Language | Italy Chronicles

At Sixes and Sevens – Confusion Reigns

January 14, 2010 by Alex Roe 11 Comments

Did the expression 'at sixes and sevens' originate from English speakers who had dealings with Italians? There does seem to be some evidence. The expression to be 'at sixes and sevens' is as old as the hills, and even the likes of literary greats such as Shakespeare and Chaucer used versions of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Language Tagged With: English, Italian

Looking for an Italian English Reader?

August 7, 2008 by Alex Roe 4 Comments

Are you trying to learn Italian? If so, then there is an on-line Italian English reader service which may help you. By using an Italian English reader, you can see the differences between English and Italian grammar, revise and develop your vocabulary, and, indirectly, raise your chances of being … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Language Tagged With: Italian, Language, learning Italian

A Little Bit of Fun With Italian

July 2, 2008 by Alex Roe Leave a Comment

Over at Bleeding Espresso, Michelle wrote a lovely little piece on Italian words which when mispronounced can raise eyebrows. I meant to do something similar one day, but she beat me to it. Well worth reading, it is:top 5 italian words you really don’t want to mispronounceTechnorati Tags: Italian, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Language Tagged With: Italian, Language

Did You Know?

June 16, 2008 by Alex Roe 7 Comments

In Italian, the word for 'cat' is 'gatto', whereas in Latin, or rather, ancient Italian, the word for 'cat' was 'cattus'. This means that the English language word for 'cat' is closer to Latin than the modern Italian word 'gatto'. Curious what you come across whilst researching the differences … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Language Tagged With: English, Italian, Language

A Curious Inconsistency

March 2, 2008 by Alex Roe 9 Comments

Don't ask me why my odd little mind ended up considering this, but the fact remains that in Italian the word 'giorno' - day, is a 'male' word, whereas the word for week - 'settimana' is female. I'm sorry, but I don't understand why this is the case. Italian is one of those languages, that, unlike … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Language Tagged With: English, german, Italia, Italian, Language, Me, odd

Sayings and phrases

November 10, 2007 by Alex Roe Leave a Comment

Being infinitely curious, as I am, I find this site eternally interesting: Sayings and Phrases. You might too. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Language Tagged With: English, interesting, Language

Learning Italian?

October 17, 2007 by Alex Roe Leave a Comment

If you want something Italian to read, check out Blog Italia which lists a whole host of blogs on many different subjects. You should find Blog from Italy there too, but it will not help you get a handle on the Italian language! Hop over there and see just how vibrant the Italian blogging … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Language Tagged With: Italia, Italian, learning Italian, tips

The mathematical present perfect

May 14, 2007 by Alex Roe Leave a Comment

The present perfect tense is the bane of many an Italian striving to learn the English language. Us teachers say things like: 'The present perfect connects the past to now' or 'The present perfect is the present result of a past action' and whilst our honest intention is to help our charges … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Italy, Language, Work Tagged With: Italian

A success story

April 17, 2007 by Alex Roe Leave a Comment

One of my students; and I deal with the less advanced levels; managed to land what could well be the job of this person's dreams. This person attended two interviews and spoke in English in both of them. I should also mention that my student also happened to have just about the perfect CV for … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Language, Work

Getting confused

January 9, 2007 by Alex Roe Leave a Comment

I've been preparing some material on sentence composition and managed to confuse myself after trying to understand the difference between adjuncts and adverbials. Adverbials can be adjuncts apparently, but not always. Then there is presenting all these nuggets of grammatical knowledge to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Language, Work