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Ciao from an airport hotel

October 22, 2013 by Daniel

It’s grey and windy outside my airport hotel window, which incidentally overlooks a carpark and is alongside a motorway (freeway, interstate?)

My flight’s not until tomorrow morning, and the restaurant doesn’t open for another hour.

So time for a quick post on how to learn Italian with music!

If you don’t listen to Italian pop (I don’t, normally), well you might be surprised at how easy it can be to understand the words.

There’s a strong tradition in Italy of singer-songwriters who produce “ballads”, which tell a story. The words seem to be a lot more important than in western pop music.

Anyway, this is what we’re going to do.

I post a song which you can listen to, plus links to the lyrics.

You then listen to the song, read the words, and do your “homework”, which will be to leave a comment saying what you think it’s all about. (Read other people’s comments too, that way we’ll have a sort of collaborative effort at figuring it out. It’ll be fun!)

When you start to know who’s who in Italian pop, perhaps you’ll get into the habit of listening more, which will really pay off for you. Listening to music is motivating, and will really help you learn new words and improve your pronunciation and listening skills.

OK, so today’s song is “Il testamento di Tito” by Fabrizio De Andrè.

Fabrizio De Andrè

Fabrizio De Andrè

Click this link to see it on Youtube.

You’ll find the lyrics here.

Read the words as you listen. Don’t worry about all the stuff you don’t get the first time around. Just aim to get the general meaning if you can.

Then maybe take the time to read through the text again, carefully. Use a dictionary if you must, though it makes the whole process more laborious and time-consuming.

Much more fun to learn a verse or two to sing in the shower or impress your friends and family with.

OK, that’s it for now. The restaurant’s open.

But don’t forget, your homework is to leave a comment (fill in the box at the bottom of this post) and tell me what you think this song’s about.

And also, whether you like this way of learning!

Filed Under: Articles, Learn Italian with the Online Italian Club

Comments

  1. John Thomson says

    October 23, 2013 at 2:59 pm

    Scusami Daniel, sembra che io sia il primo a commentare di nuovo.
    Bravo questa e una buona idea
    Ho gia sentito parlare di questa tecnica. infatti ho gia comminciato a cantare !
    Sfortunatamente c’e solo un piccolo problemina.
    Mia moglie mi ha detto che lei se ne andra da casa, con il nostro cane, se io non smetto di fare quel rumore sanguinoso !

    John

    • Daniel says

      October 24, 2013 at 7:17 am

      Il tuo italiano è sempre meglio, John.
      Forse ora devi smettere a studiare per fare, invece le lezione di canto?

  2. claude zimmermann says

    October 24, 2013 at 5:45 am

    Ciao Daniel,
    Mi piace imparare l’italiano e cantare

    • Daniel says

      October 24, 2013 at 7:16 am

      Ti piace la canzone che ho scelto, Claude?

  3. John Thomson says

    October 24, 2013 at 10:42 am

    Daniel,

    Ti ringrazio per il tuoi complimenti

    Dopo due giorni usando la tua nuova tecnica
    posso cantare l’inno nazionale italiano come la maggiore parte degli uomoni italiani

    Ascolta

    “fratelli d’italia, l’italia s’è desta”
    ” di dah di di , di dah di dah”
    etcetera

    spero che tu sia d’accordo con me

    adesso imparero “la boheme”

    Ciao

    John

  4. Monica Gehrig says

    October 25, 2013 at 2:06 am

    Ciao, non capisco tutto, ma penso è una canzone filosofica. È da un uomo che è molto frustrato con il mondo. Le regole riceviamo nella vita bella non sono facile a seguire. La vita non è tutto bella e un grande parte del tempo è molto difficile e brutto. Come viviamo allora? Facciamo tutto il possibile per ottenere.

    Mi piace questo esercizio! Grazie Daniel!

    Monica

    • Daniel says

      October 25, 2013 at 8:10 am

      Grazie per i tuoi pensieri, Monica!
      Hai pensato che il messagio della canzone potrebbe essere anti-cristiano?

      • Monica Gehrig says

        October 26, 2013 at 3:55 am

        Forse. Sembra che la canzone mette i dieci comandamenti- che sono nero e bianco- accanto a una vita di un uomo e fa un confronto. Indica che, sebbene i dieci comandamenti bel suona non sono nero e bianco nella vita.

        • Daniel says

          October 26, 2013 at 7:49 am

          Allora siete tutti due d’accordo, tu e John.

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