Chapter One
I Say It How? Speaking Italian
In This Chapter
* Taking note of the Italian you know
* Appreciating cognates
* Looking at popular expressions
* Starting out with basic Italian pronunciation
You probably know that Italian is a Romance language, which means that Italian, just like Spanish, French, and Portuguese, is a child of Latin. Latin was once the official language in a large part of Europe because the Romans ruled so much of the area. Before the Romans came, people spoke their own languages, and the mixture of these original tongues with Latin produced many of the languages and dialects that are still in use today.
If you know one of the Romance languages, you can often understand bits of another. Just as members of the same family can look similar but have totally different characters, so can languages. You find the same contradi
Chapter One
I Say It How? Speaking Italian
In This Chapter
* Taking note of the Italian you know
* Appreciating cognates
* Looking at popular expressions
* Starting out with basic Italian pronunciation
You probably know that Italian is a Romance language, which means that Italian, just like Spanish, French, and Portuguese, is a child of Latin. Latin was once the official language in a large part of Europe because the Romans ruled so much of the area. Before the Romans came, people spoke their own languages, and the mixture of these original tongues with Latin produced many of the languages and dialects that are still in use today.
If you know one of the Romance languages, you can often understand bits of another. Just as members of the same family can look similar but have totally different characters, so can languages. You find the same contradictions in the dialects (regional or local language differences) in Italy and in other countries.
If you visit Italy, you'll hear various accents and dialects as you travel the country. Despite the number of dialects, you may be surprised to discover that everybody understands your Italian and you understand theirs. (Italians don't normally speak in their dialect with foreigners.)
We don't want to go into detail about these regional and local differences here. Language is a means of communicating with people, and to speak to people from other countries, you have to find a way to understand them and make your meaning clear. Because using gestures to make yourself understood can be tiring, this chapter presents some helpful expressions to make life easier, at least as far as Italian is concerned.
You Already Know Some Italian
Italians love to talk. Not only do they enjoy communication, but they also love their language, because it's very melodious. Opera is famous for a reason!
Although Italians are very proud of their language, they've allowed a flood of English words to enter it. They talk, for example, about gadgets, jogging, and shock; they often use the word okay; and since computers marked their lives, they say cliccare sul mouse (kleek-kah-reh sool mouse) (to click the mouse). And Italians are like most others when they get TV remotes in their hands: Oftentimes, you find them lo zapping (loh zap-ping) (switching channels).
On the flip side, many Italian words are known in English-speaking countries, such as these famous food and beverage words:
pizza (peet-tsah)
pasta (pah-stah)
spaghetti (spah-geht-tee)
tortellini (tohr-tehl-lee-nee)
mozzarella (moht-tsah-rehl-lah)
espresso (eh-sprehs-soh)
cappuccino (kahp-poo-chee-noh)
tiramisù (tee-rah-mee-soo)
You may have heard words from areas other than the kitchen, such as the following:
amore (ah-moh-reh): That word love that so many Italian songs tell about.
Avanti! (ah-vahn-tee): You use this word when you want to say "Come in!" or "Come on!" or "Get a move on!"
bambino (bahm-bee-noh): A male baby or child. The female equivalent is bambina (bahm-bee-nah).
Bravo! (brah-voh): You can say this word of congratulations properly to only one man. To a woman, you must say Brava! (brah-vah). To a group of people, you say Bravi! (brah-vee) - unless the group consists only of women, in which case you say Brave! (brah-veh).
Ciao! (chah-oh): Means "hello" and "goodbye."
Scusi. (skoo-zee): This word stands for "excuse me" and "sorry." You address it to people you don't know and to those with whom you speak formally. You say Scusa (skoo-zah) to people you know and to children.
Words that sound familiar
In addition to the words that have crept into the language directly, Italian and English have many cognates. A cognate is a word in one language that has the same origin as a word in another and may sound similar. You can get an immediate picture of what cognates are from the following examples:
aeroporto (ah-eh-roh-pohr-toh) (airport)
attenzione (aht-tehn-tsee-oh-neh) (attention)
comunicazione (koh-moo-nee-kah-tsee-oh-neh) {communication)
importante (eem-pohr-tahn-teh) (important)
incredibile (een-kreh-dee-bee-leh) (incredible, unbelievable)
You probably understand much more Italian than you think you do, because Italian and English are full of cognates. To demonstrate, read this little story with some Italian words in it. They're so similar to the English words that you can easily understand them.
It seems impossibile (eem-pohs-see-bee-leh) to him that he is now at the aeroporto (ah-eh-rohpohr-toh) in Rome. He always wanted to come to this città (cheet-tah). When he goes out on the street, he calls a taxi (tah-ksee). He opens his bag to see if he has the medicina (meh-dee-chee-nah) that the dottore (doht-toh-reh) gave him. Going through this terribile traffico (tehr-ree-bee-leh trahf-fee-koh), he passes a cattedrale (kaht-the-drah-leh), some sculture (skool-too-reh), and many palazzi (pah-laht-tsee). All this is very impressionante (eem-prehs-see-oh-nahn-teh). He knows that this is going to be a fantastico (fahn-tah-stee-koh) journey.
Popular expressions
Every language has expressions that are used so often that they become routine. For example, when you give someone something and he says, "Thank you," you automatically reply, "You're welcome." When you familiarize yourself with these expressions and how to use them, you're on your way to becoming a confident speaker.
