Becoming Italian Word by Word

Money, Money, Money in the Italian Language

Risparmiare, fare economia

 Saving Money

“Con la crisi gli italiani tornano parsimoniosi,” a newspaper headline recently declared. (With the crisis, Italians are becoming parsimonious again.)“Parsimonious” is not a word one hears very much in the English language, but in Italian la virtù della parsimonia o frugalità economica (the virtue of parsimony or economic frugality) dates back to the fourteenth century.

Words like frugale (frugal), parco (sparing) and economo (thrifty) never have gone out of style. Now Italians are tornando ai comportamenti virtuosi dei loro genitori (returning to the virtuous ways of their parents). Risparmiatori (savers or thrify people) are determined to tighten their belts (tirare la cinghia) and pinch pennies (guardare al centesimo). 

According to a national survey, almost half—47 percent-- say they fare la spesa in modo più oculato (are grocery shopping in a shrewder way); 31 percent have ridotto le dosi acquistate (reduced the amounts they purchase); and 24 percent utilizza quello che avanza per il pasto successivo (use leftovers for the next meal). Per via della crisi (because of the crisis), Italians say they have reduced le spese per l’abbigliamento (shopping for clothing) by 51 percent and spending per le vacanze (for vacation) by 50 percent.

Rather than going on a shopping spree (spese pazze) or buying items on a whim (per sfizio), Italians are sticking to the necessities (spese essenziali). Restaurants also are doing their part. More are offering customers an American invention: il doggy bag, which an Italian journalist had to define for readers as "il pacchetto con i resti del pasto, da consegnare ben confezionato al cliente" (the package with the remains of the meal, nicely packaged to be given to the customer).

Are you doing anything to tighten the purse strings (tirare i cordoni della borsa)? Are you cutting back on shopping (ridimensionare/ ridurre le spese)? Putting penies in a piggybank (salvadanaio)? Or simply being more attentive (essere /stare più attenti) to where your money goes? Just keep in mind: Il risparmio incomincia dal centesimo. (Saving  begins with a penny, or a penny saved is a penny earned.)

Words and Expressions

spendere e spandere –- to spend money like water

Non fare il passo più lungo della gamba! -- Don’t take a step longer than your leg. In other words, be cautious! 

avere le mani bucate –- to have holes in the hands, used for someone who spends like there is no tomorrow

avere il braccino corto –- to have short arms, too short to reach one's pockets and pick up a tab

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language. 

Click here for a song singing the praises of "soldi, soldi, soldi" (money, money, money):

 

Following the First Italian Foodie

Pellegrino Artusi

The First Italian Foodie

A Guest Blog by Mama Margaret Cowan

The picturesque medieval Italian town of Forlimpopoli in northern Italy has become a mecca for food lovers from all over the world. Carrying their well-worn copies of Italy’s most famous cookbook, Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and The Art of Eating Well, first published in 1891, they immerse themselves in all things Artusi.

The Jamie Oliver of his time, Artusi created a cookbook that has become an international icon -– the first cookbook written in Italian, with each tasty, easy-to- make recipe reflecting his love of good food, and a testament to his belief in the role of food in the art of living well. He is credited with establishing a national cuisine and even with unifying the country.

Some 120 years later my colleagues and I at Mama Margaret & Friends Cooking Adventures in Italy  are offering a specially designed immersion into the world of Pellegrino Artusi. From June 17-22, we will visit Casa Artusi, a former convent where participants will learn to cook Artusi-style dishes in the state-of-the-art cooking school, visit the Artusi museum to learn about his unusual life, and dine in the elegant restaurant where one reviewer said he ate “some of the best food available to mankind.”

At the festival, Festa Artusiana, in Forlimpopoli’s piazza and streets, they’ll taste local foods and wines. In Bologna’s colorful food market (above), they’ll stroll with a mother and shop for ingredients for their Artusi cooking class in her home. With the fun-loving father, they will see how parmesan cheese is made from start to finish. At traditional balsamic vinegar cellars near Modena, they’ll sample twenty-five-year-old traditional balsamic vinegar, which feels like liquid velvet in your throat.

