy can be compared to the Carnival character of Harlequin: his multicolored costume made from many different pieces of fabric represents Italy, which is made from the union of many different little states. Moreover, Harlequin is always cheerful, but also very poor and unlucky).

I would really like to hear your thoughts and opinions about these lists of words and phrases. What conclusions can be drawn from them, how does the list of comments from readers of this blog who live in other countries compare with that created by the Italians who live in Italy? I think there is enough material here for another interesting blog, so if you would like to contribute please leave your comment below.

A presto!

Una Mela al Giorno

Posted by Serena 11 Comments

May 16 2010

A couple of days ago Geoff (mio marito) was chatting with some of his friends in the piazza about sayings (detti) and proverbs (proverbi). They ended up by trying to make a list of Italian equivalents for well known English sayings and vice versa. Here, for your entertainment, is the list so far:

una mela al giorno leva il medica di torno	an apple a day keeps the doctor away
cadere dalla padella nella brace	out of the frying pan into the fire
prendere due piccioni con una fava	kill two birds with one stone
a caval donato non si guarda in bocca	never look a gift horse in the mouth
rosso di sera bel tempo si spera	red sky at night shepherds delight
ride bene chi ride ultimo	he who laughs last laughs loudest
l’erba del vicino è sempre più verde	the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence
meglio tardi che mai	better late than never
non è bello ciò che è bello, ma è bello ciò che piace	beauty is in the eye of the beholder
lontano dagli occhi lontano dal cuore	out of sight out of mind
il bisogno aguzza l’ingegno	necessity is the mother of invention
qual è nato prima, l’uovo o la gallina?	which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Here are a few Italian proverbs for which we couldn’t think of an English equivalent, can you help us out?:

Proverb	Meaning
chi fa per sè fa per tre	‘who does for themselves does for three’ i.e.: sometimes it’s less work to do something for yourself. This may be the equivalent of ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’, but perhaps there is something better?
il diavolo fa le pentole ma non i coperchi	‘the devil makes the pans but not the lids’ i.e.: if you do something bad, sooner or later the truth will come out.
tra il dire e il fare c’è di mezzo il mare	‘between the saying and the doing there is the sea in the middle’ i.e.: it’s much easier to say something than it is to do it.
il lupo perde il pelo ma non il vizio	‘the wolf looses its pelt but not its vice’ i.e.: the external appearance may change, but not what’s inside.
la gallina che canta ha fatto l’uovo	‘the chicken that sings laid the egg’ i.e.: the person who begins to make a fuss about something is probably the culprit.

Do you have any interesting proverbs from your culture? If so, please share them with us and I’ll try to find something similar in Italian.

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