This week, we’ve got a special guest back with us, Italian Stefano. He speaks loads of languages, so he’s going to give us his tips on how to speak Italian this year.
Learn more in episode #77 of five minute Italian
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Vocabulary: How to practice speaking Italian
- Per imparare a parlare l’italiano = to learn to speak Italian
- bisogna usarlo! = you need to use it!
- Per = in order to
- Imparare = learn
- A = to
- Parlare = speak
- L’italiano = Italian
- Bisogna = you need to, lit. it’s necessary to
- Usarlo = use it
- Ecco tre suggerimenti su come fare = here are three suggestions on how to do it
- Ecco = here are
- Tre = three
- suggerimenti = suggestions
- Su = on/about
- Come = how
- Fare = to do it (lit. to do)
- Per fare pratica = To practice
- Per = in order to
- Fare = to do
- Pratica = practice
- S: Si può parlare da soli = You can speak to yourself.
- Si può = you can (lit. “one” can)
- Da soli = alone
- Si possono cercare persone con cui parlare di persona = you can look for people to speak to in person
- Oppure online = or online.
- Si possono = one can, for when the thing is plural
- Cercare = look for
- Persone = people
- Con = with
- Cui = whom
- Di persona = in person
- Oppure = or
- Online = which is of course, online.
- Si può mangiare la pizza = you can eat pizza
- Si possono mangiare gli spaghetti = you can eat spaghetti (gli spaghetti is plural).
- Si può viaggiare = you can travel
- Non si può = you can’t (lit. one can’t)
- Possiamo parlare in italiano? = Can we speak in Italian?
- Vorrei imparare! = I’d like to learn!
- Possiamo = can we
- In = in
- Italiano = italian
- Vorrei = I’d like
- Imparare = to learn
Quiz: How to practice speaking Italian
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Transcript: How to practice speaking Italian
Please note that this is not a word for word transcript – in the podcast you’ll get lots more practical tips on how to apply these ideas to your Italian study sessions.
Per imparare a parlare l’italiano, bisogna usarlo! Ecco tre suggerimenti su come fare.
Per fare pratica…
Numero 1: Si può parlare da soli.
Numero 2: Si possono cercare persone con cui parlare di persona, oppure online
Numero 3: Si può viaggiare.
K: So the first line was:
S: Per imparare a parlare l’italiano, bisogna usarlo!
K: To learn to speak Italian, you need to use it!
S:
Per = in order to
Imparare = learn
A = to
Parlare = speak
L’italiano = Italian
Bisogna = you need to, lit. it’s necessary to
Usarlo = use it
K: Next
S: Ecco tre suggerimenti su come fare.
K:
Ecco = here are
Tre = three
suggerimenti = suggestions
Su = about
Come = how
Fare = to do it (lit. to do)
S: Per fare pratica…
K: To practice
S:
Per = in order to
Fare = to do
Pratica = practice
K: Now let’s get into the tips. The first suggestion was:
S: Si può parlare da soli
K: You can speak to yourself. Now let’s look at the literal translation, because there’s something interesting in there
S:
Si può = one can
Parlare = speak
Da soli = alone
K: So we can see that sometimes, to say “to yourself” in Italian, you can simply say “alone”. But perhaps more interesting here is the “si può”, which literally means “one can”. This structure sounds very antiquated in English, a little like how the queen speaks, but Italians use this “one can” all the time, so it’s important to get used to it.
K: Then numero due was:
S: Si possono cercare persone con cui parlare di persona, oppure online
K: You can look for people to speak to in person, or online. Here’s another example of how Italian uses these more antiquated structures, because we get this “with whom” in the middle. It’s literally:
S:
Si possono = one can, for when the thing is plural (more on this soon)
Cercare = look for
Persone = people
Con = with
Cui = whom
Parlare = to speak
Di persona = in person
Oppure = or
Online = which is of course, online.
K: This time, instead of “si può”, we have “si possono”. Why is that?
S: Basically because the thing that follows is a plural noun. For example:
In Italia, si può mangiare la pizza
In Italia, si possono mangiare gli spaghetti (in Italian, gli spaghetti is plural).
K: And the last one, numero tre…
S: Si può viaggiare.
K. You can travel. Literally one can travel. So here again, we see this “si può”
S: To make the negative, you can also add “non”.
Non si può = you can’t (lit. one can’t)
K: And being in the country can be really helpful, but there are loads of pitfalls. Some that I’ve had are: feeling shy or a bit silly or childlike, or maybe even like you’re putting a burden on the other person because the conversation is really slow. And of course the fact that everyone speaks English to you. One way to mitigate these problems that I’ve found useful in the past is to simply say “can we speak Italian, I’d like to learn”. That way you immediately get people on your side, lots of people will be happy to hear that you’re learning Italian and also happy to help. Obviously, if you ask in Italian, it’s even better:
S: Possiamo parlare in italiano? Vorrei imparare!
Possiamo = can we
Parlare = to speak
In = in
Italiano = italian
Vorrei = I’d like
Imparare = to learn
That’s it for today, I hope you found this episode useful and these ideas will help you make some progress in speaking Italian this year. Grazie Stefano!
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