Becoming Italian Word by Word

Summer in the Italian Language: Sailing

La barca

The boat

For years we sailed San Francisco Bay in a boat called Canto del Mare (Song of the Sea). When we started sailing in Italy, we had to master a new maritime vocabulary, starting with the names for various Italian boats (imbarcazioni italiane):

    *Rowboat — barca a remi

    *Sailboat — barca a vela

    *Sailing ship — veliero

    *Motor boat — motoscafo

    *Cruise ship — nave da crociera

    *Ferry — traghetto

    *Hydrofoil — aliscafo, from ali for wings

    *Steamboat, waterbus (in Venice) — vaporetto

    *Raft -- zattera

We also had to learn words to use on board. Starboard (to the right) translates as tribordo; port (to the left), as babordo. The bow or front of a barca is called the prua; the stern, the poppa; the helm, the timone. Also good to know: giubbotto salvagente (life vest). The word cambusa doubles as the name for a boat’s galley and for an on-board cook.

During our sailing days in San Francisco, my husband would take the helm (stare al timone or, figuratively, prendere il comando) as capitano and navigatore. The crew (l’equipaggio) consisted of me. Although I’d never make the grade as a sailor (marinaio), I learned how to hoist (issare) and lower (calare) the sails (le vele)—not always easy in rough seas (mare mosso). These days I’d probably qualify only as a mozzo (ship’s boy).

Even on dry land, you may hear una barca di (a lot of) nautical sayings. On land or sea you and your companions might be stranded by a storm and end up nella stessa barca (in the same boat). In hard times, you may have to do whatever you can to mandare avanti la barca (send the boat forward or keep afloat) or barcamenarsi (manage or cope). But if you’re prone to mal di mare (seasickness), you may want to stick to navigare su internet (sailing/browsing the web).

Words and Expressions

A gonfie vele -- at full sail, things are going very well 


Marinaio della domenica — Sunday or fair-weather sailor

Club nautico –- boat club

In tempo di tempesta ogni buco è un porto -- any port in a storm

Tirare i remi in barca –- to back down, give something a rest (pull the oars into the boat)

Lupo di mare –- old salt, sea dog (literally, sea wolf)

Persona navigata –- experienced, world-wise

Dianne Hales is the author of MONA LISA: A Life Discovered and LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language.

 

 

The Winter Olympics in the Italian Language

I Giochi Olimpici

The Olympic Games

Once again the Olympics are underway, reminding us of their power to bring people together and create ties among them (il potere di riunire le persone e creare legami tra loro).

The Winter Olympics (Olimpiadi invernali) in the host city (città ospitante) of PyeongChang in South Korea (Corea del Sud) began with an impressive opening ceremony (la ceremonia di apertura) that featured the parade of nations (la parata della nazioni), the singing of the Olympic hymn (l'inno olimpico), the arrival of the torchbearer (il tedoforo) and the lighting of the Olympic flame (la fiamma olimpica).

The Games have brought together athletes (atlete) from around the world, with 92 countries and 2,920 athletes participating in 102 events in 15 sports.  La squadra italiana (the Italian team) consists of 120 members. The oldest (il più anziano) is a 37-year-old snowboarder (snowboardista) while the youngest (la più giovane) is a 17-year-old jumper (saltatrice), the first "millennial" to represent Italy in the Olympics.

Some of the sports of the Winter Olympics go by their English names: snowboard, curling, short track, biathlon and skeleton. Others may expand your Italian vocabulary (at they did mine):

    *Sci alpino (Alpine skiing), including discesa libera (downhill), super-g, slalom gigante (giant slalom), slalom speciale e combinata (special and combined slalom)

   *Sci di fondo (cross-country skiing)

    *Pattinaggio di figura (figure skating), with le gare di pattinaggio artistico (artistic skating competitions) for men, women and couples, along with la danza su ghiaccio (ice dancing)

    *Hockey su ghiaccio (ice hockey), with i tornei (tournaments) for men and women

    *Slittino (sledding)

    *Combinata nordica (Nordic combined), una combinazione di salto con gli sci e sci di fondo (a combination of ski jumping and cross-country skiing)

    *Salto con gli sci (ski jumping)

    *Pattinaggio di velocità (speed skating), with races ranging from 500 to 10,000 meters 

Athletes may strive to break a personal record (il record personale) or an Olympic record (il record olympico). Some may set a new world record (un nuovo record del mondo). At every awards ceremony the winners (i vincitori) mount the podium (salgono sul podio) and receive three medals: bronze (il bronzo), silver (l'argento) and gold (l'oro) as the national anthem (inno nazionale)  of the gold medal winner plays.