It’s always a family affair with Mama Margaret & Friends -- lots of real Italian experiences with local people off the tourist track while learning the art of eating well. It worked for Pellegrino Artusi, who lived to be 91. Click here for more information.  

Words and Expressions

cucina casalinga –- home (literally housewife) cooking

alta cucina -- haute cuisine

alla maniera dell’Artusi -- in the manner of Artusi

essere /diventare un mago in cucina -- to be / become a magician (whiz) in the kitchen

avere un palato fine -- to have a refined palate

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language.

Staying Healthy in the Italian Language

Salute!

To your health!

Through most of my career as a journalist and author, I've written, not about Italian, but about health (la salute). In what I think of as my day job (il mio vero lavoro), I've authored 22 editions of the best-selling college health textbook, An Invitation to Health. Here's the cover of the newest edition.

“If you’ve got your health, you’ve got everything” (Quando c’è la salute, c’è tutto) my mother used to say. She was right. Nothing is more valuable than a healthy mind in a healthy body (mente sana in corpo sano, from the Latin mens sana in corpore sano). English speakers strive to be healthy as a horse; Italians, to be healthy as a fish (sano come un pesce).

“Salute!“ Italians say when someone sneezes. What more could you wish someone than to be in buona or ottima salute (good or excellent health) or pieno di salute (full of health)? Who wouldn't want to scoppiare di salute (burst with health) or sprizzare salute da tutti i pori (squirt health from all pores)?

Lots of us aspire to be in piena forma (in full or perfect shape) or at least to avoid acciacchi (aches and pains). But being in bad shape (essere in cattiva forma) inspires a host of colorful idioms in Italian.

If you have un brutta cera (literally a bad wax), you may stare poco bene (be just a little well) or non sentirsi molto in forma (not feel in very good shape). Those who ammalarsi gravemente (are gravely ill) may avere un piede nella tomba (have one foot in the grave), essere spacciato (be done for), essere sul letto di morte (be on one’s deathbed), or essere tra la vita e la morte (be between life and death.

If you find yourself in such dire straits, you must guardare la morte in faccia (look death in the face) and reggere l’anima coi denti (hold on to your soul with your teeth). With luck and good care, you soon will rimettersi in salute (put yourself back into health).

Staying healthy (rimanere in buona salute) isn’t complicated. Go for a check-up (esame / visita medica di controllo) regularly. Don't smoke (non fumare). Eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day (porzioni di frutta e verdura al giorno).  Watch your weight (stai attento al tuo peso). Set aside time every day for exercise (attività fisica) as well as for silence and repose (silenzio e riposo). 

I asked Italians if they believe the English expression that “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Yes, they said, "Una mela al giorno leva il medico di torno." They also offered some advice for oral health: “Un bacio al giorno toglie il dentista di torno.” (A kiss a day keeps the dentist away.)

Words and Expressions

mettersi in malattia / essere in malattia -- to take sick leave from work, to be on sick leave

farne una malattia / fare una malattia di qualcosa -- to make oneself ill over something

Guarisci presto! -– Get well soon!

gli acciacchi dell’età –- the infirmities of old age

Prevenire è meglio che curare -- preventing is better than curing

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language.

Celebrating Carnevale in the Italian Language

Carnevale
Carnival

Thanks to my Catholic childhood, I could easily follow the Sunday mass in the tiny stone church of the Borgo Monte Vibiano Vecchio in Umbria.  Then the white-haired priest began to preach in ever more impassioned tones about the evils of “i peccati della carne,” which I translated literally into “the sins of the meat.”  

Had the Church reinstated its Friday ban on meat?  Had the dreaded mucca pazza (mad cow) returned?  I glanced at the dozen or so townspeople in attendance. Most were averting their eyes and looking embarrassed—or guilty. An Italian friend later explained why:  “carne” also means flesh, and a sermon on the sins of the flesh could discomfit almost anyone.

