Italian For Dummies

Chapter 1

Saying It Like It Is

In This Chapter

Taking note of the little Italian you know

Looking at popular expressions and cognates

Learning basic Italian pronunciation

Using gestures

You probably know that Italian is a Romance language, which means that Italian, just like Spanish, French, Portuguese, and some other languages, is a "child" of Latin. There was a time when Latin was the official language in a large part of Europe because the Romans ruled so much of the area. Before the Romans came, people spoke their own languages, and the mixture of these original tongues with Latin produced many of the languages and dialects still in use today.

If you know one of these Romance languages you can often understand bits of another one of them. But just as members of the same family can look very similar but have totally different personalities, so it is with these languages. People in different areas speak in very different ways due to historical or social reasons, and even though Italian is the official language, Italy has a rich variety of dialects. Some dialects are so far from Italian that people from different regions cannot understand each other.

Despite the number of different accents and dialects, you will be happy to discover that everybody understands the Italian you speak and you understand theirs. (Italians don't usually speak in their dialect with people outside their region.)

You Already Know Some Italian!

Although Italians are very proud of their language, they have allowed some English words to enter it. They talk, for example, about gadgets, jogging, feeling and shock; they often use the word okay; and since computers have entered their lives, they say "cliccare sul mouse" (kleek-kah-reh soohl mouse) (to click the mouse). Finally, there's lo zapping (loh zap-ping), which means switching TV channels with the remote. These are only a few of the flood of English words that have entered the Italian language.

In the same way, many Italian words are known in English-speaking countries. Can you think of some?

How about . . .

pizza (peet-tsah)

pasta (pahs-tah)

spaghetti (spah-geht-tee)

tortellini (tohr-tehl-lee-nee)

mozzarella (moht-tsah-rehl-lah)

espresso (ehs-prehs-soh)

cappuccino (kahp-pooh-chee-noh)

panino (pah-nee-noh): For one sandwich: for two or more, the word is panini (pah-nee-nee)

biscotti (bees-koht-tee) (cookies): One cookie is a biscotto (bees-koht-toh)

tiramisù (tee-rah-mee-sooh)

Incidentally, did you know that tiramisù literally means "pull me up"? This refers to the fact that this sweet is made with strong Italian espresso.

You may have heard words from areas other than the kitchen, such as the following:

amore (ah-moh-reh): This is the word "love" that so many Italian songs tell about.

avanti (ah-vahn-tee): You use this word as "come in!" and also "come on!" or "get a move on!"

bambino (bahm-bee-noh): This is a male child. The female equivalent is bambina (bahm-bee-nah).

bravo! (brah-voh): You can properly say this word only to one man. To a woman, you must say "brava!" (brah-vah), and to a group of people, you say "bravi!" (brah-vee) unless the group is composed only of women, in which case you say "brave!" (brah-veh).

ciao! (chou): Ciao means "hello" and "goodbye."

scusi (skooh-zee): This word stands for "excuse me" and "sorry" and is addressed to persons you don't know or to whom you speak formally. You say "scusa" (scooh-zah) to people you know and to children.

You've heard at least some of these words, haven't you? This is just a little taste of all the various words and expressions you'll get to know in this book.

Cognates

In addition to the words that have crept into the language directly, Italian and English have many cognates. A cognate is a word in one language that has the same origin as a word in another one and may sound similar. You can get an immediate picture of what cognates are from the following examples:

aeroporto (ah-eh-roh-pohr-toh) (airport)

attenzione (aht-tehn-tsyoh-neh) (attention)

comunicazione (koh-mooh-nee-kah-tsyoh-neh) (communication)

importante (eem-pohr-tahn-teh) (important)

incredibile (een-kreh-dee-bee-leh) (incredible)

You understand much more Italian than you think you do. Italian and English are full of cognates. To demonstrate, read this little story with some Italian words and see how easy it is for you to understand.

It seems impossibile (eem-pohs-see-bee-leh) to him that he is now at the aeroporto (ah-eh-roh-pohr-toh) in Rome. He always wanted to come to this città (cheet-tah). When he goes out on the street, he first calls a taxi (tah-ksee). He opens his bag to see if he has the medicina (meh-dee-chee-nah) that the dottore (doht-toh-reh) gave him. Going through this terribile traffico (tehr-ree-bee-leh trahf-fee-koh), he passes a cattedrale (kaht-teh-drah-leh), some sculture (skoohl-tooh-reh), and many palazzi (pah-laht-tsee). He knows that this is going to be a fantastico (fahn-tahs-tee-koh) journey.

Popular expressions

Every language has expressions that you use so often that they almost become routine. For example, when you give something to somebody and he or she says, "Thank you," you automatically reply, "You're welcome!" This type of popular expression is an inseparable part of every language. When you know these expressions and how to use them, you're on the way to really speaking Italian.

The following are some of the most common popular expressions in Italian:

Accidenti! (ahch-chee-dehn-tee) (Wow!/Darn it!)

Andiamo! (ahn-dyah-moh) (Let's go!)

Che c'è? (keh cheh) (What's up?)

D'accordo? D'accordo! (dahk-kohr-doh) (Agreed? Agreed!)

E chi se ne importa? (eh kee seh neh eem-pohr-tah) (Who cares?)

È lo stesso. (eh loh stehs-soh) (It's all the same; It doesn't matter.)

Fantastico! (fahn-tahs-tee-koh) (Fantastic!)

Non fa niente. (nohn fah nee-ehn-teh) (Don't worry about it. It doesn't matter.) You say " Non fa niente" when someone apologizes to you for something.

Non c'è di che. (nohn cheh dee keh) (You're welcome.)

Permesso? (pehr-mehs-soh) (May I pass/come in?) Italians use this expression every time they cross a threshold entering a house or when passing through a crowd.

Stupendo! (stooh-pehn-doh) (Wonderful!; Fabulous!)

Va bene! (vah beh-neh) (Okay!)

Mouthing Off: Basic Pronunciation

Italian provides many opportunities for your tongue to do acrobatics. This is really fun, because the language offers you some new sounds. In this section, I give you some basic pronunciation hints that are important both for surfing through this book and for good articulation when you speak Italian. First, I'd like to make a deal with you. Next to the Italian words throughout this book you find the pronunciation in parentheses. In the following sections, I give you some helpful hints about how to read these pronunciations - that is, how to pronounce the Italian words. The deal is that you and I have to agree on which letters refer to which sounds. You have to follow this code all through this book.

In the pronunciations, I separate the syllables with a hyphen, like this: casa (kah-zah) (house). Furthermore, I italicize the stressed syllable, which means that you put the stress of the word on the italicized syllable. (See the section "Stressing Words Properly," later in this chapter, for more information about stresses.) If you learn the correct pronunciation in this chapter, starting with the alphabet, you may even forego the pronunciation spelling provided, and read it like a real Italian.

The...