Learn Italian

learn_italiano @ 2008-07-04T11:36:00

2008-07-04T16:36:10Z

How are the group of pronouns like esso, essa, etc., different than lo/la and that group? I rarely see esso...is it archaic or something? Thanks.

learn_italiano @ 2008-06-18T13:23:00

2008-06-18T18:23:46Z

In my Italian classes we never got around to il gerundio.

Most of my text books will translate, say, 'lavoro' as 'I work, I am working'. But I know that 'sto lavorando' also means I am working. To me, given that translation, sto lavorando is no more of a progressive action than lavoro, although part of me thinks it should be. So either they just translated 'lavoro' the way they did to make it easier for beginners to understand, or sto lavorando is more emphatic for a progressive action. So where would you use il gerundio? Thanks.

learn_italiano @ 2008-05-25T13:16:00

2008-05-25T18:16:33Z

Saw this in another community, where someone wanted to use 'il mio amico' but a commenter said that the proper would be 'amico mio'.

1) I've never seen the lack of article used in this case, but I understand when you omit it with 'mio fratello', or familial stuff. Just how I've been taught in my three semesters.

2) I've also never seen the word order reversed, using 'amico mio'. I've always seen [il] 'mio amico' or 'la tua amica', and so on.

Are there reasons, or is it just variation?

(said commenter may see this here. I just didn't want to hijack that other thread too much).

Thanks.

learn_italiano @ 2008-05-01T12:49:00

2008-05-01T16:49:24Z

Hello all
this is my first post to this page...

Anyway, I'm living in America now, but just applied to the Scuola Leonardo da Vinci" in Rome, Italy.

Have any of you ever heard of it, or know someone who has attended? They are pretty well known I think.

Also, can anyone give me advice on what type of accomodations they would choose i.e. either live with a host family or share an apartment with other students?

All information is GREATLY appreciated.

Grazie Mile
Ciao ciao

A bit of translation help

2008-04-23T01:25:21Z

My brother and his friend are film students and they're shooting a small movie for class. The villain or mobster or whatever speaks Italian and he has a translator. They wrote the lines for Lorenzo in their script, the English speaker, and asked me to translate the lines of Rosario, the Italian speaker. How I attempted to translate was not a strict, literal translation, but rather that Rosario would say something and Lorenzo would make it sound more American or something.

I doubt anyone in their class would notice, but for my sake, did I translate Rosario very well? There are some breaks because there were other people seeing. Thanks for any help.

Rosario: Allora, sì diceva che voi due ancora eravate nella città.
Lorenzo: So, it was rumored you two were still in down.
Rosario: Vi sia cosa grande venire attualmente in casa mia e affrontarMi. Non ho mai pensato che io vederei le vostre facce di nuovo.
Lorenzo: It must be something big for you to actually come into my place and face me. I never thought I’d see your two faces again.
--
Rosario: Pietro? Che cosa su lui?
Lorenzo: Clutch? [although Rosario says 'Peter'] What about him?
--
Rosario: Non c'era un ordine fatto.
Lorenzo: There was no order passed.
Rosario: Non so che dite.
Lorenzo: He doesn't know what you're talking about. We had no part in that.

Assimil courses

2008-04-15T14:48:27Z

Hey,

Has anyone tried the Assimil language courses? Specifically the Italian for Speakers of Spanish and Portuguese for Speakers of Spanish courses? I'm interested in buying them but I wanted some reviews first. Any experience with them would be greatly appreciated.

Also, if you have any recommendations for other courses, that'd be great. I'm specifically looking for Italian and Portuguese geared toward speakers of Spanish.

Thanks!!

x-posted to foreignlanguages and linguaphiles

skinnydip!

2008-04-15T02:24:19Z

C'é una parola che significa "skinny dip" in italiano? O, forse, prende il solo nel nudo? Grazie

learn_italiano @ 2008-04-11T22:03:00

2008-04-12T03:03:51Z

Any tips for differentiating conoscere and sapere?

Thanks.

Aiuto!!!

2008-04-09T00:00:50Z

A girl in my class gave me a loan of a book called "Ascensore per lo spazio". It's a reader book for 9 year old kids but some of the wording has thrown me a bit:

"un nido de aquila" - The closest I got was something about a creche

"sono stato allevato nella seconda nidiata ... da Anna e Leo, nati nella nidiata precedente." - My dictionary said taht nidiata was a brood, but I don't understand in this context.

TIA
emma x

in search of...

2008-04-02T01:03:42Z

Ciao tutto!
I'm trying to learn Italian (obviously hehe) I know enough to get around during visits, basic stuff. IE: ciao! mi chiami alison, come ti chiami? Ho 21 anni, studetessa a universita della arti in nyc. Allora, dove' lo bango? lol
But I would like to actually have a conversation. Soooo that leads me to ask...
If anyone here speaks Italian would you like to help me? I'm trying to teach myself and it's not going so well... heh

thanks!
-Ali

Como se dice...?

