Learn certain Italian expressions and words that, due to their graphic similarity to other English terms, might mislead you in determining their proper meaning
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Cinzia: Buongiorno a tutti. |
| Marco: Marco here. Lower intermediate series, season 1, Lesson 14. Does Anything Beat Italian Ice cream? |
| Cinzia: Hello everyone. I am Cinzia and welcome to italianpod101. |
| Marco: With us, you will learn to speak with fun and effective lessons. |
| Cinzia: We also provide you with cultural insights |
| Marco: And tips you won’t find in a textbook. |
| Cinzia: In this lesson, you will learn about certain expressions and words that, due to their graphic similarity to other English terms, might mislead students as to recognize their proper meaning. |
| Marco: This conversation takes place in a square in Milano. |
| Cinzia: And it’s between Giulia and Manuel. |
| Marco: Because the speakers are friends, they will be speaking informal Italian. Now, before we listen to the conversation |
| Cinzia: We want to ask |
| Marco: Do you read the lesson notes while you listen? |
| Cinzia: We received an email about this study tip. |
| Marco: So we were wondering if you tried it and if so |
| Cinzia: What do you think of it? |
| Marco: You can leave us feedback in the comments section of this lesson. Okay let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Giulia: Finalmente hai fatto una cosa giusta! |
| Manuel: Cosa vorresti dire? |
| Giulia: Niente. |
| Manuel: Dai dimmi! |
| Giulia: Hai trovato un bel posto dove portarmi a cena. |
| Manuel: Pretendi che ti porti a cena ogni sera in un ristorante lussuoso? |
| Giulia: Ma no! È che di solito andiamo solo a prendere un gelato. |
| Manuel: Ma il gelato italiano è così buono! |
| Giulia: Haha. Hai ragione, ti perdono! |
| Marco: Let’s hear it slowly now. |
| Giulia: Finalmente hai fatto una cosa giusta! |
| Manuel: Cosa vorresti dire? |
| Giulia: Niente. |
| Manuel: Dai dimmi! |
| Giulia: Hai trovato un bel posto dove portarmi a cena. |
| Manuel: Pretendi che ti porti a cena ogni sera in un ristorante lussuoso? |
| Giulia: Ma no! È che di solito andiamo solo a prendere un gelato. |
| Manuel: Ma il gelato italiano è così buono! |
| Giulia: Haha. Hai ragione, ti perdono! |
| Marco: And now, with the translation. |
| Giulia: Finalmente hai fatto una cosa giusta! |
| Giulia: At last you have done a good thing! |
| Manuel: Cosa vorresti dire? |
| Manuel: What do you mean? (Literally, What do you want to say (with that)?) |
| Giulia: Niente. |
| Giulia: Nothing. |
| Manuel: Dai dimmi! |
| Manuel: Come on, tell me! |
| Giulia: Hai trovato un bel posto dove portarmi a cena. |
| Giulia: You've found a nice place to take me out to dinner. |
| Manuel: Pretendi che ti porti a cena ogni sera in un ristorante lussuoso? |
| Manuel: Do you expect me to take you to dinner every night at a luxurious restaurant? |
| Giulia: Ma no! È che di solito andiamo solo a prendere un gelato. |
| Giulia: No way! It's just that usually we only go and get an ice cream. |
| Manuel: Ma il gelato italiano è così buono! |
| Manuel: But Italian ice cream is so good! |
| Giulia: Haha. Hai ragione, ti perdono! |
| Giulia: Ha ha. You are right; I forgive you! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Cinzia: Ah! Italian gelato. It is just così buono. |
| Marco: Yes it really is. |
| Cinzia: How often do you go to a Gelateria? |
| Marco: I go about once a week to the ice cream shop. |
| Cinzia: It is very common to see couples young and old going to buy a gelato on the weekend. |
| Marco: Or in summer time nearly every evening. |
| Cinzia: But I do understand how Giulia might get bored of going there every time she has a date with Manuel. |
| Marco: Yes, very understandable. |
