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Language: learn italian!

Learning Italian: bruschetta takes on pizza

23 April, 2020
The Italian language is everywhere, especially in the world of cooking (where Italians believe that theirs is the best cuisine on earth), and with the new year come new dictionaries around the world. While some English words are adopted into…

Big Brother Italy: Veronica hot or not?

22 April, 2020
Every series of Italy’s Big Brother has at least one hysterical housemate. Here there are two, Veronica and Gabriele, who have apparently been doing nothing but arguing since they got in there, for the joy of Italian television viewers. For…

Italian gestures in pictures: learn Italian expressions

17 April, 2020
We’ve seen world famous Italian gestures in this hilarious Italian video, and here we bring you a post on Italian gestures - in pictures! Ever wanted to know exactly what the guy was telling you when you hired your car…

Italian English: "customers gentile" and other fables

15 April, 2020
Far be it from me to criticise Italians for their English, this one comes from the locals themselves. I have been an English teacher in Italy and congratulate myself that none of my students would produce anything quite as creative…

Video: Italian hand gestures. How to express yourself in Italy

15 April, 2020
Italian people are famous for the expressive way of communicating. Now, they will often combine the Italian gestures in this video with fast-paced, angry soliloquys, hysterical outbursts, sweet, ironic smiles or even as part of general conversation when relating anecdotes,…

Italian words in English: "al fresco"

13 April, 2020
English and Italian borrow words from each other, with Italian words in English generally of the culinary variety. After I was roundly criticised by one commenter for making fun of Italians and their use of the word ‘trendy’, we thought…

Italian sayings: the word "dai!"

12 April, 2020
We have a quick look today at the word, or rather onomatopoeic expression, of “dai”. It’s a subtle word and its meaning changes depending entirely on inflection, tone and volume. A quick list below.“Dai” said with an irritated tone can…

Italian word of the day: limonare

12 April, 2020
Strange but true: in Italian the word “limonare” (to lemon), means to kiss. The etymology is mysterious, but according to some sources the verb derives from “lemon”, used as a synonym for tongue. The use would be something as follows,…

Funny Italian video from Heineken: mime artist attacks a drunk

11 April, 2020
A mime artist attacks a drunk guy with his juggling equipment in Heineken’s “Know the Signs” viral marketing campaign against excessive drinking. The mime artist is in Italy, and, in the funny viral commercial, the guy filming says “I’m going…

Driving in Italy: parking in Rome pisses some people off

11 April, 2020
For the Italian language, or Italian English, we’ve already seen the creative and sparky side of the Romans come out with their “clients gentile” funny photo. Here we have another example, but for something far more serious - parking in…

How to write an Italian Christmas card

9 April, 2020
Christmas in Italy is not normally a time when Italians make long lists of all the people they need to write Christmas cards to, spending a small fortune in stamps and stationery. In fact, probably because families still often live…

Learning to speak Italian: guide to gendered nouns

8 April, 2020
We were going to write some stuff on Italian men and women, but until we get around to doing that, we may as well examine the gendered nouns of the language. For English speakers learning the Italian language, there are…

Learn to speak Italian: "tu" and "lei" formalities

24 March, 2020
English is quite subtle in its formal and informal registers - you say “good morning” rather than “hi”, “how are you” as opposed to “what’s happening”. But Italian has an entire grammar structure dedicated to formal language in the form…