Words and Expressions

La squadra nazionale -- the national team

Tuta da sci –- snowsuit

Villaggio olimpico –- Olympic Village

Mondovisione -– worldwide broadcast

Spirito sportivo –- sportsmanship

Più veloce, più in alto, più forte -- the Olympic motto: faster, higher, stronger

Dianne Hales is the author of  MONA LISA: A Life Discovered and LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language.

 

 

Talking about the Olympics in the Italian Language

I Giochi Olimpici

The Olympic Games

The Olympics have the power to bring people together and create ties among them (il potere di riunire le persone e creare legami tra loro). To encourage communication among people of different countries and languages, the team at MosaLingua, an application for learning languages quickly with interactive activities, has created an electronic Survival Conversation Phrasebook to Rio 2016 that provides “all you need to know to talk about the Summer Olympic Games” (tutto quel che devi sapere per parlare delle Olympiadi) in six languages, including Italian. Learning a little of the jargon of sports (un po' di gergo dello sport) in another language, its authors note, can add another dimension to your enjoyment of the Games.

Everyone talks about the highlights of the opening ceremony (la ceremonia di apertura) -- the parade of nations (la parata della nazioni), the singing of the Olympic hymn (l'inno olimpico) and the lighting of the  Olympic flame (la fiamma olimpica).  Excitement builds as athletes compete to fulfill the Olympic motto: “Più veloce, più in alto, più forte” (faster, higher, stronger).

Races typically begin with a call of “Pronti, partenza, via!” (On your mark, get ready, go!). Athletes strive to break a personal record (il record personale) or an Olympic record (il record olympico). Some may set a new world record (un nuovo record del mondo). At every awards ceremony the winners (i vincitori) mount the podium (il podio) and receive three medals: bronze (il bronzo), silver (l’argento) and gold (l’oro).

The digital guide features the most used phrases and expressions (le frasi e le espressioni più usate) for discussing various sports (i vari sport).   In track and field, for instance, the events include:

     *Il lancio del disco (discus throw)

     *Il lancio del giavellotto (javelin throw)

     *100 metri a ostacoli (100-meter hurdles)

     *Il salto con l’asta (pole vault)

     *Il salto triplo (triple jump)

     *Il salto in lungo (long jump)

     *Il salto in alto (high jump)

     *Il lancio del martello (hammer throw)

The most dramatic is the competition to become l’uomo  più veloce del mondo (the fastest man in the world) in the corsa dei 100 metri (100 meter race). 

In gymnastics (ginnastica), you can watch gravity-defying performances on the balance beam (la trave), parallel bars (le parallele), rings (gli anelli) and uneven bars (le parallele asimmetriche). My favorites are the swimming competitions, which include:

        *Il dorso (backstroke)

        *La rena (breaststroke)

        *La farfalle (butterfly)

        *Lo stilo libero (the freestyle)

        *Lo stile misto (medley swimming)

        *Il trampolino (springboard diving)

To all the competitors, in bocca al lupo (good luck)!

Words and Expressions

L'atleta -- the athlete

Città ospitante -- host city

Maratona -– marathon

La squadra nazionale –- the national team

Click here to read Mosalingua’s blog on the new guide and here for the Olympic phrasebook. 

Dianne Hales is the author of the New York Times best-selling LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language and MONA LISA: A Life Discovered. 

The Queens of Tennis in the Italian Language

Le regine del tennis

Two Italian women rewrote sports history (la storia dello sport) last weekend. Against all odds, Roberta Vinci defeated the seemingly invincible Serena Williams. Then in an all-Italian final, Flavia Pennetta won the gleaming U.S Open trophy. After the victory, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who flew over to cheer his countrywomen (connazionali), declared: “Gli Usa parlano italiano” (The USA speaks Italian).

The two Italian athletes (le due atlete italiane) were indeed the talk of the town—in New York and everywhere else. Although both had long and successful careers in professional tennis, hardly anyone outside Italy or the sports world knew their names.

