Great article! I am definitely in the group you described, “with holes in my confidence.” If you have anyone complain to you about the pace at which they learn Italian, you can confidently tell them you know someone worse than them, me.
Ok, Tim, get to mending those holes, you hear me? Then again, there's a certain cachet in being a champion language-mangler, no? As I always say, go forth and mangle with confidence!
Many years ago while visiting a small comune in southern Calabria with my parents. My dad was born there. It was summer and in our hotel room there were no screens on the windows. I noticed that mosquitos would be flying in to make a night of restless sleep. So, I went down to the desk, and asked Giuseppe. "Signore, avete una macchina che puo ammazzare gli zingari? Of course, confusing le zanzare with gli zingari. Mannaggia!
Oh yes, we all do it, some in more embarrassing ways than others. Sounds like you're like me—I sometimes know how a word begins but can't quite remember the whole thing. That's when I start strong and zoom past the rest hoping whoever I'm talking to will figure it out.
The mannaggia is the lack of window screens in Italy, especially since my sis & I have terrible reactions to being bitten by Italian z̵i̵n̵g̵a̵r̵i̵ zanzare. I have contemplated bringing 1. bed netting (as needed on the Indian/African continents) and 2. a special pellet that kills baby mosquitoes I have read about.
Most everyone I know has window screens these days. And some have zappers too. I’m a magnet for any biting insect, so screens are an absolute necessity.
Loved reading this and I see a book in the making, especially with the research into your genealogy! How fabulous to have these conversations. Altogether such a rich life!!!!
'Fon ... Manolo explains, derives from the German föhn, meaning a dry, hot wind. How utterly perfect! Leave it to the Italian language to adopt a poetic, descriptive term for an appliance instead of the mundane asciugacapelli (literally, “dry + hair”).'
Thanks so much, Kristin! I know you're on your own language adventure, and I give you major props for taking on Portuguese. It must be a pretty colorful language too, I imagine.
Can I just tell you how much I'd rather be learning Italian instead?! At least I have a very basic get around town working knowledge of Italian. Italian makes sense to me. Portuguese?! Not so much... 😂
Thank you! To add a few. My favourite foreign expressions are those difficult to translate easily, like Italian 'magari',or the French 'du coup' . This difficulty shows how the language reflects the way we think.
Speaking a foreign language is a bit like playing an instrument. As a nonprofessional one will have some wrong notes along the way, but you need to keep on trying through the mistakes. And one hopes improvement comes along eventually.
I so enjoy your writing, Cheryl! My latest language exchange, or intercambio, here in Spain was an impromptu car adventure with my fellow immigrants from our beginner Spanish language class. We visited nearby towns and castles and enjoyed conversing in Polish, Russian, Dutch, English and Spanish. The only common language between all of us was rudimentary Spanish but it all worked somehow. Nonstop laughs, breathtaking scenery, and delicious food made for a memorable adventure.
We had a Colomba for Easter. Pistachio. Got it right here in Aveiro too!
We have a little sweet shop owned by an Italian woman, Donatella. She is lovely and fun to chat with.
I would have called it an Easter Panettone. Pistachio cream in the middle and covered with dark chocolate and pistachio pieces. Crazy good. Delicious with a 10 year old Tawny Port!
Also, another term we used to use for being down in it in the restaurant biz, was being in the weeds.
Those pistacchio ones are decadent! So are the chocolate ones. I don't like them when they're overfilled, though. I'll have to try the port pairing sometime.
Thanks for the new-to-me saying, which I could have used very often in my waitressing days. Not the best job fit for me (but better than the horrid retail summer jobs I had).
So happy you like it! I could have published this piece two days earlier, but I kept coming up with one lame title after another. Then, bingo. I guess the wait was worth it!
Wonderful! The explanation of how names are translated was of special interest to me. Cheryl, do you know the (I'll say English) equivalent of Guido? I would love to know that! Meanwhile, Sono in alto mare!" :) That is one I will use alot!
