To be fair, if you spend a
Submitted by F Bower on Thu, 06/21/2012 - 14:35In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
To be fair, if you spend a lot of time speaking Italian in a certain context (in our case with builders), the Italian word is the first that comes to mind and sometimes it's difficult to find the equivalent in English. We were recently discussing the type of 'zoccolo' we wanted as a finishing to the house - look it up in a dictionary and you get hoof, clog, plinth, skirting board, base support of a cupboard. None really translate the bit outside between the ground and window sills - in our case 1/2 metre high and coated with peperino stone. I knew the word for citofono from Italian flats long before I ever used the English 'entry phone' as UK houses don't usually have them. These are just two examples but our family - kids included - just use the Italian word where we have become used to it - it's nothing about showing off or trying to intimidate people - life's too short!
Good shout Flip
Submitted by La Dolcevita on Thu, 06/21/2012 - 15:07In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
My italian is not good to say the least - plenty of room for improvement so sometimes I turn off a post as I haven't got the time or sometimes the inclination to get a dictionary out. However I'm all up for people writing in italian if they could bracket the translation after...........I know I'm really selfish :)
cosa succede?
Submitted by Esme on Thu, 06/21/2012 - 16:32In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
I dot bits of Italian all over the place here and if it offends you, then sorry, but I'm not going to stop perche' e' spetta a me decidere (because it's my choice). Hai la liberta di andare dove vuoi qui (You have the freedom to do what you want here) because others can either ask, try to learn o togliti dai piedi (work that bit out yourselves!)
no matter
Submitted by Flip on Thu, 06/21/2012 - 15:45In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
It doesn't offend me in the slightest, what it does do it reinforces my opinion that people like to show off through their 'Virtual Personality' and as I said is there any need for it just because one can (obviously specific words or terms can only be expressed in Italian) when lots of people on here find it frustrating. I am not trying to dictate to anyone how posts should be written as Mr/s Bower says 'Life's too Short' but spare a thought for some (not me in particular as I can understand most written Italian) who may find it tedious and effettuata (I think you know what this means....)
Loving this
Submitted by La Dolcevita on Thu, 06/21/2012 - 16:29In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
That's the whole point...
Submitted by Esme on Thu, 06/21/2012 - 16:56In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
It encourages others to learn ma una parola (but one word) with one person does not a wordsmith make. It should not reinforce any opinion (yours or others) that people (I) only use Googled phrases or Italian words here to show off or intimidate through a virtual personality and, even more importantly, I don't see anyone else complaining about the use of Italian on this forum except you Flip - so where are the "people on here that find it frustrating"? I would have thought you would actually encourage others to learn the language - by any means necessary. Lets just agree to disagree perche' l'analisi finale e' effettuata sia monitorando o non monitorando la situazione (because the final analysis is carried out by monitoring or not monitoring the situation). Va bene?
Sì d'accordo
Submitted by Flip on Fri, 06/22/2012 - 11:54In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Yes agreed Esme. I did point out that it bugs just me, maybe, others but who knows. I know you speak Italian, after all those years in Napoli I should hope so, but it is obvious that some do use Translate as it is often not spoken langauge but a translation of various words out of tense and meaning. But now I've got it off my chest, I'm happy.
But you knew that.. ?
Submitted by Esme on Fri, 06/22/2012 - 12:59In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
wink!