2008-03-09T20:40:27Z

I'm working on an italian project, and need to be correct, or I'll lose molti punti.

Sono stato (or would I use Ero?) troppo malato uscire con Luigi! Ma, va bene perche so lui sceglierebbe Io. Le altre ragazza non vale niente! Io, be... sono perfetto!

Perche Luigi dica "Prossimo!" per le altre ragazze, lui e da solo. Povero Luigi!

And what I was trying to say:

I was too sick to go on a date with Luigi! But, that's okay because I know he would have picked me. The other girls are worthless! I, well... I'm perfect!

Because Luigi said "Next!" for the other girls, he's alone. Poor Luigi!

(Our group was doing a spoof on the MTV show, "Next!")

Grazie mille,

Ragu.

I need help

2008-03-06T18:27:45Z

My friend and myself are planning trip to Italy for one week. I reserved hostel in Italy already, but the problem is we are going to be late ( or should I say early morning) and i am afraid that they will give our room away. Another problem neither of us speak Italian. Can anyone, please, help me to translate short email to owner??? Please., if someone can help me...

"Dear...

My name is... I reserved a room for 2 nights from .... to... Our reservation number is ...We are going to be at Your hostel very late. Please, can You hold that room for us.

Thank You in Advance"

learn_italiano @ 2008-02-26T19:58:00

2008-02-27T01:59:35Z

Sometimes my teacher will say something that sounds like 'se o dico' or 'se ho dico'. I'm at the point in my understanding of the language that I can kind of get the gist of what things mean. Usually she says this when putting an example and then doing a transformation. I think it means something like 'Let's say I have...' but I'm not really sure. Any ideas?

learn_italiano @ 2008-02-21T23:32:00

2008-02-22T05:32:09Z

I'm a 3rd semester Italian student. I was thinking about getting the Divine Comedy in Italian and trying to rough it with a dictionary. But, is the grammar (and some word forms) going to be much too archaic for me to understand? Or are translations in a more modern dialect? Thanks.

learn_italiano @ 2008-02-16T01:24:00

2008-02-16T07:35:40Z

Ciao ragazzi,

Yesterday I asked a few questions and mentioned that I am in third semester Italian (or technically Intermediate I, after Beginning I and II). I don't know how standard this is, but in the courses for Italian, it begins with Italian I learning the basics and exercises, but the teacher did not speak in Italian frequently. In Italian II, the teacher always spoke in Italian in general conversation, signalling the start of exercises, and so on, but if a student asked a question or new grammar was being taught, it was in English.

I'm now in the third semester and everything is completely in Italian (well, actually it would be better to say that it is very rare something is said in English). I know that the idea of this is basically an immersion experience and nobody is fluent, and we're all supposed to learn by being forced to conduct nearly everything possible in Italian. I want to be better than this, though. I am great with reading comprehension (save for some vocab) and I perform well on written tests. However, I am slow with formulating sentences to say in Italian and my comprehension lags behind what the teacher is saying by a sentence or so (parla velocemente). I want to boost this. Are there any tips to get me going better? Listen to Italian music? Watch Italian movies 24/7? Anything helps..thanks.

Past Participles

2008-02-15T02:40:45Z

I've taking third semester of Italian. Past participles have become so connected with the passato prossimo that sometimes I see them without essere or avere and I don't know what to do with them! For example, a headline:

'ucciso capo hezbollah, israele sotto accusa'.

Is ucciso being used as just an adjective here? So it would just read 'killed Hezbollah leader, Israel under accusation'? Or am I missing something?

Also, in class if someone makes a mistake that would I suppose seem common, my teacher says something that sounds like 'maggari', or something. Any clues what this is? Thanks!

Hey, I've got two words that I'm having troubles with...

2008-02-12T23:33:04Z

... and I'm hoping you might be able to help me.

Studio l'italiano all'università e ci sono due parole che non capisco in qualcuni contesti.

I) 'aspetto'
Now I know that as a verb it'd mean 'I expect' and as a noun 'Looks'.
Then how would you translate "Aspetto dove vai?" I'd translate it as "Where do you think you're going?" but I failed my Italian exam so never mind me.

II) 'forza'
The dictionary says it means 'Force', 'Strength'.
Now why does my teacher yell 'forza!' every time we don't want to answer a question?

Aiutarmi?

I'll offer eternal love as this is driving me up the walls!

Требуется репетитор по итальянскому для девочки 12 лет.

