Italian All-in-One For Dummies (5 page)
Read Italian All-in-One For Dummies Online
Authors: Consumer Dummies
You understand much more Italian than you think you do. Italian and English are full of cognates. To demonstrate, read this little story with some Italian words and see how easy it is for you to understand.
It seems
impossibile
(eem-pohs-
see
-bee-leh) to him that he is now at the
aeroporto
(ah-eh-roh-
pohr
-toh) in Rome. He always wanted to come to this
cittÃ
(cheet-
tah
). When he goes out on the street, he first calls a
taxi
(
tah
-ksee). He opens his bag to see whether he has the
medicina
(meh-dee-
chee
-nah) that the
dottore
(doht-
toh
-reh) gave him. Going through this
terribile traffico
(tehr-
ree
-bee-leh
trahf
-fee-koh), he passes a
cattedrale
(kaht-teh-
drah
-leh), some
sculture
(skoohl-
tooh
-reh), and many
palazzi
(pah-
laht
-tsee). He knows that this is going to be a
fantastico
(fahn-
tahs
-tee-koh) journey.
Picking up popular expressions
Every language has expressions that you use so often that they almost become routine. For example, when you give something to somebody and he or she says, “Thank you,” you automatically reply, “You're welcome.” This type of popular expression is an inseparable part of every language. When you know these expressions and how to use them, you're on the way to really speaking Italian.
Italian slang
Dialects and other deviations from “standard” Italian are also used in different social contexts. You may hear words such as
zecche
(
dzehk
-keh) (
young Italians politically engaged on the left side and dressed in a “trashy” manner
),
rimastini
(ree-mah-
stee
-nee) (
meaning leftovers, the term is used to jestingly refer to
chain-smokers, or what's left of them!
),
pariolini
(pah-ryoh-
lee
-nee) (
young people from the upper middle class, politically engaged on the zecche's opposite side),
and
truzzi
(
trooht
-tzsee) (
youth who listen to dance, techno, and house music
). You may also hear
bella
(
behl
-lah) instead of
ciao
(chou) (
hi
),
tajo
(
tah
-lyoh) (
fun
),
tanato
(tah-
nah
-toh)
(
caught; discovered
),
or
evaporato
(eh-vah-poh-
rah
-toh) (
disappeared
). Don't bother to memorize these words; they'll be outdated by the time you've managed to pronounce them.
The following are some of the most common popular expressions in Italian:
Accidenti!
(ahch-chee-
dehn
-tee!) (
Wow!
)
(
Darn it!
)
Andiamo!
(ahn-
dyah
-moh!) (
Let's go!
)
Che c'è?
(keh cheh?) (
What's up?
)
D'accordo? D'accordo!
(dahk-
kohr
-doh? dahk-
kohr
-doh!) (
Agreed? Agreed!
)
E chi se ne importa?
(eh kee seh neh eem-
pohr
-tah?) (
Who cares?
)
à lo stesso.
(eh loh
stehs
-soh.) (
It's all the same.
)
(
It doesn't matter.
)
Fantastico!
(fahn-
tahs
-tee-koh!) (
Fantastic!
)
Non fa niente.
(nohn fah nee-
ehn
-teh.) (
Don't worry about it.
)
(
It doesn't matter
.) You say
Non fa niente
when someone apologizes to you for something.
Non c'è di che.
(nohn cheh dee keh.) (
You're welcome.
)
Permesso?
(pehr-
mehs
-soh?) (
May I pass/come in?
) Italians use this expression every time they cross a threshold entering a house or when passing through a crowd.