Submitted by Flip on Fri, 06/22/2012 - 14:19In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
more of this
Submitted by alexcal on Fri, 06/22/2012 - 16:45In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
I am learning Italian but
Submitted by moruzzo on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 07:47In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
I hope you never use Foreign words in your everyday vocabulary
Submitted by Suspected Aspergers on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 08:30In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Words banned from this forum and from your everyday English life. Ciao, Bon Voyage, Hasta la Vista, C5a va, Allo Allo, Deja Vous, aide-memoire, avant-garde, double entendre, je ne sais quoi, ghetto, graffiti, incognito, inferno, pizza, maestro, malaria, mezzanine, moustache, nepotism, opera, parasol, prima donna, pasta, propaganda, portfolio, quartet, regatta, semolina, solo, soprano, studio, tirantula, torso, tempo, stiletto, trio, umbrella, vendetta, virtuoso, volcano. Any of these words used in the English language are likely to have you perceived as being S E E M I N G L Y knowledgeable unless you can form the rest of the foreign sentence around them. JUST DONT DO IT
Further, in order to envelope yourself (is this a banned word)
Submitted by Suspected Aspergers on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 08:41In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Further, in order to envelope yourself in a foreign language - do you not find it difficult to translate every Italian word you have learnt - into English just so that you can post on an Italian forum for the "English" - "only?" - are other Foreigners not welcome on this site. Sometimes - there are words that simply cannot be translated word for word into English - and enveloping yourselves albeit in the odd words of Italian allows you to build the sentences when you do need it - In Italy. You are not double translating. Heard a word in Italian, phrase booked it, re used it back - oh and now it means something different? At least if you start using Italian words on this forum - people can correct you in context and you might possibly learn from it. I feel this urgency to maintain all forms of communication on an Italian forum - to ONLY BE IN ENGLISH -stifling - and somewhat narrow minded - and as for my previous post - where does it all stop - are you refusing to speak any foreign words? Sorry I am dumbfounded as to why this thread was created. If you want to ONLY SPEAK IN ENGLISH then setup and English Forum talking about other countries - you Xenophobes.
Where's the dividing line?
Submitted by Suspected Aspergers on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 08:50In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Fair enough on words that only apply to Italian regarding types of taxes, Legal Terms, foods, plants, animals, places and traditions; but for God's sake is there an actual need to intersperse sentences with an Italian equivalent? HOW did these words get into the English language? And why dont we know the rest of the sentence? There are sometimes words without an equivalent - but relevant to the task in hand, are you saying we should break these words down into English words and break down the fundamental meaning. When learning a language - you grasp onto every word and then use it - sometimes building a sentence. Please can you for the purposes of this thread detail words that are NOT ALLOWED TO BE USED just so that we can be sure whats NOT ALLOWED
to spell it out to those who missed my point.
Submitted by Flip on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 09:07In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Aspergers I think we get what you are on about but if you read and understand my original post, I don't want to ban anything, except inane rambling out of context. To reiterate, I had a bee in my bonnet about some posts seemingly interspersed with Italian words just for the sake of it; and questioned the need for it. So to go on about banning words that are in everyday usage in English, that presumably most people are 'au fait' (there just to prove my point) with, is simply absurd.
Do you only watch UK/American
Submitted by Suspected Aspergers on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 09:45In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
I'm one of those whose
Submitted by La Dolcevita on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 13:28In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
I'm one of those whose italian isn't up to speed with some of the stuff written on here - I'm doing my best honest - evening classes etc and when I'm over I take every opportunity to practice (much to everyones amusement!) - however when I'm on the forum I often don't have the time to go through the dictionary etc to make sense of things - some of us aren't living there yet so are a bit behind - bit like school in my case - could do better - and when it's translated by people who are fluent/almost fluent etc it's really helpful. As somoene else put I tend to miss out those posts where there's loads of italian on it and it maybe that I might have something useful to contribute but I'd never know!
Simples !!
Submitted by Flip on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 13:41In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
La Dolcevita, I know it is very difficult if Italian isn't your first language, that's what prompted me to sound off about this, especially if people are looking for advice on a subject, the last thing you want to do is resort to a dictionary or phrase book to see what people have written in reply. Making people feel inferior because they don't unnderstand certain snippets of Italian is, in my opinion, no way to inform, help or educate them. All I'm asking is keep it simple or give a translation for those less competent in Italian.
Perfectly put Flip
Submitted by La Dolcevita on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 14:00In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Give us a beer mate - E n g e
Submitted by Suspected Aspergers on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 15:25In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
L A D O L C E V I T A - you hypocrite
Submitted by Suspected Aspergers on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 15:28In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Time to go back in my box then
Submitted by La Dolcevita on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 20:09In reply to L A D O L C E V I T A - you hypocrite by Suspected Aspergers
Oh dear.... here we go, here we go, here we go - again
Submitted by Esme on Sun, 06/24/2012 - 16:15In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
"I only speak for myself but
Submitted by Esme on Sun, 06/24/2012 - 16:20In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec