Lesson Transcript

Hello everyone, welcome back to italianpod101.com.
My name is Desy, mi chiamo Desy, mi chiamo Desy, and in this video, we're going to talk about Italian stereotypes.
gli stereotipi italiani
There are actually many stereotipi, stereotipi, stereotipo, because type is tipo, and stereotipi, plural form, actually kind of similar to English.
Anyway, there are many stereotypes on Italians, right?
Let's discuss some of them together.
numero uno, gli italiani gesticolano molto
Gesticolare comes from gesti, which is gestures.
The fact that we have a verb to describe that you use gestures, I think, makes pretty obvious the fact that this is true, right?
You can just see me, but not only me, like everyone, we do gesticoliamo a lot, we do use gestures a lot,
and that's also nice because it's easy to kind of understand what we're trying to say, especially if you're used to them.
So, just in case, just know the most important ones, which are buono, buono, so good, nice.
mangiare, to eat, but also what, like here, right? mangiare, what?
bere, to drink, this helps you already, a lot.
This also reflects on the fact that we really like to touch, so we're huggers, we do kiss on the cheek just to say hi,
and in general, I'd say that gestures and body language, so i gesti, i gesti e il linguaggio del corpo,
il linguaggio del corpo, like really participative in the conversation, is a mark of Italian language.
numero due, in Italia fa sempre caldo
In Italy, it's always hot.
Now, I hear this a lot, but especially from people, like from the north of Europe, and maybe from Canada, I'd say,
this is actually not true, it is, I would say, warmer than in most places, probably,
but it really depends on where you go, because as you know, Italy goes like a long way from north to south,
so if you go to the south, yes, of course, it may be warmer than general places, especially you have to think
that we also have a lot of mountains, so Alps and Appennini, Alpi and Appennini, there it's not that warm,
in fact, it's common to find snow even till April, I'd say, and yeah, try to say that to people from the north,
and also think that we do have a lot of fog, nebbia, nebbia, and it's really humid,
so yeah, it's not always really good weather, so in Italia, è sempre caldo, or in Italia fa sempre bel tempo,
it's always good weather, unfortunately, but to be fair, when it's hot, it's really hot, so yeah, be aware of that,
that is really true.
Numero 3, number 3, Gli italiani sono sempre alla moda.
Italians are always fashionable. Gli italiani sono sempre alla moda.
Alla moda means fashionable, because moda is fashion.
Now, this may be true, but also not, like it depends what you compare us to, I'd say,
but I do feel a general sense of fashion, meaning that even, like, for example, to go to the beach,
or to go to groceries, or at university, when you just go to the library and study,
people put a lot of effort in their outfits.
I'd say that's because we were born with big brands, now don't make me say names, but you all know them,
so we do have a critic eye, and also in school, there's much, like, there's a lot of comparison,
especially because we don't have uniforms, so it really depends, like, your popularity also depends on what you wear,
and it's interesting to notice that in Italy, a lot of men, as well, pay very much attention to fashion.
Men are really attentive, they pay a lot of attention to fashion.
Not all of them, of course, as much as, like, not all of the girls, but yeah, this may be actually true.
This doesn't reflect only on clothes, though, but also on makeup and hair,
so another thing that is kind of linked to this is that
Gli italiani non escono mai con i capelli bagnati, so Italians never go out with wet hair.
This is true, not only to be fashionable, because it kind of gives you a messy look, like, if you have wet hair,
but also because we do believe that you may get a cold if you do so, so yeah, that's kind of linked, but not only.
But anyway, that's another true thing.
Numero quattro, number four, a sore point, gli italiani non sanno guidare.
Italians can't drive, non sanno guidare, guidare is to drive.
Now, this is tricky because I heard a lot of foreign people coming to Italy and be like,
you guys are crazy, which may be true if you come from the outside,
but for us, may be also harder to adapt to other countries,
because I do have to admit, for us, rules are kind of indications, so yeah, for example, we speed a lot,
we get tickets for that, don't worry, so le multe, tickets, for velocità, per la velocità, speed, for the speed, velocità.
Also, there is a funny saying that says that i semafori, traffic lights, i semafori, sono indicazioni al nord,
are indications in the north, sono indicazioni al nord, suggerimenti al centro, suggestions in the center,
of course, of Italy, suggerimenti al centro, and decorazioni in the south.
Decorations, when you go to the south.
Now, I don't want to pick parts, but it's funny to see that even in the part that is supposed to follow rules the most,
so the north, they are still indications, not actually rules, so indicazioni al nord, suggerimenti al centro,
and decorazioni al sud.
I don't want to say it's true or not, you may judge.
Numero cinque, number five, probably the most known one, la famiglia prima di tutto.
Family before everything.
Of course, this is true, of course, it does depend to what extent to families, but in general, it is true,
and I'd say not only because we spend a lot of time with them, not only because of long, long lunches,
and Sundays spent together, but there's also the mammoni fact, so you know,
mamma is mother, and we always say, la mamma è sempre la mamma, so the mother is always the mother,
the mom is always a mom, doesn't mean that the mom is gonna be always a mother being like caring for the kids,
which of course goes without saying, but here the fact is that for the son and daughters,
but especially for the son, the mother is the best that there is, it's the most important figure in his life,
that's what we mean when we say, la mamma è sempre la mamma, so coming from the word mamma,
there's the word mammone, which refers to the son, the male son, who is really attached to the mom figure,
till the point that he doesn't want to leave the house, even if he gets married, he is still really
attached to the mom, which may bring fights in the couple and so on, in fact, la figura della suocera,
the figure of the mother-in-law, is really present in Italian families, there may be positive notes
on this or negative ones, like for example on independence and so on, but also positive,
meaning that we're really united and you always have support and yeah, it's not my place to say
it's good or bad, but I can say that this is true, la famiglia, if not prima di tutto,
before anything, I'd still say è molto importante, it's really important, those were just five
stereotypes on Italians and Italy in general, there are more of course, but let me know in
the comments which ones you believe are true and which ones are common in your country and
for the people that live in your country, I don't want to believe we're alone on this,
please guys, let me know in the comments and if you want to be able to have real Italian
conversations on stereotypes or not, click the link in the description and download our PDF
lessons to learn Italian in the fastest, easiest and most fun way possible, thank you for watching,
I'll see you soon, bye bye, ciao ciao.

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