Flavia Pennetta from Brindisi, the first Italian woman ranked among the top ten players in the world (le prime dieci giocatrici del mondo), is considered by some the best female Italian player ever (la miglior giocatrice italiana di sempre). Click here for some of the reasons she won America's heart.

Roberta Vinci from Taranto was ranked as number 43 before the U.S. Open. A striking series of victories (una strepitosa serie di successi) brought her to the semifinals to face the formidable player the Italian press calls “Big Serena,” a living myth of modern tennis (un mito vivente del tennis moderno). Legions of fans were waiting for the moment of triumph (il momento del trionfo) when she could clench four “Grand Slams” in a single calendar year.

The two Italian tenniste first picked up rackets (hanno preso le racchette da tennis in mano) at age six. They began playing together at a tennis camp when they were nine years old (avevano nove anni). After decades as teammates, they describe themselves as more sisters than friends (più sorelle che amiche). Even after Roberta lost the final to Flavia, both shared the joy of a great victory for Italy and for women’s tennis (una grande vittoria per l’Italia e per il tennis femminile).

A game similar to tennis dates back to ancient times. According to Homer, the beautiful daughter of a Phoenician king had been playing a “ball-in-hand” game on the beach before rescuing the shipwrecked Odysseus. In France jeu-de-paume (game with your palm), the favorite sport (lo sport prediletto) of kings and aristocrats, involved throwing a small leather ball (palla) with a gloved hand over a rope separating a field in half.

In the mid-sixteenth century, an Italian priest from Salo introduced wooden pallets, a precursor of current rackets.  Players in France would call out “Tenez!” (Hold!) before putting the ball in play. British players mangled the word into “Teni!” and then “Tennis.”

In Italian lob translates as pallonetto; service,  as servizio; fault, as fallo; return, as rimessa; forehand, as dritto; and backhand, as rovescio. However, Italian uses the English terms for “break” and “match point.”  A "slam" is a slam, and a Grand Slam is just as grande in Italian as in English.

Another tennis term that does not translate into Italian is “love,” the starting score for players. Some say it derives from the French l’oeuf for egg, which resembles a zero. Others contend that it underscores the reason men and women play the game: for love. And love, in every language, is what surrounded the two regal Italians crowned with glory in a stadium located in a New York City borough called Queens.

Words and Expressions

Campo da tennis -- tennis court

Palla da tennis -- tennis ball

Tennis doppio -- doubles

Raccattapalle -– ball boy  

Dianne Hales is the author of MONA LISA: A Life Discovered, now in paperback, and LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language.

 Click below to see the final moments of the final match.

 

Once in a Red Moon in the Italian Language

luna rossa, luna blu 

red moon, blue moon 

“Che fai tu, luna, in ciel, dimmi, che fai?” the writer Giacomo Leopardi (1798 –1837) asked in one of his most famous poems. “What are you doing, moon, in the sky, tell me, what are you doing?”

Every culture, from ancient Babylon to Egypt to Greece, has been captivated by il potere della luna (the power of the moon). Una luna italiana is no ordinary heavenly body. One of the most magical sights I’ve seen in Italy is the rising of una luna rossa (a red moon) from the sea. Scientists explain this as un’illusione ottica (an optical illusion) that occurs when the moon is bassa sull’orizzonte (low on the horizon). It appears red for the same reason that il sole all’orizzonte (the sun on the horizon) is red —la stessa illusione ottica (the same optical illusion).

But the “Luna Rossa” -- the name of the Italian sailing team that competes in international races -- that shimmered on San Francisco Bay last week was no illusion. Nella settima e conclusiva prova (in the seventh and final race) of the America’s Cup World Series, the Luna Rossa Piranha, one of two Prada-sponsored boats, ha vinto (won). La squadra (the team), headed by the British Olympian Chris Draper, placed seconda nella classifica finale (second in the final rankings) -– behind one of the U.S.A.’s Oracle-sponsored boats and ahead of Team Korea.

This week brings a moon of a different color: blu (blue), which describes la seconda luna piena in un mese (second full moon in a month). It can occur only when the first moon becomes full at the very beginning of the month, which happens every two or three years. And so we describe an uncommon event as happening “once in a blue moon.” The expression would literally translate as “una volta ogni luna blu,” but Italians don’t use this phrase. Instead they say “a ogni morte di papa” (at every death of a pope) -- a far rarer event.

