On travelling to foreign places.
Aug. 9th, 2004 10:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I've always had a resistance to going to Italy; my mental image of it is a place filled with short people who will happily pinch my bottom/wallet/kidneys as soon as look at me. As time has passed I've grown more used to this idea, possibly because working in Stevenage means that I'm surrounded every day by short people who would shiv me without a second thought, and who jabber incomprehensibly to one another non-stop. So it is that, as pretty much everyone I know who has travelled has said only good things about Italy, I'm increasingly coming round to the idea of going. I mean, look at all the good things that the Italians have ever given us: Caligula, La Cicciolina, The Borgias...
The problem with me going to Italy would be the language barrier - I've got enough survival level Greek and Spanish to at least get by in those countries, but my command of Italian is limited to names of pasta and musical notation. In some ways this isn't so bad - I can indulge in the two main national Italian pastimes, namely ordering in restaurants ("Linguini, presto!"), and having sex ("Largo...largo..largo...Fortissimo! Fortissimo! Crescendo! Crescendo!"), but I have to say that doing anything else would leave me at something of a loss.
Any ideas?
The problem with me going to Italy would be the language barrier - I've got enough survival level Greek and Spanish to at least get by in those countries, but my command of Italian is limited to names of pasta and musical notation. In some ways this isn't so bad - I can indulge in the two main national Italian pastimes, namely ordering in restaurants ("Linguini, presto!"), and having sex ("Largo...largo..largo...Fortissimo! Fortissimo! Crescendo! Crescendo!"), but I have to say that doing anything else would leave me at something of a loss.
Any ideas?
no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 02:54 am (UTC)Where are you going? If it's Florence, I'll kill you.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 03:22 am (UTC)Sister has been invited on a villa holiday in Tuscany and it got me thinking about this.
Yes!
Date: 2004-08-09 03:57 am (UTC)Florence is on my list, there's a sculpture there called 'The Ecstasy of St. Theresa' by Bernini I must see before I die. The Vatican is just, wow, awe inspiring with the view over Rome.
The Romans kind of suck though, I was actually pushed out of the way by a monk on the underground system.
Just one (more) cornetto
Date: 2004-08-09 02:58 am (UTC)I think you'd have more chance of pulling una bella donna if she couldn't understand a word you were saying. I'm sure you that if you tried your 'scopata adesso' line the results would be more smorzando than bravura...
Re: Just one (more) cornetto
Date: 2004-08-09 03:21 am (UTC)It's got to be better than my usual efforts, anyway.
Re: Just one (more) cornetto
Date: 2004-08-09 03:32 am (UTC)Re: Just one (more) cornetto
Date: 2004-08-09 03:33 am (UTC)RIP = relic in perpetuity
Date: 2004-08-09 03:38 am (UTC)Re: RIP = relic in perpetuity
Date: 2004-08-09 03:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 03:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 03:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 03:03 am (UTC)Aurally, a lot of it's very similar to Spanish/French.
eg: Que/Che - french/italian (possibly Spanish too - I can piece spanish together a bit from french/italian/latin, rather than knowing it independently) for 'What' - very very similar to the ear, despite being spelt differently.
Spelling is consistent and phonetic, so using a phrase book isn't difficult (the little phrasebook that Collins' publishes, with a tape, is very good - does include right up to basic business/romance Italian, rather than just 'where is the beach?' ;)
It's also just damn intuitive -
Quanta costa? - How much is it?
Buongiorno - Good day
Buona sera - Good evening
Buona notte - Good night
Arrivederci - Goodbye
Grazias - Thankyou
Per favore - Please
Comme sta? - How are you?
Sta Bene - I'm good/I'm fine.
Ciao! - Hi/Bye
(quite possibly mis-spelt, I learnt most of this about 7 years ago...)
The one thing that's a pain if you're used to speaking French is learning *not* to roll your R's.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 03:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 03:25 am (UTC)No, I am not always late. It's the totality of the Italian I remember. I just say "si" a lot.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 04:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 04:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 04:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 04:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 04:22 am (UTC)Thanks anyway though.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 04:24 am (UTC)And *you're* supposed to be a grown up? What does that make me? Dead?
Lonely Planet Phrasebook
Date: 2004-08-09 09:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 11:17 am (UTC)Oh. Wait.
(Can I say "I told you so" when you get back?
no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 01:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 02:03 pm (UTC)You're a bright lad. Italian's just Latin with less variable sentence structure. Should I tell you that it has to be easy for foreigners to speak it?
no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 02:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 02:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-14 06:47 am (UTC)