Dianne Hales's Blog (8)

un nuovo indirizzo

I am now posting my blog on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at www.becomingitalianwordbyword.typepad.com Please come visit! Dianne Hales Author LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language dianne@diannehales.com www.labellalingua.org www.becomingitalian.com Blog: www.becomingitalianwordbyword.typepad.com Continue

Added by Dianne Hales on May 2, 2009 at 5:57pm — No Comments

innamorato

innamorato enamoured As I’ve studied Italian over the last quarter-century, I’ve come to think of the language as a briccone—a lovable rascal, a clever, twinkle-eyed scamp that you can’t resist even when it plays you for the fool. Croce e delizia,… Continue

Added by Dianne Hales on April 24, 2009 at 9:03pm — No Comments

la lingua italiana

la lingua italiana the Italian language As a country Italy makes no sense. Think of it: a spiny peninsula stretching from snowcapped Alps to sun baked islands, spattered with stone villages bound by ancient allegiances, a mosaic of dialects, cuisines, and c… Continue

Added by Dianne Hales on April 22, 2009 at 4:22pm — 2 Comments

domani mattina

domani mattina tomorrow morning When I arrived in Italy for the first time in 1983 I knew only one Italian sentence: “Mi dispiace, ma non parlo italiano” (“I’m sorry, but I don’t speak Italian”). In my first minutes in the country, I repeated it half a dozen… Continue

Added by Dianne Hales on April 21, 2009 at 7:37am — 2 Comments

piacere

>piacere noun: pleasure, favor verb: to please, to be pleasing “Piacere,” Italians say when introduced, and the very sound evokes a tantalizing sense of delights to come. As he pronounces each syllable, an Italian man may clasp a woman’s fingers and pull them c… Continue

Added by Dianne Hales on February 26, 2009 at 7:00am — No Comments

Carnevale

Thanks to my Catholic childhood, I could easily follow the Sunday mass in the tiny stone church of the Borgo Monte Vibiano Vecchio in Umbria. Then the white-haired priest began to preach in ever more impassioned tones about the evils of “i peccati del carne,” which I transla… Continue

Added by Dianne Hales on February 23, 2009 at 8:46pm — No Comments

ciao (hello, goodbye)

The cheery Italian ciao, which does double duty as “hi” and “bye,” dates back to the glittering heyday of the Venetian Republic. I learned its history on my first visit to La Serenissima (Italians’ nickname for the watery city) from a waiter at the café where I would sip espresso… Continue

Added by Dianne Hales on February 20, 2009 at 7:48am — 1 Comment

Becoming Italian Word by Word

Some people are born Italian. Others become Italian through a passion for Italy's food, music, art, history or way of living. Unlike these Italianophiles, I chose to inhabit the language, as bawdy as it is beautiful, as intriguing and elusive as Mona Lisa's smile… Continue

Added by Dianne Hales on February 20, 2009 at 7:28am — 8 Comments

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