2008-02-09T21:16:01Z

Требуется репетитор по итальянскому для девочки 12 лет. Совсем начальный уровень . Надо просто помогать делать домашнее задание. Учебник имеется, девочка хорошая. Цена договорная. 5 минут пешком от м. Тимирязевская. Отзовитесь, кто может =)

PARLIAMO ITALIANO

2008-01-31T17:37:13Z

http://singabus.livejournal.com/5213.html

juli_griner ha scritto:
29 Dicembre, 2007 21:20 (ora locale)
-Andrea, aggiungi da qualche parte una riga, per far capire
che dai lezioni di italiano! Inoltre ti consiglio di mettere
l'annuncio nel giornale della comunità ru_italiano

singabus ha scritto:
30 Dicembre, 2007 19:26 (ora locale)
-Grazie, Giulia! (mi vergognavo..)

http://www.bartelucci.spb.ru
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=15847
http://www.myspace.com/andreabartelucci

learn_italiano @ 2008-01-28T15:41:00

2008-01-28T14:44:06Z

andrea bartelucci

Quanto conosci la lingua italiana?

2008-01-28T12:57:00Z

Ciao a tutti, ho trovato questo sito dove potete testare il vostro livello di conoscenza della lingua italiana!
Spero di essere stata utile =)

Hey there!

2007-12-18T15:50:48Z

My name's Doris and I'm from Vienna. I just found this community and asked myself if anyone could probably help me? Unfortunately I haven't had Italian at school nor some private courses, so my Italian is very, very bad.
A friend of mine is a huge Lucio Battisti fan and he asked me if I could probably translate "Anche per te" for him. I really tried and though I somehow understand what it is about, I'm not able to do so.

I have most problems with the verb forms, because I don't know - for example - if "prepari" is Congiuntivo or Indicativo?! And if it is Congiuntivo - 1st, 2nd or 3rd persona? *help*

Here are the lyrics:
Per te che è ancora notte e già prepari il tuo caffé
che ti vesti senza più guardar lo specchio dietro te
che poi entri in chiesa e preghi piano
e intanto pensi al mondo ormai per te così lontano.
Per te che di mattina torni a casa tua perché
per strada più nessuno ha freddo e cerca più di te
per te che metti i soldi accanto a lui che dorme
e aggiungi ancora un po' d'amore a chi non sa che farne.
Anche per te vorrei morire ed io morir non so
anche per te darei qualcosa che non ho
e così, e così, e così
io resto qui
a darle i miei pensieri,
a darle quel che ieri
avrei affidato al vento cercando di raggiungere chi...
al vento avrebbe detto sì.
Per te che di mattina svegli il tuo bambino e poi
lo vesti e lo accompagni a scuola e al tuo lavoro vai
per te che un errore ti è costato tanto
che tremi nel guardare un uomo e vivi di rimpianto.
Anche per te vorrei morire ed io morir non so
anche per te darei qualcosa che non ho
e così, e così, e così
io resto qui
a darle i miei pensieri,
a darle quel che ieri
avrei affidato al vento cercando di raggiungere chi...
al vento avrebbe detto sì.

learn_italiano @ 2007-12-11T01:41:00

2007-12-11T06:42:07Z

Hi all. I am currently writing a final paper about Sicilia e I Malavoglia for my upper level Italian class at uni. It is going to be around 8-10 pages when done and I was wondering if anyone is going to be around in a couple of hours that would like to do a quick run through of grammar or mistakes in spelling. Nothing too thorough, just a little help. It would be much appreciated as this counts for most of my grade and I'm in way over my head in this class...

Shoot me an email if you can help...I should be done in about 2-3 hours.

aslava at umich dot edu

MILLE GRAZIE :)

xposted

little help

2007-12-10T00:26:39Z

I have a letter to write for my italian class and I've written a first draft and had it marked, but my lecturer is only allowed to underline mistakes and I'm not sure what is wrong with this sentence, please help.

Arrivano tutti 10 minuti o meglio

Thanks in advance!

Edit: Also i need to know how to say: To go snowboarding and to go skiing

learn_italiano @ 2007-12-09T11:13:00

2007-12-09T10:23:15Z

Ciao a tutti!
Bisogno un po' di aiuto con una traduzione dal italiano al inglese.
Il livello della lingua è abbastanza alto. Se qualcuno può aiutarmi con la prima parte, penso che potessi finirlo.
Grazie!

Il problema della natura dell’anima rappresenta una questione centrale nel pensiero di Pietro Pomponazi, e conduce diretamente alla riflessione sull’agire dell’uomo. Come si legge nell’epilogo del De fato, se l'anima dell'uomo è mortale il bene morale va concepito nell'ambito dell'esistenza terrena, se invece l'anima è immortale esso può essere pensato in prospettiva di un'esistenza ultraterrena. Gli studiosi si sono generalmente occupati dell'etica di Pomponazzi senza farne un soggetto di indagine autonoma, ma inserendo alcune considerazioni al riguardo nell'ambito di studi più ampi.