Table 1-1 shows you some of the most popular expressions in Italian.
CULTURAL WISDOM
Italians use the expression Permesso? every time they cross a threshold when entering a house or when passing through a crowd. A more familiar equivalent for "May I?" is Posso? (pohs-soh) (May I?; Can I?).
Mouthing Off: Basic Pronunciation
Italian provides many opportunities for your tongue to do acrobatics. In this section, we give you some basic pronunciation hints that are important both for surfing through this book and for good articulation when you speak Italian. (If you tried to read and pronounce Italian words in the English manner, Italian speakers would have problems understanding you, just as you may have trouble understanding Italians when they speak English.)
We'll start with the tough ones: vowels. Vowels are difficult because you have to cope with new sounds. Well, the sounds aren't that new, but the connection between the written letter and the actual pronunciation isn't the same as it is in English.
Italian has five written vowels: a, e, i, o, and u. The following sections tell you how to pronounce them.
The vowel "a"
When foreigners try to learn English, they are shocked to discover how many different sounds the English a can have. In Italian, the letter a has just one pronunciation: Think of the a sound in the English word far. The Italian a sounds just like that.
To prevent you from falling back to the other a sounds found in English, we transcribe the Italian a as (ah), as in casa (kah-zah) (house).
The vowel "e"
Forget all you know about the English e. Think of the sound in the French word gourmet (you don't pronounce the t). This sound comes very close to the Italian e. In this book, we transcribe the e sound as (eh), as in peso (peh-zoh) (weight).
The vowel "i"
The Italian i is pronounced (ee), as in the English word see. Here are a couple of examples:
vita (vee-tah) (life)
cinema (chee-neh-mah) (cinema)
The vowel "o"
The Italian o is pronounced as in the English (from the Italian) piano. Therefore, we list the pronunciation as (oh), as in dolce (dohl-cheh) (sweet).
The vowel "u"
The Italian u sounds like the English (oo), as in zoo. Therefore, we use (oo) to transcribe the Italian u. Here are some sample words:
tu (too) (you)
luna (loo-nah) (moon)
Consonants that sound the same in Italian as they do in English
Italian has the same consonants that English does. You pronounce most of them the same way, but a few have noteworthy differences. We start with the easy ones and look at those that are pronounced identically:
b: As in bene (beh-neh) (well)
d: As in dare (dah-reh) (to give)
f: As in fare (fah-reh) (to make)
l: As in ladro (lah-droh) (thief)
m: As in madre (mah-dreh) (mother)
n: As in no (noh) (no)
p: As in padre (pah-dreh) (father)
t: As in treno (treh-noh) (train)
v: As in vino (vee-noh) (wine)
Some consonants don't really exist in Italian, except in some foreign words that have entered the language:
j: Exists mostly in foreign words such as jogging, junior, and jeans.
k: The same as j; you find it in words like okay, ketchup, and killer.
w: You find it in some foreign words (for the most part English words), like whiskey, windsurf, and wafer.
x: As with j, k, and w, x doesn't really exist in Italian, with the difference that "x words" derive mostly from Greek. Examples include xenofobia (kseh-noh-foh-bee-ah) (xenophobia) and xilofono (ksee-loh-foh-noh) (xylophone).
y: The letter y normally appears only in foreign words, like yogurt, hobby, and yacht.
The consonant "c"
The Italian c has various sounds depending on which letter follows it:
When c is followed by a, o, u, or any consonant, you pronounce it as in the English word cat. We transcribe this pronunciation as (k). Examples include colpa (kohl-pah) (guilt) and cuore (koo-oh-reh) (heart).
When c is followed by e or i, you pronounce it as you do the first and last sound in the English word church; therefore, we give you the pronunciation (ch). Examples include cibo (chee-boh) (food) and certo (chehr-toh) (certainly).
To obtain the "ch" sound before a, o, or u, you have to insert an i. This i, however, serves only to create the "ch" sound; you don't pronounce it. Examples include ciao (chah-oh) (hello; goodbye), cioccolata (chok-koh-lah-tah) (chocolate), and ciuccio (choo-choh) (baby's pacifier).
To obtain the "k" sound before e and i, you must put an h between the c and the e or i. Examples include che (keh) (what), chiesa (kee-eh-zah) (church), and chiave (kee-ah-veh) (key).
This pronunciation scheme sounds terribly complicated, but it really isn't. Here we present it in another way:
casa colpa cuore che chiave = k cena cibo certo cioccolata ciao = ch
The consonant "g"
The Italian g behaves the same as the c. Therefore, we present it the same way:
When g is followed by a, o, u, or any consonant, you pronounce it as you pronounce the g in the English word good. We transcribe this pronunciation as (g). Examples include gamba (gahmbah) (leg), gomma (gohm-mah) (rubber), and guerra (goo-eh-rah) (war).
When g is followed by e or i, you pronounce it as you do the first sound in the English word job; we write the pronunciation as (j). Examples include gentile (jehn-tee-leh) (kind) and giorno (johr-noh) (day).
To obtain the "g" sound before e or i, you must put an h between the letter g and the e or i. Examples include spaghetti (spah-geht-tee) (spaghetti), ghiaccio (gee-ahch-choh) (ice), and ghirlanda (geer-lahn-dah) (wreath).
Continues...
Excerpted from Italian Phrases For Dummies Excerpted by permission.
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