For centuries the pre-Lent festivities of carnevale sumptuously celebrated “carne” in every sense. However, the name comes specifically from the Latin for meat (carnem) and “take away or remove” (levare).  A church decree dating back to 653 declared that anyone who ate meat during the forty days of Lent (Quaresima in Italian) could not receive communion on Easter. Charlemagne reportedly sentenced Lenten meat-eaters  to death. 

The prospect of  long months without meat or merriment inspired Italians to gorge themselves  throughout -- and often long before -- la settimana grassa (the fat week) before Ash Wednesday. It also inspired a luscious vocabulary for the culinary treats of this festive time, such as the delicate fried pastries we might call fritters.  In Piedmont, they’re bugie (little lies); in Tuscany, cenci (rags); in Milan, chiacchiere (gossips); in Emilia-Romagna, lattughe (lettuce leaves).  Cooks elsewhere may call them nastri delle suore (nuns’ ribbons), galani or sfrappe and add ingredients such as raisins and anise.

The sin-drenched Venetian Republic was famous for indulgences of carne in its more sensual sense. During Carnevale, which lasted for months,  party-goers of all classes hid their identities behind elaborate maschere (masks).

Artisans known as mascherari gained fame for their exquisite creations, which came in three varieties.  The bauta covered the entire face but had no mouth opening and a lot of gilding.  The oval-shaped moretta was worn by women, often along with a veil. The full-face white larva (from the Latin for mask or ghost) was made of fine wax cloth.  For a dazzling display  of Venice’s Carnevale finery, click on this video:

 

Words and Expressions:

fare le frittelle –- literally, to make the fritters; to celebrate Carnival  
carnevalone –- the four extra days of Carnevale celebrated in places like Milan
carnevalata –- Carnival revelry
A Carnevale ogni scherzo vale –- Anything goes at Carnival time.
L’amore di Carnevale muore in Quaresima –- a love that starts during Carnival dies in Lent.

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language. 

Be My Valentine in the Italian Language

 

il tuo Valentino

your Valentine

On every February 15, the ancient Romans would celebrate a fertility festival called the Lupercalia with the sacrifice of a goat in the sacred cave dedicated to Romulus and Remus, the city’s legendary founders. Priests sliced the goat’s hide into strips and dipped them in the sacrificial blood. Boys would run through the streets, gently slapping women with the goatskin strips to enhance their fertility in the coming year. 

Later in the day, all the young unmarried women in the city would place their names in a large urn.  Rome’s bachelors each selected a name and became that woman’s sexual partner for the year in a sort of trial union that often led to marriage.

As it grew in power in the centuries following the birth of Christ, the Catholic Church abolished this pagan practice. In its stead it created the most romantic of saints’ days on February 14 to honor a martyred Roman priest named Valentino.  Although historical accounts differ, Valentino seems to have served in Rome in the third century A.D., when the Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for young men because he believed that bachelors made better soldiers. Valentino, sympathetic to young lovers, defied the decree and continued to perform weddings. 

Arrested and tortured, the tender-hearted priest developed a friendship with a young girl—perhaps his jailor’s daughter—who came to visit him. Some say they fell in love; others claim that he cured her blindness. Before being beheaded, the priest sent her a note that he signed, “il tuo Valentino.”  Lovers around the world have been using the same phrase ever since.

On Valentine’s Day, which has not been as commercialized in Italy as in the United States, Italian couples celebrate with dinner out, flowers, or the famous Baci Perugina, small, chocolate-covered hazelnuts wrapped with a poetic quote in four languages.

However you celebrate this happy day, I wish  you and your sweetheart a buona festa degli innamorati!   

Sweet Sayings for Your Valentine  

Mi sto innamorando di te -- I’m falling in love with you 

Sei l'amore della mia vita -- You are the love of my life 

Ti amo da impazzire/morire/alla follia -- I love you to go crazy, to die, to madness 

Sono pazzo di te -- I’m crazy about you 

Ti adoro -– I adore you

Voglio soltanto te –- I want only you

Sei l'amore della mia vita –- You are the love of my life

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language. 

