OK, Leonardo da Vinci was not Bolognese. He was, in fact, from Vinci…
But he still has a street named after him here, so makes it into our ‘Street names’ series of short biographical Italian listenings.
First though, ‘Ciao’ to Michael Bigarelli, who commented:
Do you provide an English translation of the text? I understand that the recommendation is not to “literally translate ” but sometimes I can’t get the flow of the Italian text.
You can read my answer, and the reasons here (scroll down to the bottom to read Michael’s comment and my reply).
But it gave me an idea.
How about, as well as doing the listening, and checking your understanding by reading the transcript, you have a go at translating today’s text into English?
It’s pretty long, so obviously not the whole thing.
But if you have the time and energy, translate a line or two, or a paragraph, and then post your version as a comment on this article.
Perhaps between you, you’ll be able to create an ‘English version’ and so help out Michael (and others like him).
To comment on this post (and add your translation) go here.
OK, ready to go with today’s listening on Leonardo?
You should see the listening plug-in here below (but not if you’re reading this in an e-mail, in which case click here to view this article on our website.)
Remember, don’t scroll down to the tapescript until you’ve given the listening your best!
Transcript
LEONARDO DA VINCI
Leonardo da Vinci è stato uno dei più grandi geni mai esistiti al mondo, non solo per le sue ottime abilità pittoriche o meccaniche, ma anche perché era bravo in tutti i campi in cui si applicava. I suoi quadri sono alcuni dei più conosciuti al mondo. Inoltre, aveva una mente “dal futuro”, cioè ideava macchine e invenzioni che non sarebbero state costruite ancora per centinaia di anni.
Leonardo da Vinci nacque a Vinci il 15 aprile 1452, frutto di una relazione illegittima tra un notaio proveniente da una famiglia facoltosa, e Catrina, una donna di livello sociale “inferiore”. Leonardo venne cresciuto dal padre e dalla matrigna. Fu educato a Firenze, dove a 17 anni iniziò a lavorare alla bottega del Verrocchio. Qui, restò per più di dieci anni, studiò ingegneria, meccanica e architettura, e diventò sempre più esperto nel campo della pittura. Nel 1482 si trasferì a Milano alla corte di Ludovico il Moro. Tra il 1499 e il 1508 abitò in varie città italiane per poi andare in Francia dove si dedicò ai propri studi e dove morì il 2 maggio 1519.
Da Vinci considerava la pittura come “l’arte per eccellenza” e la usava anche per capire meglio i suoi studi. Per rappresentare meglio l’essenza dei personaggi ritratti egli si basava sui suoi studi di anatomia. E’ stato un grande maestro, infatti, tra le sue opere più importanti possiamo elencare: “Adorazione dei Magi”, “Studio per testa di donna”, “Ritratto di Cecilia Gallerani”, “L’ultima cena”, “Uomo Vitruviano”, “La Gioconda” e infine “Autoritratto”. Ma non fu solamente un pittore, infatti le sue grandi capacità lo portarono anche a inventare macchine da guerra, macchine per uso civile, congegni idraulici, macchine per volare, macchine marittime. Tra i suoi più grandi progetti ci sono il carro armato, la bicicletta a catena e una barca con la velocità aumentata grazie a un meccanismo a pale.
P.S.
Announcing an experiment!
Today, you’ll be getting TWO emails, not just one.
Sorry.
The second one announces the opening of our new ‘bar’, where you’ll be able to chat with learners of Italian from around the world.
It has to go out as an email for technical reasons, not because I’m trying to spam you all. So please don’t hit ‘spam’ when you get the second mail.
Instead, take a look. The idea is to create a page where you can interact independently with other site users.
To join the conversation at “Bar Giovanni” you simply scroll to the bottom of the page and leave a comment.
It’s primitive, but like I said, it’s an experiment.
Watch out for it in your in-box…
P.P.S.
Don’t forget, next week we’re having a promotion on online Italian lessons. Details soon!
John Thomson says
La traduzione è un ottimo idea Daniel – ascoltare, leggere, capire, tradurre e scrivere
Questo è ciò che tu vuoi o è troppo complicato?
Ho deciso di tradurre il primo, capoverso . Ce sarano molti errori ma, come tu, non me ne frega gli errori
Comincero con alcune note, per dimostrarti come la mia mente funziona
‘Capoverso‘= paragraph DICTIONARY
‘dei piu’grande from ‘di i piu grande’ ‘il piu grande’ = the most grand = the grandest
‘esistito – irregular past participle of esistere GUESS = to exist
‘geni’ plural of genio GUESS genius
‘al mondo’ in the world
Non solo……………….ma anche. A construct ‘not only …….but also’
Il pittore = painter la pittorica = painting , the art of, GUESS pitoriche plural
Same for’ mecchaniche’ = mechanics GUESS
Abilità the ‘à’ has an accent so does not change in the plural
Si Applicava imperfetto of applicarsi GUESS to apply oneself
Aveva imperfetto of avere
Inoltre – moreover
Cioè – that is
Ancora – yet still
Centinaia – hundreds
Il primo capoverso
Leonardò Da Vinci was one of the greatest geniuses who ever existed in the world, not only for his excellent abilities in painting and mechanics but also because he was good in all fields to which he applied himself. His paintings are some of the most recognised in the world. Moreover he had a brain ‘for the future’. He had ideas for machines and inventions that would not have been built for hundreds of years
Giovanni AKA John
Daniel says
Seems pretty good to me, John!
