Three months ago, I was thrown into the Italian world when I joined the lab there. The experience has been awesome, stupendous. I have been blown away by the beauty of Italy. Let me tell you that there is a lot of difference between the photos that you see on the internet and the actual places. The pics are, I think, one dimensional.
However, I am not going to talk about something that a lot of people have already talked about and a lot better than what I possibly can. I am about to write about the not so great aspect of coming to Italy for people who don't know Italian. As you already know, I am an Indian and so have absolutely no idea of Italian language. It was difficult for me and even though I did start practicing the language like 2 months before arriving, I felt it was not enough. There were certain things that I wished I knew before coming that would have really helped me a lot. However, I believe these things might help you. What I am going to write down are certain sentences/phrases that will help you in the initial period here. This is in no way a substitution for learning Italian and certainly no excuse for not learning the language. I strongly urge you to learn it once you are here. I will also provide you a list of places in Genoa where you can learn Italian. Ok, so let's start. I will start with some distinctions between English and Italian and some suggestions which probably help understand what to use and importantly what not to!! 1. What is important to know is that even though English does not have distinction between formal and informal words, it is widely prevalent in Italian (and other languages). So, it might sound rude if you talk in an informal way to a stranger elder to you. (although i have never found Italians to be angry if you use the language improperly but instead they offer you help). 2. The construction of sentences is very similar to English and a lot of the words are actually very similar to English. Probably - probabilmente. type - tipo. case - caso. Of course, the pronunciation is different. 3. While learning Italian, don't think you are learning English and translate it directly (although it's unavoidable) but try and understand that the way some things are said (and thought) in Italian are not the same as in English. For example, although the literal translation of "what is your name?" in Italian would be "qual è il tuo nome", this is not the way it is said in Italian. Instead, "come ti chiami" is used which literaly translated to English would be "How do you call yourself?. So the point is that don't memorize that what's your name in Italian is "come ti chiami" but instead realize that things are thought differently in Italian and acknowledge it. 4. You will find that although in English, you would always need a pronoun, it's optional and almost never used in spoken Italian. The reason for that is that unlike in English, the verb in Italian changes form according to the person it refers to. For example, the verb in the infinite form for 'ear' is mangiare, this takes the form 'mangio' if you are talking about yourself, 'mangi' if you are talking to second person and 'mangia' if you are talking about a third person. so just saying the word 'mangio' is equivalent to saying 'io mangio' - I eat. 5. Gender- Unlike English, Italian (and many other languages) assigns gender to inanimate objects as well. This might sound a bit odd to native English speakers, but this is important in Italian and may be a bit difficult to comprehend. Although, you may not worry about the gender if all you want is a brief knowledge of Italian (people will understand if you do a mistake with gender but still may be able to understand more or less what you mean) . For example, a ticket has a masculine gender - 'biglietto'. Generally speaking, words that have 'o' in the ending are masculine and ending in 'a' are feminine. Correspondingly, the plurals of these words end in 'i' and 'e'. Just be careful of one more thing, some words that have 'e' in the ending may also be singular masculine or singular feminine. So, be cautious while applying the reverse logic of 'e' to plural feminine. 6. Articles- Although, the articles are not so often used (or skipped sometimes) in English, they are very important in Italian. What does complicate the case in Italian is that the article changes according to the gender and the number. The basic articles being - un (a), il (the) for masculine and una (a) and la (the) for feminine words. Since, this is not supposed to be an extensive review of Italian, I will (and have skipped) skip a lot of complications. There are lot of variations in the articles as well. 7. The distinction between declarative sentences and interrogative sentences is not very clear in Italian as it is in English (also because the pronoun is usually skipped). What I mean by that is that in English the sentences : I can have an apple (declarative) and Can I have an apple? (interrogative) are clearly distinguishable because of the order of pronoun. However, in Italian the same sentences would be: Posso avere una mela (I can have an apple). Posso avere una mela? (Can I have an apple?). Basic words/phrases (of course every learn Italian video or book or course has it). What I will provide is explanation of when to use them: 1. Ciao - Hello and Bye. Use with care. This is an informal way of saying Hi. So, probably won't look nice if talking to an older officer or a complete stranger a lot elder to you (or alternatively if you use a very formal way to talk to a young kid, it might sound very funny to the Italians). 2. Buon giorno - Good day. This is a very useful word. This is sort of the safe word that I have been using for some time. It can be used in place of Ciao to almost anyone - young and adult. This is also the word people usually use when one enters a shop. It is polite to great people and you will find it prevalent everywhere. 3. Buona sera - Good Evening. The substitute for Buon giorno. in the evening. Same usage as buon giorno. 4. Posso avere un biglietto?: Can I have a ticket? I am not sure if this applies to other places in Italy, but in Genova, the tickets for local buses (and train within city limits) are purchased from newspaper/tobacco shops. If you would like to travel somewhere via a bus or other means you can use this statement for asking for a ticket. 5. Grazie/Grazie mille: Thanks./ thanks a ton!! A possible scenario: Buying a ticket You: Buon giorno/ Buona sera Vendor: Buon giorno/ Buona sera (Alternatively: Dimmi - tell me) You - Posso avere un biglietto di A.M.T. , ordinario? (Alternatively : Posso comprare(buy) un biglietto? in genova AMT is the main agency for tickets and ordinario is the ticket type). Vendor - Si (gives the ticket) Vendor - uno e sessanta (1.60 euros) You - (giving money) Grazie Vendor : Grazie, Ciao. (Alt Arrivederci - Good bye!) You : Ciao/ Arrivederci In a supermarket while billing: Supermarket employee: hai tessera? (do you have a card? - like a loyalty card) You: No. Supermarket employee:: sacchetto? (a plastic carry bag?) You : No. Misc. : Dov'è il bagno? Where is the bathroom/ toilet? Permesso: Asking for permission to go through. This is used when there is someone blocking the way and you would like to go through. scusa/scusi : Sorry (formal/informal). use Scusi in formal situations. these words are used in cases where you are in a hurry and you accidentally hit someone. Vorrei: I would like to. For example : vorrei una pizza (I would like a pizza) . non parlo Italiano: I don't speak Italian. okay: ok va bene: Alright. Quant'e' : How much? ( after purchasing a meal at a restaurant ) Some of the resources that I find useful: 1. Duolingo : a very nice app for learning different languages. 2. italian-verbs.com: a list of a lot of Italian verbs and different forms according to person and tense. Some of the useful videos : 1. This is one of the most useful resource I found, it gives a good ideal of Italian: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKICLEvD2DfpUtjb4nc0Vr9QfdYn_Ursj I will keep adding more in the due course!!
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About meI am a neuroscientist working on social cognition. (I was told not to be fancy.) Archives
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