Buondì.
As you might know, I’m married to an Italian, which explains why I live in Italy.
Before meeting her, I’d visited Italy precisely once, hadn’t liked it very much, and had no plans to ever return.
But there you go. Life’s funny like that.
My wife’s Italian father married a woman from Sweden, so we’re a pretty mixed up family in terms of national origins.
Over the years, then, I’ve often heard the expression: ‘moglie e buoi dei paesi tuoi’.
Mogli = wives
Buoi (singular, ‘bue’) = cattle
Paese = village or country, but here it’s the former
So ‘Wives and your cattle from your own villages’.
I guess that way you’ll know better what you’re getting.
There’d be less risk that the newest addition to your herd is carrying foot-and-mouth disease…
Anyway, today’s free Italian listening reminded me of this, as it’s about a couple who ignored the traditional advice to ‘go with what you know’.
The grammar focus is i pronomi indiretti, which follows on nicely from Friday’s text on ‘i pronomi diretti‘.
Click this link to listen.
Read the comprehension questions first, then listen a couple of times to see if you can answer them.
The solutions are at the bottom of the page.
Read the transcript to see what you missed, check any new words, and take a look at the various pronouns used.
Then listen one more time, while following the transcript.
And if you still have the time and energy, listen a final time without without the text.
You’ll be amazed how much more you can get from it!
Oh, and why not add a comment to this article with your view?
Is it better to hitch up with someone whose background is similar to your own?
Or would you rather throw caution to the winds and go with a life-partner who’ll be full of surprises (maybe having to learn a new language and culture, too)?
To comment, click this link to visit the club website, scroll down, and fill in comments box.
Unless you’ve commented before, your comment will need to be moderated before it’s published, so expect a delay before you see it.
A mercoledì.
Rosie says
It could be exciting to marry someone from a different culture as long as your expectations are similar and you are able to make a living in a foreign country.
Nina Rault (née Wilson) says
My first husband was Irish, with a beautiful soft Irish accent. My second was French and I now live in Normandy. My daughter probably takes after me for she has married a Moroccan and they live in Germany. My three little grandchildren speak four languages fluently: German, French, English and Berber. My life has had its ups and downs, but it’s never been boring and I’m sure having more than one language in the head must be good for the brain. Some of my neighbours here married someone they have known from childhood and have always lived in this region,, some even in the same village where they were born.. I suppose it depends what you want in life. Personally I find it exciting to discover another culture.
Deborah Canciello says
I’ve been married to the same man for almost 43 years. Our ancestry is 100% Italian (mostly Naples, a little Calabria).
We’ve definitely had our ups and downs and life now is fairly predictable and, some would say, boring. I don’t believe this has anything to do with marrying someone from the same culture! The success of any marriage is open communication, shared values, similar goals, and a willingness to be adventurous. My husband and I live only a few miles from the house where we raised our children (our son and his wife live there now, so we actually never sold the house!) We feel comfortable, content, and secure in this area, where we’ve spent two-thirds of our lives… and wouldn’t live anywhere else or change anything for all the money in the world !!