Click below to hear a perfect song for lovers: "Ho voglio di te" (I want you):

The Most Romantic Words in the Italian Language

Frasi d’amore

Expressions of Love

This Valentine’s Day you might want to whisper some Italian paroline dolci (sweet nothings) in your partner’s ear. The classics never go out of style: “Amore”(Love). “Tesoro” (Darling). “Cuore mio” (My heart).  “Bella” (Lovely). “Gioia” (Joy). “Stella/stellina” (Star/little star). “Luce dei miei occhi” (Light of my eyes). But why not try some more creative nomignoli affettuosi (affectionate nicknames)? 

Many Italian endearments convey the same meaning as English ones, except with masculine (“o”) and feminine (“a”) endings. “Little one,” for instance, is piccolo/a; “dear,” caro/a; “dearest," carissimo/a. Other English terms don’t translate well into Italian—and vice versa. “Sweet pea” definitely loses some appeal when it turns into “pisello dolce.” "Nasone mio” (my great big nose) and microbino (little microbe) -- both of which I found on Italian websites -- won’t make any English speaker swoon.

In any language nicknames come in a variety of categories, including:

*Sweet: "Sweetheart”  translates as “innamorato/a,” which sounds too formal in Italian. "Sweetie" is better, but  rather than “dolcezza," you might say “ciccia,” "ciccina” or “cicci”--words that I, like many foreigners, mistakenly thought meant “fatty.” Or you could call your sweetie caramellino (little caramel), Babà (the name of a Sicilian cake), sorbettino (little sherbet), pasticcino (little pastry), cioccolatino (little chocolate) or biscottino (cookie)

*Animal: cucciolo  (little puppy), pulce (flea), tigrotto (little tiger), pulcino (chick), topino (little mouse), gattina (kitten), farfallina (little butterfly) or grillo (cricket)

*Tasty: patatina (little potato), cipollina (little onion), fragolina (little strawberry), merendina (little snack), polpetta (croquette) or formaggino (little cheese)  

*Playful: bambola/ bambolina (doll or little doll), gnomo (gnome), streghetta mia (my little witch), angioletto (little angel), fatina (fairy), scarpetta (tiny shoe) or fiorellino (little flower)

Click here to find many more examples, some more spicy than sweet.

A few Italian nome vezzeggiativi (terms of endearment) don’t have any specific meaning. So if you just want to express warmth and affection, try “tato” or “tatina” or "pucci." They can mean whatever you want them to.  But don’t stop with a pet name. Follow up with a frase d’amore, such as Vieni qui e baciami, amorino!  (Come here and kiss me!) It's guaranteed to work every time.

Romantic Expressions:

Ti voglio bene -– I like you, I love you, I want the very best for you.

Ti amo tanto -– I love you so much.

Sei la mia anima gemella -- You are my soulmate.

Ti penso ogni giorno -- I think of you every day.

Senza di te la mia vita non ha senso -- Without you my life makes no sense.

Non posso vivere senza te -- I can’t live without you.

Non potrò mai smettere d’amarti -- I could never stop loving you.

Voglio passare il resto della mia vita con te –- I want to spend the rest of my life with you.

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language. 

Click below for a delightful song about lovers and their nicknames.

"Snow Chaos" in the Italian Language

la neve

snow

When we were in Rome two winters ago, I asked if it might snow. “No,” everyone said. “Nevica a ogni morte di papa.” Literally, it snows “every death of the pope” (every time a pope dies) or once in a blue moon. Although the Pope remains alive and well, Rome saw its first nevicata (snowfall) in decades in 2010, but that was nothing compared to this year’s tempesta di neve (snow storm).

