Buondì.
After more than three weeks of waking up multiple times each night to microwave Bug’s three-hourly meals, you’ll understand that my energy levels are low, and that work has piled up to an absurd height. Today I have to start clearing a path through it, before the weekend when the petting zoo is closed, meaning 48 hours of non-stop feeding and shovelling dung.
Apologies, by the way, to anyone who has emailed but not gotten a reply. For instance, Suzanne, who writes often but gets responses much less frequently, sometimes in a monthly batch.
That said, this week she commented on our Ancient Greek ebook (details in the P.S. – Offer ends Sunday!) and had a couple of A.G. courses to recommend to fellow club members – one free and one paid – along with some general chat about learning Italian.
I spied an opportunity to catch two pigeons with one bean, as Italians would say – a marketing pigeon and its time-saving wingman – so am copying and pasting Suzanne’s email in its entirety here below. Pigeon soup tonight!
Were you to want to add your two cents’ worth, or just to agree or disagree with what Suzanne writes, the best way to do that would be to comment on this article (rather than writing to me, as I’ll likely be scrubbing biberons, or sleeping.)
Click this link, scroll down to the end, and fill in the box. Your email is required but won’t be published. Comments may not be visible for several hours, so be patient.
A venerdì.
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Hi, Daniel,
I’ll be buying the book on the history of Greek-Italian. Delightful addition to your very linguistically rich arsenal.
Please advise your list that ancient Greek is not modern Greek and that there is another “ancient” Greek that is biblical Greek.
This ancient Greek language course is free and should be top notch considering Harvard and Brandeis profs:
This is the one I’m taking at present. It may be the price listed because I’m a member. I pay 40.00 every three months and can take as many courses as I like plus get discounts on gifts. The Greek 101 Prof is very good. He’s entertaining but moves rather fast ,so one must review and keep up, the two necessities for progressing in any language. Analogous in some degree to how Russian ballerinas spend a year just turning at the bar.
https://www.thegreatcourses.
There are testimonials if anyone is interested in checking them.
Greek is no worse than Italian for complexity. On the site, Cyberitalian, the headmistress advises: “There are many exceptions to Italian rules because this reminds you there is a rule. And the more exceptions the stronger the rule.”
I sent this to my brother who has made about 1% progress in Italian as he lives in Sardinia and is unaware that the “Italian” he hears is either Sard or Italo-Spanish because he lives in Alghero where many Spanish emigrated years ago. He said it made him nauseous. I’ve tested him and he can’t even conjugate Essere in its entirety.
Recently, he told me that a man from Florence came to visit his neighbors and he couldn’t understand one word the man spoke. I told him that this is because he was speaking standard Italian which is the Florentine dialect, chosen because it was the language of Dante. Yet, he will no doubt gain Italian citizenship as our ancestors were born there. He’s also very wealthy so he hires people to communicate for him in certain situations.
He once asked me why Italians buy so much ricotta. I told. him to ask them at the market. I sent him the question in Italian. He said that wouldn’t work because he wouldn’t be able to understand the reply. So I told him to eat a lot of ricotta and maybe he will find the answer by culinary osmosis.
S.
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P.S. EBook ‘Easy Reader’ -25% OFFER ENDS SUNDAY!
Don’t forget this week’s new ‘easy reader’ ebook, which is 25% off the usual price, but only until Sunday!!
Thousands of Italian words derive from Ancient Greek, lots of them with meanings that are specific to medical, scientific or academic fields, but many others in day-to-day use (in English, too!)
This short but fascinating ebook offers a quick cultural/linguistic catch-up for students who didn’t attend an Italian ‘liceo classico’, as the author presumably did.
Here, important Ancient Greek words are grouped in eight topic areas, for example Chapter 5, which focuses on ‘Relazioni e sentimenti’. You’ll be familiar, of course, with Éros, Filía, Phóbos, and Páthos, but what of Gaméo?