John Thomson says
My English translation of Leonardo Da Vinci
This is follow up post from my initial post after translating the first paragraph which Daniel said was OK
I hope this will be of help to some members of the club, I hope I get some replies
The notes at the end demonstrate how my mind works, how many times I could guess a word and how many times I needed a dictionary
This latest of Daniel’s projects combines listening, reading , understanding, translating and writing, it does not provide a facility for speaking, but it covers everything else
La traduzione è un ottimo idea Daniel – ascoltare, leggere, capire, tradurre e scrivere
Questo è ciò che tu vuoi o è troppo complicato?
Ho deciso di tradurre il primo, capoverso . Ce sarano molti errori ma, come tu, non me ne frega gli errori
Leonardo DA Vinci
Leonardò Da Vinci was one of the greatest geniuses who ever existed in the world, not only for his excellent abilities in painting and mechanics but also because he was good in all fields to which he applied himself. His paintings are some of the most recognised in the world. Moreover he had a brain ‘for the future’. He had ideas for machines and inventions that would not have been built for hundreds of years
Leonardo Da Vinci was born on 15th April 1452. The fruit of an illegitimate relationship between a notary from a rich family and a woman of a lower class. He was raised by his father and stepmother He was educated in Florence, where at seventeen he started to work in the workshop of Verrochio, here he stayed for more than ten years. He studied engineering, mechanics and architecture and became always more expert in the field of painting
Da Vinci considered a painting as the art of excellence, and he used it also to better understand his studies In order to better represent the personalities in his portraits he based them on his studies of anatomy. He was a great maestro, in fact we can list his more important works.
“the adoration of the maggi”
“a study of the head of a woman”
“portrait of Cecilia Gallerani”
“the last supper”
“vitruviano man”
“the Gioconda”
And finally “a self portrait”
But he was not only a painter in facthis large capacity also carried to invent
Machines of war, civil machines, machines, hydraulic devices, flying machines, sailing machines. Among his other grand projects there were an armoured wagon, the chain bicycle and a boat with increased speed thanks to a mechanised skin ??
Notes
‘Capoverso‘= paragraph DICTIONARY
‘dei piu’grande from ‘di i piu grande’ ‘il piu grande’ = the most grand = the grandest
‘esistito – irregular past participle of esistere GUESS = to exist
‘geni’ plural of genio GUESS genius
‘al mondo’ in the world
Non solo……………….ma anche. A construct ‘not only …….but also’
Il pittore = painter la pittorica = painting , the art of, GUESS pitoriche plural
Same for’ mecchaniche’ = mechanics GUESS
Abilità the ‘à’ has an accent so does not change in the plural
Si Applicava imperfetto of applicarsi GUESS to apply oneself
Aveva imperfetto of avere
Inoltre – moreover
Cioè – that is
Ancora – yet still
Centinaia – hundreds
Why not la frutta
Lots of use of passato remoto including
Nacque, studio,resto, venne, fu, divento, abito, dedico
Notaio – notary GUESS
Proviente – coming from DICTIONARY
Facoltoso – rich DICTIONARY
Matrigna – stepmother DICTIONARY
Bottega – workshop DICTIONARY
Ritratto – portrait DICTIONARY
Basare – based on establish
Vitruviano – cannot find this
Congnegno – device DICTIONARY
Carro – wagon DICTIONARY
Catena – chain DICTIONARY
A pale NO IDEA
Daniel says
Fantastic work, John!
Virgilia Bertini-Moran says
Grazie Mille John
Patricia A Lenz says
Perfetto, Giovanni, grazie. Mi piace ed anche era utile. Sono principianta, ma, potrebbe le parole mechanismo a pale….paddle wheel boat?
john Thomson says
Brava Patricia
Ho rivisto il dizionario “Word Reference” e “pala” significa “blade, paddle, altar piece cricket bat etc’
Quindi “una barca con la velocità augmentata grazie a un mecchanismo a pare” significa “a boat with increased speed thanks to mechanical paddles”
di dove sei Patricia ? Sono scozzese ma abito nel inghilterra
Brava di nuovo ma non sei una principiante
Giovanni AKA John
Virgilia Bertini-Moran says
Very helpful Grazie Mille