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How does speaking Italian make you feel?

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Post by serendipity Mon Oct 21, 2013 10:33 pm

First topic message reminder :

There was a fascinating (considering my geeky superhero power of choice would be ''master of all languages''!) programme on the bbc a couple of years ago hosted by Stephen Fry about language. I think it was called Fry's Planet Word. There was one particularly beautiful part of the programme where people with fluency in more than one language spoke about the different nuances, complexities and emotions their fluent languages gave them.

So, I throw the question(s) open to you... how does speaking the Italian language make you feel?! What does it emotionally give you that English can't? Or vice versa?

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Post by la alma Mon Nov 04, 2013 9:27 am

Does anyone know of a guide for texting in Italian? I dont have confidence to miss out even one letter. Given the length of Italian words there must be some rules. Or maybe they dont text?

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Post by stevegwmonkseaton Mon Nov 04, 2013 10:54 am

Google "text abbreviations italian" (or "SMS" instead of "text")  
Got this Texting in Italian as the 1st, but sure there will be many more... Smile

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Post by ghiro Mon Nov 04, 2013 7:46 pm

Blimey!  Texting in Italian.  That's either brave or foolhardy or both! Shocked 

There are 2 things that frustrate me about speaking (let alone texting!) Italian.  And they both involve verbs:

1) In English you start a sentence with I, You, He etc.  In French you start with Je, Tu, Il etc.  At least you've got a fighting chance!  In Italy you're faced with  nothing more than, for example, 'Siamo'.  By the time my excuse for a brain has worked out that it means 'We are' the rest of the sentence has passed me by! Sad 
I need pronouns to survive!

2) However many Italian verbs I learn the only ones I find I need to use are irregularTwisted Evil   How often do I use something straightforward like 'Parlare'?  Once in a luna azzurra!  Yet Tiger-verbs like 'Conoscere' and 'Volere' crop up all the time.

I'd like to speak fluent Italian one day but I fear that day will never come.
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Post by Gala Placidia Mon Nov 04, 2013 9:05 pm

Ghiro, I'm afraid that French is the exception amongst the group of Romance languages when it comes to dropping the personal pronoun subject. All others drop it, as it was the rule in Vulgar Latin, which is at the origin of the Romance group. Certainly, this is only the case when conjugation allows to identify the subject without the use of a pronoun. Sometimes, the pronoun is present when you try to emphasize the subject. In any case, if using the pronoun helps you to remember the conjugation, use it....at least it will assist you in the learning process. As you become more confident, you will naturally tend to drop it. And that would be thetime when you will realize that you have become fluent in Italian Wink
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Post by la alma Mon Nov 04, 2013 9:38 pm

Thanks for the link stevegwm. When I looked at their list I decided it was a lot quicker to write a whole sentence in whole words than try to memorise a completely new language!

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Post by stevegwmonkseaton Mon Nov 04, 2013 9:45 pm

la alma wrote:Thanks for the link stevegwm. When I looked at their list I decided it was a lot quicker to write a whole sentence in whole words than try to memorise a completely new language!
Ha, never mind, you are most welcome Very Happy

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Post by Gala Placidia Mon Nov 04, 2013 11:01 pm

Interesting link, Steve; however, I tend to agree with la alma's line of thought.
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Post by stevegwmonkseaton Tue Nov 05, 2013 9:58 am

Oddly enough, as much as I love technology and had to carry a mobile phone in the days when everyone looked at you using one (this was in the centre of London). I hate the intrusive things and rarely carry one and when I do, it's most often switched off!!!

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Post by Gala Placidia Tue Nov 05, 2013 12:00 pm

I feel exactly the same, Steve, and I am amazed by the number of people (all ages) who cannot live without their mobile phones, applications, etc. I think that in most cases they forget their manners Rolling Eyes 
Not to mention when they even forget to switch them off when going to a theatre, cinema, church or attending a wedding, funeral, or any ceremony.
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Post by Neil D Tue Nov 05, 2013 12:57 pm

Gala Placidia wrote:I feel exactly the same, Steve, and I am amazed by the number of people (all ages) who cannot live without their mobile phones, applications, etc. I think that in most cases they forget their manners Rolling Eyes Not to mention when they even forget to switch them off when going to a theatre, cinema, church or attending a wedding, funeral, or any ceremony.
I agree and have to confess that I am a culprit.  My phone - to the tune of Samba Pa Ti -went off at my mother's funeral.  Fortunately, we were singing a hymn at the time and very few heard it.Embarassed
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Post by Gala Placidia Tue Nov 05, 2013 1:53 pm