“Il matrimonio era una delle istituzioni su cui si basava la società greca. Di solito le ragazze si sposavano a partire dai dodici anni, mentre i ragazzi qualche anno più tardi. Il verbo gaméo (γαμέω) significa “sposarsi”. Da questo derivano parole come “monogamia” e “poligamia”. Una persona monogama è sposata con un unico (mónos) individuo, mentre una poligama ha molti (polys) mariti o mogli.”
Motivating Italian reading and listening practice, memorable insights into Italian (and English) vocabulary, as well as a rich source of triva with which to quiz family, friends, or colleagues!
Check out the free sample chapter to verify whether this material is suitable for your current level in Italian.
- .pdf e-book (+ audio available free online)
- .mobi (Kindle-compatible) and .epub (other ebook readers) available on request at no extra charge – just add a note to the order form or email us
- 8 chapters to read and listen to
- At the end, some exercises to check what you’ve learnt!
- Suitable for students at intermediate level or above
- Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)
Buy Dagli antichi greci a noi (B1/2) just £7.49 | FREE sample chapter (.pdf) | Catalog
How do I access my ebook?
When your order is ‘completed’ (normally immediately after your payment), a download link will be automatically emailed to you. It’s valid for 7 days and 3 download attempts so please save a copy of the .pdf ebook in a safe place. Other versions of the ebook, where available, cannot be downloaded but will be emailed to people who request them. There’s a space to do that on the order form – where it says Additional information, Order notes (optional). If you forget, or if you have problems downloading the .pdf, don’t worry! Email us at the address on the website and we’ll help. Also, why not check out our FAQ?
P.P.S. 
And here’s the usual reminder to read/listen to Thursday’s FREE bulletin of ‘easy’ Italian news, which subscribers should have received yesterday (if not, check your spam!)
Subscribing is FREE. Subscribers get emailed the bulletins on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
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OnlineItalianClub.com | EasyItalianNews.com | Shop (ebooks) | Shop (online lessons)
Caroline Thomas says
Thank you Suzanne.
This seriously brightened the start to my day, particularly the reminder that we have to work to learn a language much as we’d just love to stick a babel fish in our ear instead!
Suzanne Rini says
Thanks for the upbeat reply, Caroline.
It is hard work, and there are too. many learning sites that promise “fluency.”
For some reason I love the hard work because it also results in progress to some grreater or lesser degree.
April Munday says
Culinary osmosis must be the reason why my Italian has improved after a few days in Verona. I thought it was because I was eavesdropping on other customers in the osterie or having my breakfast in the local bar where no one spoke English or making sure that I at least started every conversation in Italian even if it then became a mixture of English (them) and Italian (me). Culinary osmosis does sound like fun, though.
Suzanne Rini says
Hi, April,
Your report sounds as though you have an “ear” for Italian.
Probably had you stayed longer in Verona, you would have begun to “memorize” the constructions and be
able to drop the English. Not everyone has the ear for a language. It’s a gift and makes the hard work easier.
Buona fortuna e coraggio!
Colleen says
Suzanne’s email is delightful! Thank you,Daniel. I hope little “Bug” is thriving in your household! I quite enjoyed “Roomie”s” sojourn with your family. I hope she is well and happy .
Daniel says
We hope so too, Colleen, but we get little information. Only that she’s started going to pre-school, on the bus each morning with the other little animals.
Suzanne Rini says
Hi Colleen,
So many thanks for your kind comment.
I’m delighted in your delight.
I think we should all pass on ideas that we have discovered for making learning Italian (and Greek) “delightful.”
Michele Baidas says
My people in Italy tell me that in the northern part of the country the language is way different from what’s spoken in the Tucsony region. Being out and about helps with the language in my experience. I bought the latest e-book and am enjoying the comparison of ancient Greek to Italian. Grazie mille!!
Suzanne Rini says
HI, Michele,
True, there are many dialects in Italy.
The best hope is that if you land in a city or village where a dialect is spoken, so will
standard Italian be spoken. Also, it’s very interesting to research the various dialects and their origin.
