SURVIVAL ITALIAN
1/27/2017
Irene Nori – SPGT
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Italian behaviour…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkInkNMpI1Q
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The Italian language

3rd century A.D.: Latin was the language of
choice in the Roman Empire.
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 5th
century A.D.: collapse of the Roman
Empire. Italy was subjected to invasions
and each region developed its own culture
and language.
 Over the centuries, these languages, due
to outside influences, grew to be mutually
incomprehensible versions of Vulgar Latin.
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 15th
century: clash between Latin—
understood by the educated few—and the
new languages spoken by the masses.
 The Florentine dialect, because of its
central position and similarity to Latin, was
chosen to be the national language while
the rest of the languages were relegated
to the status of "dialects."
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 Today
these dialects are mainly spoken in
homes or among older generations.
 Italy has fourteen different regional
dialects. Some are similar to the standard
language, others—such as Piemontese
and Sicilian—are distinct enough to be
considered separate languages.
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 Italian
is part of the Romance category
together with French, Spanish, Portuguese
and Romanian.
 Romance languages are similar. Native
speakers of Spanish and Italian can hold a
conversation in their respective languages
and understand one another.
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 Native
speakers of English can
comprehend some words in Romance
languages as well.
 This is partly because Latin, the parent
language of Romance languages, is in
turn a descendant of the family grouping
called Indo-European.
 Indo-European is one of the major
linguistic families from which came
Romance, Baltic, and Germanic
languages.
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Italian pronunciation

Many English speakers have difficulty in
pronouncing double consonants in Italian.
Simple rule: if you see a consonant in Italian,
say it!
Unlike English, Italian is a phonetic language, so
be certain to pronounce (and write!) both
consonants in Italian words when they are
doubled.
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
Italian pronunciation is straightforward, with virtually no
exceptions to the few rules there are. Once you get used
to certain combinations of letters making certain sounds,
you can say any Italian word with confidence.

For example, the letter c is pronounced as a hard k
sound when it is followed by a, o or u. When it is
followed by e or i, it corresponds to the English sound
ch. So...
casa (house) is pronounced kaza
cosa (thing) is pronounced koza
cultura (culture) is pronounced kooltoora
... while...
cena (dinner) is pronounced chayna and
cipolla (onion) is pronounced cheepolla
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 Quick
test:
Given these rules, how would you
pronounce this word?
CUCINA
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YES / NO
SI / NO
PLEASE
PER FAVORE
THANK YOU/THANK YOU VERY
MUCH
GRAZIE / GRAZIE MOLTE-TANTE-MILLE
THAT'S ALL RIGHT / YOU ARE
WELCOME
DI NULLA / PREGO
GREETINGS
SALUTI
GOOD MORNING
BUON GIORNO
GOOD AFTERNOON
BUON GIORNO
GOOD EVENING
BUONA SERA
GOOD NIGHT
BUONA NOTTE
GOODBYE
ARRIVEDERCI / CIAO
HELLO / HI
CIAO
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SEE YOU LATER
CI VEDIAMO PIU' TARDI/DOPO
THIS IS MR. / MRS. / MISS
LE PRESENTO IL SIGNOR / LA SIGNORA /
LA SIGNORINA
HOW DO YOU DO / PLEASED
TO MEET YOU
MOLTO LIETO - LIETA / PIACERE DI
CONOSCERLA
HOW ARE YOU?
COME STA? / COME STAI? / COME VA?
FINE / VERY WELL THANK YOU,
AND YOU?
BENE / MOLTO BENE GRAZIE, E LEI?
EXCUSE ME
MI SCUSI
SORRY!
MI SCUSI / MI DISPIACE
I BEG YOUR PARDON?
PREGO?
QUESTIONS
DOMANDE
WHERE?
DOVE?
HOW?
COME?
WHEN?
QUANDO?
WHAT?
CHE COSA? CHE?
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WHY? / BECAUSE
PERCHE'? PERCHE'
DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?
PARLA INGLESE?
I DON'T SPEAK MUCH ITALIAN
NON PARLO BENE L'ITALIANO
CAN YOU SPEAK MORE
SLOWLY, PLEASE?
PUO' PARLARE PIU' LENTAMENTE, PER
FAVORE?
CAN YOU REPEAT, PLEASE?
PUO' RIPETERE, PER FAVORE?
PLEASE WRITE IT DOWN
PER FAVORE ME LO SCRIVA
I UNDERSTAND / I SEE
CAPISCO
DO YOU UNDERSTAND?
CAPISCE?
CAN YOU TELL ME…?
PUO' DIRMI…?
CAN YOU HELP ME?
PUO' AIUTARMI?
I'D LIKE…/ WE'D LIKE
VORREI…/ VORREMMO...
BRING ME…/ SHOW IT TO
ME…
MI PORTI…/ MI MOSTRI…
I'M LOOKING FOR…
CERCO…
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ERRE MOSCIA, speech
impediment or snobbish affectation?
 In
Piedmont and other parts of the
northwest near the French border, r is
produced as a uvular sound in the back of
the mouth. This is known as erre moscia
or "soft r" .
 It is the result of language contact with
French and adoption as part of the native
dialect.
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It's All in the Hands
Italians use body language and hand
gestures to punctuate an
expression and give it a shading that
the word or phrase itself lacks.
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Italian accents
 To
an Italian ear, there are marked
differences in regional accents - some
regional dialects are so different in
pronunciation and vocabulary as to be
unintelligible to outsiders.
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