La luna, which can also be nuova (new), crescente (waxing) or calante (waning), doesn’t just appear in Italy's night sky. Someone with extravagant wishes may be said to chiedere la luna (ask for the moon). Italians refer to a fetus as being ancora nel mondo della luna (still in the world of the moon, or not yet born).

Some folks are so absentminded or detached from reality that they seem to vivere nel mondo della luna (live in the world of the moon) while others are so cranky that they avere la luna storta (have the crooked moon). In these hard times more people find themselves struggling to sbarcare il lunario (make ends meet).

An Italian lunatico may be temperamental but isn’t necessarily as wacky as an English lunatic. But do watch out for anyone who tries to fare vedere la luna nel pozzo (make you see the moon in a well). He’s just stringing you along.

Words and Expressions

lunario –- almanac

lunarista –- almanac maker, weather predictor

luna park –- amusement park

luna di miele –- honeymoon

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

For a dramatic video of the launch of Luna Rossa, click below:

Soccer and Shame in the Italian Language

 

vergogna 

shame 

“VERGOGNA!” the headlines in the Italian papers screamed as the Azzurri (The Blues), defending champions, exited the 2010 World Cup in the first round. Everyone—including the players themselves—seemed to agree that they had brought vergogna (shame) to Italy, a grave offense in a country that prizes “bella figura” and considers calcio (soccer) a national religion. 

"Ora ci faranno cavalieri della vergogna” (Now they make us Knights of Shame), Rino Gattuso, one of the players (calciatori), commented, “ed è giusto così" (and justly so). La Repubblica published a photo gallery of “le lacrime” (the tears) of the sobbing Azzurri after “la grande delusione” (the great disappointment). “Siamo distrutti” (“We are destroyed” said another member of the squad. “Il rammarico è enorme” (The chagrin is enormous.) 

A small group of tifosi (fans, so-named because they act as feverishly as typhus or tifo patients) greeted the returning players in Rome with chants of “Vergognatevi, vergogna!” (Shame on you, shame!) 

Vergogna (which contains the wonderfully Italian “gn” sound, as in gnocchi) carries the weight of centuries of meaning. Some seven hundred years ago Dante, father of the language, used it for “onta, disdoro, disonore” (shame, disgrace, dishonor). The medieval poet had very clear ideas of the consequences it deserved. 

In his epic Divine Comedy, those who acted vergognosamente (disgracefuly) on earth spent eternity being whipped, bitten, crucified, burned, butchered, transformed into snakes and shrubs, buried alive in flaming graves, skewered into rocky ground, frozen in ice and immersed in pitch, mud, excrement or boiling blood. 

Italians who brought vergogna to the people have also faced punishment at the hands of their countrymen. In the 15th century Florentines turned on Savonarola, the charismatic monk who destroyed books, jewelry, furniture and masterpieces of art in his infamous “bonfire of the vanities.” First they tortured him on the rack for three days (breaking every bone in his body except for those in the hand he needed to sign a confession of heresy), hanged him and then cremated his body in a giant blaze that burned for hours. 

A single death also wasn’t enough for  reviled dictator Benito Mussolini. After the fall of the fascist regime, Italian partisans caught and executed Il Duce along with his mistress near Lake Como. Their bodies, taken to Milan, were kicked, spat upon and hung upside down on meathooks from the roof of a gas station. A crowd threw stones and shouted insults. 

No one is suggesting such an extreme fate for the Azzurri, but for some time to come, wherever the famous (now infamous) players go, they are likely to hear whispers, if not cries, of “Vergogna!” 

As human beings shamed to their very souls, they have my sympathy. Yes, the Azzurri lost a world championship and injured national pride. But  more deserving of shouts of “Vergogna!” are those responsible for far graver consequences. My list would include the folks in charge at BP, Bernie Madoff and Wall Street wheeler-dealers,  who  all have so often seemed senza vergogna (shameless). 

Words and Expressions 

sentire vergogna -- to feel ashamed 

rosso di vergogna -- blushing with shame 

vergognoso -- has two different meanings: shy, bashful, timid or shameful, disgraceful, outrageous.

la vergogna della famiglia -- the black sheep of the family 

Grazie to Bob Sanfilippo for suggesting this topic! Click below to see a happier moment: the Azzurri singing Italy's national anthem before their first match at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Dianne Hales is author of La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language.