Some derive in part from Arabic, Greek, and other sources. Unless one is planning on a long visit to a dialect rich province, etc., it would be vain, in my view, to learn a dialect or dialects alongside learning standard Italian. Also, in places where dialect is spoken the people there do not identify it as “Italian.” The unification of Italy has yet to be accepted in terms of expunging dialects.
If you have read any. of Elena Ferrante’s novels, you will see references to the kids learning “Italian” but reverting to Neopolitan when wanting to speak in a more intense way.
Also, see. the wonderful “Swan Company”series and you will see that one of the main characters does not speak “Italian” because he comes from a province where only dialect was spoken. And one of the girls brags that she knows some Neopolitan. (The streaming channel MHZ includes “Swan Company.”)
Wendy Langford says
Thanks to you & Suzanne for your humorous & interesting comments. Another reason grammar rules often don’t seem to work is because the language developed first & then grammarians came along & tried to describe what people had created.
People also misunderstand “the exception proves the rule”. “Proves” there means “tests”, as in proving gold, to see if it really is gold. Some rules aren’t!
I love the idea of culinary osmosis! I’ve just had some cookery lessons in Italy & that worked. It’s the attached emotions that do it. But so does eavesdropping – best excuse ever!
Suzanne Rini says
HI, Wendy,
Your note on the development of grammar is interesting.
In languages, there is stylistics. This refers to how to compose in a language, how ideas etc. are expressed.
This is not so easy to learn.
For instance, there are verbs that take a or di after them in most instances. —Help, I’m drowning.
There is the use of venire even when there is another verb in the sentence.— “What is it and where did it come from?”
There is the indirect plus the direct pronoun in the same sentence. –Woe is me
There are some conjunctions that take the subjunctive. –Is there a parachute I can use to get out of it?
Prepositions occupy their own deep well of misunderstanding. —Or, as Mr. Scaramouchi said: of Washtingon, D.C: “It’s a gold plated hot tub with no drain.”
Why go on?
It’s futile to think that one can escape learning the stylistics and be able to speak proper Italian.
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Cooking Italian may be a way of being Italian.
Have you tried making the Italian bread, ciabatta? The word means slipper because when it goes through its preparation cycle, it spread horizontally and looks like a slipper. This bread is consummately Italian, crusty and chewy, just like most Italians.
Here is a link to a ciabatta recipe that requires no kneading. In fact it only mainly involves yeast, flour water and time.
If you make it, you can say,
Ne ho fin sopra i capelli (or, Sono stufo) di pane del supermarcato.. Quindi, ho intenzione di fare ciabatta italiana.
And here is one ciabatta recipe that I know works:
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/256997/chef-johns-no-knead-ciabatta/
Avanti! and Yummy.
Lynne Ferris says
Hi Daniel I don’t usually miss EIN and your articles, but this week I did. A little spare time today enabled me to read and listen to EIN. Then I noticed the greater-than-normal number of comments. You don’t normally create so much reaction so I thought I had better have a look. Relief !!! full of the usual good advice, encouragement and humour despite your lack of sleep. Lovely to hear that Bug is settling in. I am sure it will be a wonderful experience for you all.
Also interesting to read the comments of Suzanne & Michele et al. I have found that grammar and vocabulary come to make sense when in real-life situations, listening, speaking and reading. That little word “ne’ springs to mind. I know it is used in several ways but hearing it in conversation and seeing it in text, slowly sank in how to use it and now I am confident enough to try in my conversations
Daniel says
‘Ne’ is a good example, Lynne, of structure that you can study fruitlessly without it making much sense (that’s often the case with things that don’t have a direct equivalent in a student’s mother-tongue) but that do begin to make sense when spotted ‘in the wild’, so to speak – so in a broader context. Given the ‘reference’ function, if you’re reading and broadly following a text in which it’s used, the purpose and meaning becomes obvious. Later, any further, differing uses are equally easy to notice.