Talk-ITalian !

Oggi il caffè era chiuso, come la settiman scorsa. Il proprietorio è sentito male. Pensiamo che lui abbia avuto un attacco di cuore ma non sappiamo per sicuro. Si riposa alla casa ora. Comunque, undici persone sono venute al gruppo, in un caffè vicino, malgrado sapere che il caffè 'Room for Food' sarebbe chiuso. Secondo me, questo mostra che abbiamo un buono gruppo. Tutti sono amici e piaciamo la riunione insieme. O forse c'è un'altra ragione - non amiamo le faccende domestiche!

I am losing my memory! I loaned a Don Matteo DVD to someone and can't remember who. If it's you, may I have it back please?
But while I'm making this request, it's an opportunity to recommend the Don Matteo DVDs to you. I think they are brilliant. This is an Italian TV series about a Priest who solves crime. The programs are family orientated so are good wholesome stories with a touch of humour thrown in. The language is not fast, so it can be reasonably followed and there is always the option of English sub-titles. The DVD boxed sets are not cheap but each DVD in a set has 4 episodes each an hour long.
Beware. Unless you know that you have a DVD player that plays all regions, do ensure that the DVD is rated for region 2 (ie to play on European DVD players). Amazon info will tell you.
I love these and intend to suggest another boxed set for a Christmas present. Check them out here..
on Amazon

Yes, it surprised me too. I came across this in the Telegraph - Italian section. Apparently, in some areas of Italy you can now be fined for kissing in the car, feeding stray cats or even making sand-castles on the beach.
Check it out here - Telegraph Italian News article
A few other things are mentioned too; like no noisy wooden clogs in Capri.

If you follow the News link in the tabs above and go to the current Telegraph News page, there are quite few interesting titbits of news to read. Page down the Corriere Della Sera too - you can work out and understand quite a bit.
Here's another Telegraph link worth having Telegraph Latest Italian News. Just look here how many headlines there are about Silvio Berlusconi. Poor chap; he has a hard time!

ARGH!
PAST PARTICIPLES




The past participle we know and love, is typical, insomuch as it follows the one Italian cardinal rule; -

..which is.. 'there are always exceptions to the rule' !

Yup! As soon as you have learnt the rules for the past participle;
namely; -are verbs to -ato; -ere verbs to -uto; -ire verbs to -ito
..then you find that there are plenty of exceptions; and guess what, they appear to be many of the most common verbs.

These past participles are used, not just with the present perfect tense, but also with the past perfect (pluperfect), the future perfect, the subjunctive past and subjunctive past perfect, and the conditional past. Then, of course, don't forget that they are also used as adjectives.

Most of us know the basic rule that, when used with essere, the past participle changes its' ending, like an adjective, to agree with the subject , whether it is one of the transative verbs or a reflexive verb.
eg. lui e' stato; lei e' stata; noi siamo stati.

Then of course we know that the past participle used with avere does not change its' ending. Aha - not true!
True, the past participle does not change to agree with the subject, as the essere verbs do, BUT.. it does agree with the object though, where A PRONOUN, used to replace the object, is placed BEFORE the past participle.
Look at the endings of these past participles used with avere;
eg. Ho preso la matita - I took the pencil.
but.. La ho presa - I took it.
also.. Hai mangiato la mela? - Sì, l'ho mangiata - Yes, I have eaten it.
also.. Ho visto Carlo ieri - and - L'ho visto ieri - I saw him yesterday.
and.. Ho visto Maria ieri - but - L'ho vista ieri - I saw her yesterday.

Anyway, the thing is, it's a good idea to try and rote learn some of the most used irregular past participles.
How many do you know? Take the test here.. good luck!
http://www.roomforitalian.co.uk/classpractice.html

Chi è questa persona?
I found an excellent Italian website today (www.lifeinitaly.com) that is worth you putting in your favourite bookmarks. In the 'learn italian' section I found this intriguing article that shows you the lyrics of a song, in Italian, sung by the young lady in the photo. Except that various phrases are ommitted and you are asked to complete them for a bit of Italian practice. Not very difficult but fun. Take a look; see if you guessed who the lady is; have a go at the exercise; and check out the rest of the site too.
Go to.. http://www.lifeinitaly.com/Italian/beginner

Thank you to Mervyn, from our Italian Language Cafe, for submitting this encouraging article. Having read this I have been out and bought two notebooks. My problem is still routine, or self discipline, but I'm working on it. (David)

My approach to language learning, by Mervyn Brown

The five essential ingredients are: talking, routine, notebooks, listening, reading

Talking

Obviously there is no better way of learning to talk Italian than practising talking to Italians. Unfortunately this is not always easy to achieve for us UK-bound people, so you have to do the best you can with occasional visits to Italy, classes or the Italian Language Café!

Routine (discipline)

Routine is an essential element. You have to go through a reasonably systematic , planned course, to cover mysteries like the conditional and the subjunctive, unless you have got enough self-discipline and perseverance to go through a course (like “Italianissimo”) by yourself. I also think that a daily discipline of 20-30 minutes a day studying is a good idea.

Notebooks

This idea I got from Heinrich Schliemann, the German archaeologist (he excavated the site of Troy) He spoke 12 languages, mostly self-taught. He recommends always carrying a notebook with you. I have notebooks for Italian-English words (e.g. scalzo, trascurare, miope), English-Italian words (at a much more basic level: rope, recipe, old-fashioned, Indian), English-Italian phrases (is involved in, it took 20 minutes, New Year’s Eve, Good Luck!). I have got drawers full of these notebooks, some at home, some at work and some in my briefcase. If you have always got a notebook with you, you need not waste a moment of your life from now on! You look at a notebook when you are in a waiting in a waiting room, queue or traffic jam, or doing a boring job like digging the garden or painting a wall, etc. You have the words or phrases to be tested on the left hand side and the answers, covered up, on the right hand side. When you are going through a notebook for the twentieth time, you begin to find that you get most of the answers right. A notebook is tangible evidence of the progress you have made.

Listening

This is the next best thing to talking. You have to find programmes that are at the right level for you. I like “Qui si parla Italiano” with Prof Giuseppe Patota. See - http://mobile.international.rai.it/quisiparlaitaliano/archivio_puntate.php?edizione=last

Reading

Reading is good. I like children’s books (e.g. “Guerra alla grande melanzana” by Stefano Bordiglioni (for children “da 8 anni in poi”), “Favole al telefono” by Gianni Rodari, and my most recent love, “E se covano i lupi” by Paola Mastrocola. Then there is “Corriere della sera” or another newspaper. Then there are amusing and interesting web sites like “The Smiling Eggplant” (recommended) (http://smilingeggplant.blogspot.com/search/label/Language) . The main thing is to ring the changes, and read something (anything) every day. I look forward to hearing other suggestions!

This is me modeling my fake D&G leather belt that I bought from a street vendor whilst taking a walk along Lake Garda, about 4 years ago. I like it. But I can't wear it in Italy any more or I risk a fine. Since then laws have been introduced making it illegal to sell or buy fake goods.

The following was reported in the Telegraph two days ago.

Fake bag fines for tourists in Italy
Tourists buying fake designer goods on holiday in Italy have been warned to think twice after a woman was fined 1000 euros (£825) for buying a handbag. Austrian pensioner Ursula Corel, 65, was spotted handing over seven euros for a Louis Vuitton handbag copy from a street vendor. She was spotted by the officers as they scanned crowds with high powered binoculars from a lifeguards watch tower in the resort of Jesolo, near Venice.

To be fair Italy does have a problem..

One of the biggest problem facing Italy at the present time is counterfeiting and copyright piracy. Italy has the highest piracy rates in Western Europe, particularly in the fields of entertainment software and business software applications. Estimated trade losses are over $1.4bn.
Counterfeit CDs and DVDs are openly sold in public and while the world-famous Italian fashion industry has been heavily hit, there is now a trend in favour of imported counterfeit goods from non- Italian brands, which are commonplace on the Italian black market. However, counterfeiting is not just restricted to more traditional items such as handbags and ladies clothes. In February 2008 the Guardia di Finanza arrested a counterfeit car maker in Palermo, who was accused of building and selling fake Ferraris. A fake Ferrari!!

Well if I cannot wear it in Italy, I'll shall certainly be wearing it more here.

Classes are over. Time to give the brain a rest. But have you experienced going back to class after a long break with your mind almost wiped clean of all that you had learnt the previous year? Why not determine to do a little practising of Italian at your own pace.
I would thoroughly recommend the 'Practice makes Perfect' series of workbooks. There are a couple of similar workbooks by Paola Nanni-Tate as well. I have most of them and use them as grammer reference books (plenty of examples). Now I have got my 'Italian Verb Tenses' off the shelf and am determined to gradually work through the book, as is intended, over the summer vacation. Take a look at these books on Amazon. They are not very expensive. The nice thing about the summer break is that it is a chance to consolidate what you have been doing. So - why not take the opportunity now!

Link - Take a look at Amazon UK: Italian Verb Tenses