Oh, I hope you won't be in alto mare too often! But if you've got to be there, at least you'll have a perfect description for it. ;-)
Guido translates as Guy, though I'm not sure how immigrants might have changed it back in the day. It's already a diminutive form (short for Guidobaldo, for one), so I don't suppose they would have made the diminutive even more diminutive. (Guidino? Nah.)
Hi, Well, swamped in a good way...:) Could I also say, "Sono in aqua alta?" Guido = Guy. Now, that is interesting. I'll have to pursue that. (The main character in my historical novels is Guid'Antonio Vespucci. That's why I'm curious about his name. And in fact, now, he can say he is swamped :)
My dialect has a lot of foreign influence: 𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒐 for brother, from the Spanish 'hermano', and 𝒓𝒖𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒂 meaning a little road, from the French 'rue'.
But one I wanted to tell you about (I'm confirming with my sisters over whatsapp-technology is amazing), is FAONE which I swear is what my mother called a hot wind. Certainly sounds like the German word, non è vero? (LOL)
For "being swamped", maybe I watch too many cooking/restaurant shows, but I really like "being in the weeds" which may be derived from Moses as a baby in his basket. I dunno.
Faone is very cool! Sure seems like it would have come from the German. “In the weeds” seems to be very popular; guess I don’t watch enough cooking- or restaurant-related shows.
Great article! I am definitely in the group you described, “with holes in my confidence.” If you have anyone complain to you about the pace at which they learn Italian, you can confidently tell them you know someone worse than them, me.
Ok, Tim, get to mending those holes, you hear me? Then again, there's a certain cachet in being a champion language-mangler, no? As I always say, go forth and mangle with confidence!
Many years ago while visiting a small comune in southern Calabria with my parents. My dad was born there. It was summer and in our hotel room there were no screens on the windows. I noticed that mosquitos would be flying in to make a night of restless sleep. So, I went down to the desk, and asked Giuseppe. "Signore, avete una macchina che puo ammazzare gli zingari? Of course, confusing le zanzare with gli zingari. Mannaggia!
Oh yes, we all do it, some in more embarrassing ways than others. Sounds like you're like me—I sometimes know how a word begins but can't quite remember the whole thing. That's when I start strong and zoom past the rest hoping whoever I'm talking to will figure it out.
The mannaggia is the lack of window screens in Italy, especially since my sis & I have terrible reactions to being bitten by Italian z̵i̵n̵g̵a̵r̵i̵ zanzare. I have contemplated bringing 1. bed netting (as needed on the Indian/African continents) and 2. a special pellet that kills baby mosquitoes I have read about.
Most everyone I know has window screens these days. And some have zappers too. I’m a magnet for any biting insect, so screens are an absolute necessity.
Loved reading this and I see a book in the making, especially with the research into your genealogy! How fabulous to have these conversations. Altogether such a rich life!!!!
Thank you, Kalpana. I'm in the very early stages of figuring out what a book about my reverse immigration would look like. So far it's pretty elusive!
Great read!
I particularly loved this charming explanation 😊
'Fon ... Manolo explains, derives from the German föhn, meaning a dry, hot wind. How utterly perfect! Leave it to the Italian language to adopt a poetic, descriptive term for an appliance instead of the mundane asciugacapelli (literally, “dry + hair”).'
Thanks so much, Kristin! I know you're on your own language adventure, and I give you major props for taking on Portuguese. It must be a pretty colorful language too, I imagine.
Can I just tell you how much I'd rather be learning Italian instead?! At least I have a very basic get around town working knowledge of Italian. Italian makes sense to me. Portuguese?! Not so much... 😂
I can imagine! (Or maybe I can't . . .)
😂
Thank you for these! I love Italian so much, it’s on my list of things to focus more attention on learning this year
The word for hodgepodge is wonderful!
It is one of the best words ever. Case closed!
Thank you! To add a few. My favourite foreign expressions are those difficult to translate easily, like Italian 'magari',or the French 'du coup' . This difficulty shows how the language reflects the way we think.
