Buondì.
I’m going to be breve, breve, breve, anzì, brevissimo, this morning, as I have a lot piled up, including proof-reading and finalising a new ‘opera’ easy reader for publication on Monday.
So here goes: feedback received on watching movies in Italian tends to be of the ‘I didn’t understand anything’ type.
That’s nonsense, as you would know if you watched a movie with two-and-a-half-year-old Roomie, whose current favorite is the original animated version of Mulan. In English. On VHS.
For years I used that tape to teach English to Italian pre-schoolers, who didn’t understand a word of any of my VHS tapes, but followed the stories with no apparent effort. And anyway, watching TV was less effort than coloring between the lines, and always preferable if there was a boiled candy on offer.
So when I quit teaching English last summer, I brought the VHS tapes and player home from our language school, with a view to testing the calming effects on even younger and wilder creatures.
Works just fine.
Think about your experience of watching movies as a child, and you’ll realise that viewers can ‘understand’ or ‘not understand’ on multiple different levels. What amuses me about Shrek, for instance, are the jokes aimed at adults, the clever language, and the cultural references.
Roomie likes the pink dragon.
One horrible winter, I worked in western Poland. Temperatures went down to minus 20 celsius, or lower, and I swear the snow that fell in November was still on the ground at the start of May.
At weekends, our neighbours would stand knee-deep in snow in the local park, eating pickles and sharing a bottle of vodka, while I spent a lot of time in cinemas.
This was partly to keep warm, and partly because movies then were in English, while TV (before the internet, this was) was only in Polish. Which I knew only enough of to order beer and pizza, or to tell a taxi driver where to go.
Anyway, one Saturday we bought tickets for the children’s animated movie, Toy Story (the first one. See how long ago this was?)
We took off our winter coats and hats and settled down for an afternoon of popcorn and entertainment. Quality animated films were new back then, so a must see.
Horror!
Being a children’s movie, they’d dubbed it into Polish!!
There weren’t even English subtitles (why bother, little kids don’t read.)
I looked at my companion. Shall we leave? We agreed to give it a few minutes, just to see.
Then didn’t look away from the big screen until the film ended, and everyone stood up to pull on their cold weather gear.
Terrific film, didn’t you think? Yeah, no, I didn’t understand a word of it, either. But it was good, wasn’t it? Glad we stayed. Let’s go find a warm pub.
Roomie gets that Mullan falls out with her mom and dad, runs off to join the army, becomes an excellent solider, makes friends, defeats the scary bad guys, saves China, and in the last scene, walks off into the sunset with her former commander.
But she has no idea what or where China is – she thinks our house is called Bologna, and my wife’s mom’s house is Rimini, for instance.
Neither does she know, or care I suppose, why Mullan had to pretend to be male to join the army, or who the invaders were, or what they wanted.
And the only English she knows is ‘Hello’, ‘Bye bye’, and ‘Happy Birthday!’
Which brings me to my top tip for watching Italian movies and TV programs.
Give yourself full marks for watching all the way through.
Just that.
No need to fret about what you did or didn’t understand.
Either you get the general idea, or you don’t.
In which case make a better choice of film or TV program next time.
The value in watching a foreign language film or TV program, from the language-learning perspective, at least, comes from doing it at all. And then, ideally, from making a habit of it.
Only later should you expect to ‘understand’ at a higher level, as you might in your native tongue.
Possiblly much later. But that doesn’t mean you won’t be learning stuff. Or having fun!
Which reminds me, re. this week’s eBook of the Week offers, Cherry helpfully sent a link to some Youtube Fantozzi extracts.
They are subtitled, she explained, above in English, below in Italian, though the subtitles might be automatically-generated, so to be taken with a pinch of salt.
I took a look, and the Italian subtitles helped me understand more than when I’d last watched the movie, back when originally publishing the two ebooks (details below).
Fantozzi was funny the first time I saw it. With the subtitles, I got more of the clever details that I’d missed, which made it even funnier.
Real life isn’t subtitled, though, so don’t get used to only watching/listening that way.
But if they’re there anyway, why not?
Everyone say ‘Grazie, Cherry!’
Bene. A venerdì.
P.S.
Don’t forget this week’s two half-price eBook of the Week offers, over at our ebooks store, EasyReaders.org.
Also that this week there’s a 20% coupon code, should you wish to purchase any title in our classic movie series of ebooks. They work either as a simplified introduction to the movie, or just to liven up your Italian study program a little.
The coupon code is: 20%OffMovieEasyReaders
Copy/paste it carefully into your cart and press the ‘Apply coupon’ button. It will reduce the cart total by 20% of the price of any applicable item. Those are the ‘classic movie’ ebooks, except the two that are half-price already this week (below), and except the half-price bundle, which is already a bargain.
Fantozzi (B2)
Ragionier Fantozzi, Ugo is an Italian everyman, though not a very happy one!
Ugo is ambivalent, to say the least, about his job and his family. He dares to hope for more from both his professional and personal lives, though never seems surprised when his ambitions are thwarted!
The 1971 book was a million-seller. And mention the 1975 film, on which our ‘easy reader’ is based, to any Italian to get them happily talking you through their favourite scenes.
For a rather different insight into Italian life and attitudes, don’t miss the unforgettable cultural meme that is Fantozzi!
- .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
- 9 chapters to read and listen to
- Comprehension questions to check your understanding
- Italian/English glossary of ‘difficult’ terms for the level
- Suitable for students at intermediate level and above
- Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)
Buy Fantozzi (B2) just £3.99!
Il secondo tragico Fantozzi (B2)
Ragionier Fantozzi, Ugo is the Italian everyman: abused by his employer, unhappy at home, and so occasionally tempted to rebel – in the hope of a better future…
“Of course! Everyone knows Fantozzi”, declared this copywriter’s Italian wife, on entering the kitchen to find out what he was laughing out loud about.
The 1971 book was a million-seller and was followed by several unforgettable movies, from which this second volume of mishaps has been selected (find the other here: Fantozzi)
- .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
- Comprehension questions to check your understanding
- Italian/English glossary of ‘difficult’ terms for the level
- Suitable for students at intermediate level and above
- Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)
Buy Il secondo tragico Fantozzi (B2), also just £3.99!
For others in our ‘classic movies’ series of ebooks, don’t forget to use coupon 20%OffMovieEasyReaders and so save 20%!
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.
I haven’t read/listened to Tuesday’s FREE bulletin of ‘easy’ Italian news, yet.
But I plan to get to it today, just as I’ll try to listen to and/or read something in the other languages I’m learning.
Not familiar with EasyItalianNews.com? Click that link to check it out.
Subscribing is free. Subscribers receive three, free bulletins via email each week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
And you can unsubscribe in just one click. So what’s to lose?
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