With almost sixteen inches of snow falling in the outskirts of Rome and more than nine feet in nearby regions last week, the result was “caos neve” (snow chaos), as these headlines reported:

• Traffico in tilt sulle autostrade (Traffic gridlocked on the highways)

• Roma totalmente paralizzata (Rome totally paralyzed)

• Interi paesi senza acqua ed elettricità (Entire towns without water and electricity)

• Aeroporti e autostrade chiusi (Airports and highways closed)

• Treni bloccati per ore (Trains blocked for hours)

• Persone morte per il freddo o per incidenti (People dead from the cold or in accidents)

• Disagi, situazioni di emergenza e tanta rabbia dei cittadini, costretti a trascorrere ore in auto o in stazione, in attesa di poter raggiungere casa (Inconvenience, emergency conditions and so much anger from citizens forced to pass hours in their cars or in stations waiting to be able to reach home)

Italian weather forecasters are warning, “L'ondata di freddo non è finita.” (The cold wave isn’t over.) The coming days are expected to bring ghiaccio e neve (ice and snow) to all of Italy. “Hai vinto, neve!” (You’ve won, snow), an Italian posted on Facebook. “Ci arrendiamo!” (We surrender). 

The youngsters in the photo above don't seem to mind the snowy weather (tempo nevoso). When snowed in (bloccata dalla neve), you might as well put on your snowboots (stivali da neve) and throw snowballs (lanciare palle di neve or giocare a palle di neve) -- or maybe make a snowman (un pupazzo di neve). 

Even some grown-ups are savoring Rome's transformation.  "Mi vergogno a dire che questi giornate per me sono state splendide" (I am embarassed to say that these days for me have been splendid), a friend writes,  "un silenzio incantato, il panorama magico e bianco dalle finestre, il piacere di stare in casa davanti al camino, con un buon vino--bellissimo!" (an enchanting silence, a magical and white view from the windows, the pleasure of being at home in front of the fireplace, with a good wine). Bellissimo indeed! 

Words and Expressions

bufera or tormenta di neve -- blizzard

fiocco di neve –- snowflake

nevoso, di neve -– snowy

spalare la neve –- shovel snow

spazzaneve –- snow plow

Biancaneve e i setti nani –- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language.

 

Happy Birthday to My Blog on the Italian Language!

 

Buon compleanno!

Happy Birthday!

This week I am celebrating the third birthday (festaggio il terzo compleanno)  of my website and blog. Three years ago I had no idea if anyone would share my passion for what I consider the world’s most loveable language.  I wanted only to create a site worthy of Italian and to reach out to as many Italo- and Italiano-philes as possible. 

I am amazed and delighted that there are so many of you! In their three years online, Becoming Italian and Becoming Italian Word by Word have attracted almost 500,000 visitors. According to a recent snapshot of visitors, one in three are from the United States, with another third coming from the United Kingdom, Italy, and Australia.  Others have come from dozens of countries on every continent—from Estonia to Kuwait to Japan to India to Ghana to Brazil to Oman. 

To all of you, all over the world, I say mille grazie (a thousand thank-yous) a hundred times over. I’ve loved having you visit, hearing your kind words, and sharing your experiences. 

As some of you have pointed out, we are all kindred spirits, united by a love for Italy, its language, its culture, and its people.  Teachers are using my book and blogs in their classes. Students at every level tell me that I’ve helped the language come alive for them. Travelers write that my book and blog add a wonderful new dimension to their trips to Italy. Italian-Americans say they are rediscovering a rich part of their heritage through them.  Some of you are launching Italian adventures of your own and  travelling to Italy to study the language or to visit the places I describe. I couldn’t be more thrilled. 

If you're on Facebook, come join our LA BELLA LINGUA open group. Everyone is welcome to post and participate. 

"Cent'anni!" (100 years!) Italians wish friends on their birthdays. My wish for my blog: a hundred more posts--at least!

Words and Expressions  

Quanti anni hai? -- Literally, how many years do you have? How old are you? 

essere avanti con gli anni -- to be getting on in years 
 

spegnere le candeline -- blow out the birthday candles 

Quando compi gli anni?/ Quand’è il tuo compleanno? -- When is your birthday? 

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language.

"Tanti auguri a te" is the equivalent of the English "Happy Birthday to You" song. Click below to listen: