Buondì.
Today we’re at ‘C’ for ‘cibo’ (food).
It won’t be a surprise if I tell you that, in Italy, what’s for dinner is definitely everyone’s favourite subject.
A standard piece of advice for English teachers here, who might be worrying about whether the material they’ve planned for their class will be sufficient, is “Ask them about food!”
It never fails.
The ensuing conversation is guaranteed to take care of the rest of the lesson, no matter how long it might last.
I’ve used the same approach on long sailing trips when the wind has fallen.
“Who’s got a recipe for spaghetti alla carbonara?”
All of my (Italian) crew mates have, of course.
And each recipe is slightly different…
Anyway, back to the order of the day.
I have another spruced up, recycled Italian vocabulary lesson for you.
This one has a list of food words, three interactive exercises, and a review of definite articles, (which are very confusing in Italian, as I’m sure you know.)
If you want to get right on it, here’s the link:
But perhaps you were wondering about the title of this article?
Well, it’s me.
I just can’t pronounce the Italian ‘r’ sound, as at the beginning of ‘razzle’ or ‘Roger’.
Many people have tried to teach me, but without success.
I’m a hopeless case, it seems.
To be fair, not all Italians can do this phoneme, either.
But no one gives me a break on that account
So when, at Sunday lunch, I announce that the second course will be ‘carni arrosti‘ (roast meats), my pronunciation trips me up.
Our guests’ horrifed expressions confirm that what they’ve understood is ‘cani‘ arrosti.
Woof, woof, sizzle.
P.S.
Monday, we’ll be publishing a new easy reader on ‘Leonardo’.
The level is B2, it comes with audio, and it’s pretty good.
Watch this space for details.
And look out for the -25% launch offer!
A lunedì.
Holly Pitches says
I can’t roll my Rs at all – so frustrating!!!! But nice to know some Italians can’t either. I also can’t roll my tongue – perhaps they’re connected?
Daniel says
Nice to know, isn’t it?
That said, I never made much effort to learn Italian pronunciation. Now I’m studying Swedish and I’m paying a lot more attention to the sound of it!
Daniel says
Someone just wrote in asking for recipes…
https://www.wikihow.com/Cook-Lemongrass-Dog
(Pet lovers, don’t click that link as the pictures are graphic!)
Bryanne says
The exercise cibi 2 has some errors…as far as I can tell, there are no biscotti pictured, and although I chose the bryannephoto of that lovely piece of beef for bistecca, it was marked as wrong. There is a pile of nuts pictured but no words to match it to.
Also wouldn’t is be l’arancia not la arancia in your list of food items.?
Daniel says
Thanks for the feedback, Bryanne. I’ve changed ‘the orange’ as you suggested to l’arancia.
The exercise is fine, though, I’ve checked it now.
http://onlineitalianclub.com/free_italian_exercises/cibi2_a1.html
The ‘nuts’ you mentioned are chestnuts… I can see biscuits too, though the picture isn’t that clear.
And my answer for that lovely bit of beef was marked correct, though I’m not sure it actually is the right word…
Bryanne says
Okay…sorry. I re-did exercise cibi 2, and I assigned I biscotti to the “pile of nuts”. When I zoomed in to the photo on my iPad I realized it is a pile of cookies. Silly me. But my cookies don’t look like that, and nor do my biscotti!