It must have been very distressing for you. Looking on the bright side, you are probably more careful nowadays. But I think that the worst offenders are those who do not even understand that there is a time and a place for everything, including having the phone switched on at all times... unless you are an emergency professional on duty call. And that applies in all languages.
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Post by serendipity Thu Nov 07, 2013 8:22 pm

ghiro wrote:Blimey!  Texting in Italian.  That's either brave or foolhardy or both! Shocked There are 2 things that frustrate me about speaking (let alone texting!) Italian.  And they both involve verbs:1) In English you start a sentence with I, You, He etc.  In French you start with Je, Tu, Il etc.  At least you've got a fighting chance!  In Italy you're faced with  nothing more than, for example, 'Siamo'.  By the time my excuse for a brain has worked out that it means 'We are' the rest of the sentence has passed me by! Sad I need pronouns to survive!2) However many Italian verbs I learn the only ones I find I need to use are irregularTwisted Evil   How often do I use something straightforward like 'Parlare'?  Once in a luna azzurra!  Yet Tiger-verbs like 'Conoscere' and 'Volere' crop up all the time.I'd like to speak fluent Italian one day but I fear that day will never come.


Or ghiro, try learning a non romance language and one not similar to English.
Turkish, for example, does have personal pronouns but used only rarely mostly for emphasis. At least in Italian ''things'' still have the 'my' you etc. My House = la mia casa
In turkish forget it. It has an ending and part of the endings aren't always the same. Evim = my house. Paltom = my coat but paltolarım = my coats.
You don't ''have'' anything, stuff exists. So 'I have a cat' would be literally translated as 'A my cat exists'. And whole sentences can be one word: 
evindeymişim = apparently I was in your house. 
Trying to work out what is being said in normal conversation just makes your head explode.

I promise a couple of months learning a language like this and you will run back to Italian with open arms and hug and kiss and squeeze and love it till you can hug, squeeze, kiss and love it it no more! And realise that actually it isn't as difficult as you thought!

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Post by serendipity Thu Nov 07, 2013 8:36 pm

I love how, even though I'm not fluent (in any language), just one simple word can make you feel so different. How the pictures and feelings can change.

My latest 'word' for example is: imballaggio
Packaging.
Use the word in English and it's a grey, dull, boring word. You think of a rainy day spent in an office in Swindon.
Use it in Italian and it's a practical yet sexy encasement for whatever it is you want to post. Surely, you think to yourself, surely nothing can go wrong when this parcel goes in the post!!!

(use the word in Spanish: embalaje - and you've got yourself more fun than you can shake a maraca at)

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Post by ghiro Thu Nov 07, 2013 9:57 pm

I feel totally humbled. Sad
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Post by serendipity Fri Nov 08, 2013 11:10 am

ghiro wrote:I feel totally humbled. Sad
Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean any offence. I wasn't trying to humble you. I was actually just trying to suggest a way you could make yourself love the lack of personal pronouns. I honestly found the romance languages so much easier after having to learn turkish. But I'm still horrendous at languages.
I'm so so sorry if I offended you Crying or Very sad

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Post by Neil D Fri Nov 08, 2013 11:25 am

serendipity wrote:
ghiro wrote:I feel totally humbled. Sad
Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean any offence. I wasn't trying to humble you. I was actually just trying to suggest a way you could make yourself love the lack of personal pronouns. I honestly found the romance languages so much easier after having to learn turkish. But I'm still horrendous at languages.I'm so so sorry if I offended you Crying or Very sad
 I don't know ghiro at all but I don't think (s)he took any offence at your post.  How could he or she? It wasn't offensive but, even if it were, overly-polite, touchy-feely posts are boring so bring it on!

Are you both ladies by any chance?
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Post by Gala Placidia Fri Nov 08, 2013 12:38 pm

Going back to the original topic, you may be delighted to know that speaking or simply learning a second, or third, or fourth language is the best recipe not only to improve your language skills in your native tongue, but also helps to keep Alzheimer at bay and develops the possibility of multitasking. This link explains it very clearly Benefits learning language:D 
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Post by ghiro Fri Nov 08, 2013 1:05 pm

serendipity wrote:
ghiro wrote:I feel totally humbled. Sad
Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean any offence.
Serendipity.  Absolutely no offence taken.  I was humbled by your language skills which allow you to apparently move effortlessly between English, Turkish and Italian.

Respect! Smile Smile
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Post by serendipity Wed Nov 13, 2013 10:54 pm

Oh, so so glad I didn't offend you ghiro!




By the by, am I the only one to have ever listened to an English radio show or tv programme just out of ear shot to try to imagine what on earth English sounds like to a foreign ear?!? 
It's gotta be just out of ear shot enough that you can't distinguish the words!

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Post by stevegwmonkseaton Thu Nov 14, 2013 8:32 am

Serendipity wrote:
By the by, am I the only one to have ever listened to an English radio show or tv programme just out of ear shot to try to imagine what on earth English sounds like to a foreign ear?!? 
It's gotta be just out of ear shot enough that you can't distinguish the words!
Possibly no one else here is mad enough to do so, but then again I am, sounds a great idea/thought... Smile Smile

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