My side job is doing a bit of freelance language tutoring online. My site of choice is Italki (I have a brief review about it here) and I thoroughly enjoy it. I sometimes get people… More
Travelling abroad with a baby
I made it back from my travels and I am ready to tell the tale!
It was my first time travelling with a baby (my eight month old son) and I admit I was pretty nervous. But fear not! It was actually fine. Continue reading “Travelling abroad with a baby”
Venice airport tips and vocabulary
My holiday is nearing so I thought I’d share some useful vocab and tips for your future travels to Italy!
I’m going to talk about the two Venice airports are they are the ones I have used the most (on this trip I’ll actually be flying into Bologna so if I notice anything noteworthy I may share it in a future blog post!)
Tips: arriving at the airport Continue reading “Venice airport tips and vocabulary”
I can’t wait
I can’t wait is translated as Non vedo l’ora, which literally means “I can’t see the time”.
It’s used when you want to show that you’re looking forward to something, e.g.
Non vedo l’ora di andare al mare / I can’t wait to go to the beach
Non vediamo l’ora di andare fuori a cena! / We can’t wait to go out for dinner!
I, for one, can’t wait to go back to Italy!
Non vedo l’ora di ritornare in Italia!
Like two peas in a pod
Meaning: two people that share a lot of similarities.
The equivalent in Italian is:
Come due gocce d’acqua
Which means: Like two drops of water.
I happen to prefer the wording in Italian, it sounds a lot more elegant! What do you think?
A body of water
A part of my upcoming trip, I will be visiting Lake Garda, Italy’s largest body of water, i.e.
Il piu` grande (the largest) specchio d’acqua (body of water) in Italia.
Italian can be an extremely descriptive and emotional language, and I have always thought that phrases such as specchio d’acqua were always very evocative.
This is probably on of those random phrases you will rarely (if ever) get to use in real-life situations, but in my opinion is beautiful.
Italy trip!
It’s official, I am going to Italy in May!
I haven’t been able to go back for almost four years, which is the longest I have ever been away from my home country. Continue reading “Italy trip!”
Conversational practice
A common complaint amongst Italian self-taught learners is that their reading and writing skills are quite good, but their oral and listening skills are lagging way behind.
This is partly because Italians speak fast, and attempting to listen to the radio or TV shows from Italy can be disheartening, but also because attempting to have a conversation with someone in a different language can be incredibly daunting.
I am a huge believer in finding someone you can practice your language with (whichever it might be), for several reasons: Continue reading “Conversational practice”
I’ve lost the thread!
“Losing the thread” or “losing the train of thought” both mean similar things. They refer to when someone is talking (generally telling a story or anecdote) but they then either forget the point of what they were saying, or get distracted somehow and forget what they were talking about.
In Italian, the saying is:
Perdere il filo del discorso
Example:
Ho perso il filo del discorso! Che cosa stavo dicendo?!? (I lost the thread! What was I saying?!?)
italki
Italki.com is a website that helps language learners connect with students and teachers from all over the world.
As a learner, you can choose to:
- Have a language partner (where you help each other learn your own language, pretty much like a language exchange programme). This is free;
- Connect with a teacher and be taught the language of your choice in a structured way, similar to a classroom setting;
- Connect with a community tutor. A tutor will help with conversation skills, but won’t have a pre-structured lesson plan.
Let’s talk about a couple of things!
Parliamo di un paio di cose!
Italian with Stephanie 