I am French-less, so I have no opinion on that one, but magari yes! One of my favorites too. Thanks for commenting!
Speaking a foreign language is a bit like playing an instrument. As a nonprofessional one will have some wrong notes along the way, but you need to keep on trying through the mistakes. And one hopes improvement comes along eventually.
Very true. And if you expect a steady upward show of progress, you'll be disappointed!
Si, specialmente come un vecchio che io sono.
I so enjoy your writing, Cheryl! My latest language exchange, or intercambio, here in Spain was an impromptu car adventure with my fellow immigrants from our beginner Spanish language class. We visited nearby towns and castles and enjoyed conversing in Polish, Russian, Dutch, English and Spanish. The only common language between all of us was rudimentary Spanish but it all worked somehow. Nonstop laughs, breathtaking scenery, and delicious food made for a memorable adventure.
Oh, that sounds like so much fun! How often do you get together? And thank you for the kind words!
We have 90-minute Spanish classes every Monday and Wednesday. Classes are difficult but we keep each other strong 😁
Ah ok, proper lessons. We're all just gabbing, but we learn along the way. I run into a lot of people who should take lessons and don't, so yay you!
Good one Cheryl! A fun and informative post.
We had a Colomba for Easter. Pistachio. Got it right here in Aveiro too!
We have a little sweet shop owned by an Italian woman, Donatella. She is lovely and fun to chat with.
I would have called it an Easter Panettone. Pistachio cream in the middle and covered with dark chocolate and pistachio pieces. Crazy good. Delicious with a 10 year old Tawny Port!
Also, another term we used to use for being down in it in the restaurant biz, was being in the weeds.
Take care.
Best to you.
Those pistacchio ones are decadent! So are the chocolate ones. I don't like them when they're overfilled, though. I'll have to try the port pairing sometime.
Thanks for the new-to-me saying, which I could have used very often in my waitressing days. Not the best job fit for me (but better than the horrid retail summer jobs I had).
Brilliant title on this post-- loved how those two ideas fit together! It's not so easy to write a guazzabuglio and come up with a title that works!
So happy you like it! I could have published this piece two days earlier, but I kept coming up with one lame title after another. Then, bingo. I guess the wait was worth it!
Wonderful! The explanation of how names are translated was of special interest to me. Cheryl, do you know the (I'll say English) equivalent of Guido? I would love to know that! Meanwhile, Sono in alto mare!" :) That is one I will use alot!
Oh, I hope you won't be in alto mare too often! But if you've got to be there, at least you'll have a perfect description for it. ;-)
Guido translates as Guy, though I'm not sure how immigrants might have changed it back in the day. It's already a diminutive form (short for Guidobaldo, for one), so I don't suppose they would have made the diminutive even more diminutive. (Guidino? Nah.)
Hi, Well, swamped in a good way...:) Could I also say, "Sono in aqua alta?" Guido = Guy. Now, that is interesting. I'll have to pursue that. (The main character in my historical novels is Guid'Antonio Vespucci. That's why I'm curious about his name. And in fact, now, he can say he is swamped :)
I don’t think “in acqua alta” has the same connotation, but I’ll ask Margherita.
I think I would have to put patches on patches
Get on it!
Baci e abbracci
My dialect has a lot of foreign influence: 𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒐 for brother, from the Spanish 'hermano', and 𝒓𝒖𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒂 meaning a little road, from the French 'rue'.
But one I wanted to tell you about (I'm confirming with my sisters over whatsapp-technology is amazing), is FAONE which I swear is what my mother called a hot wind. Certainly sounds like the German word, non è vero? (LOL)
For "being swamped", maybe I watch too many cooking/restaurant shows, but I really like "being in the weeds" which may be derived from Moses as a baby in his basket. I dunno.
Faone is very cool! Sure seems like it would have come from the German. “In the weeds” seems to be very popular; guess I don’t watch enough cooking- or restaurant-related shows.