| Cinzia: But she also understands that for Manuel, gelato is something new and tasty. That is why she says ti perdono. |
| Marco: I forgive you but now we have to take a look at today’s vocabulary. Mi perdoni? |
| Cinzia: Si, ti perdono. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. Today’s first word is |
| Cinzia: Finalmente. |
| Marco: At last, finally. |
| Cinzia: Finalmente. Finalmente. |
| Marco: Next word is |
| Cinzia: Voler dire. |
| Marco: To mean. |
| Cinzia: Voler dire. Voler dire. |
| Marco: Next word is |
| Cinzia: Dai. |
| Marco: Come on. |
| Cinzia: Dai. Dai. |
| Marco: Next word is |
| Cinzia: Pretendere. |
| Marco: To expect |
| Cinzia: Pretendere. Pretendere. |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: Lussuoso. |
| Marco: Luxurious. |
| Cinzia: Lussuoso. Lussuoso. |
| Marco: Next word is |
| Cinzia: Ma no. |
| Marco: No way. |
| Cinzia: Ma no. Ma no. |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: Solo. |
| Marco: Only. |
| Cinzia: Solo. Solo. |
| Marco: Today’s last word is |
| Cinzia: Perdonare. |
| Marco: To forgive |
| Cinzia: Perdonare. Perdonare. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Marco: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Cinzia: The first word we will look at is finalmente. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is |
| Cinzia: Finalmente siamo arrivati a casa. |
| Marco: We came back home at last. |
| Cinzia: Next we have an expression, voler dire. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is |
| Cinzia: Sergio non voleva dire che tu sei stato scortese. |
| Marco: Sergo didn’t mean that you were rude. |
| Cinzia: The next word is dai. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is |
| Cinzia: Dai, andiamo. |
| Marco: Come on, let’s go. |
| Cinzia: The next word we will look at is pretendere. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is |
| Cinzia: Pretendi che tutti ti aspettino sempre? |
| Marco: Do you expect everybody to always wait for you? |
| Cinzia: The next word is lussuoso. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is |
| Cinzia: Ho comprato una macchina lussuosa. |
| Marco: I bought a luxurious car. |
| Cinzia: Did you? |
| Marco: No. |
| Cinzia: What would you buy, Lamborghini? |
| Marco: No, too expensive. I mean, even if I had all that money, I don’t think I’d actually want to put it in a car. |
| Cinzia: You want? |
| Marco: I would like… |
| Cinzia: I will. |
| Marco: I would like to have an Alfa Romeo, of course a nice car, but Ferrari, it’s too much for me. I couldn’t see myself driving a Ferrari. We said it already once I think. |
| Cinzia: Really? |
| Marco: Yeah. |
| Cinzia: Oh! |
| Marco: You like the very luxurious things. |
| Cinzia: Of course. |
| Marco: For me, it’s just use. If it’s useful, okay. |
| Cinzia: Okay next we have an expression, ma no. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is |
| Cinzia: Sei stato tu a rompere il vaso? Ma no. |
| Marco: Was it you that broke the vase? No way. |
| Cinzia: The next word is solo. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is |
| Cinzia: Ho solo 20 Euro. |
| Marco: I only have 20 Euros. |
| Cinzia: The last word we will look at is perdonare. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is |
| Cinzia: Sono in ritardo. Mi perdoni? |
| Marco: I am late. Would you forgive me? |
| Cinzia: No. |
| Marco: Why not? Would you forgive somebody…. |
| Cinzia: I hate people who are late. |
| Marco: Really? |
| Cinzia: Of course. I always get on time and most of the times actually I get earlier. |
| Marco: What would be the longest time you would wait for somebody? 10 minutes, 20? Depends on the person yeah. |
| Cinzia: Yeah it depends on the person. |
| Marco: So let’s say a normal friend. |
| Cinzia: 10 minutes. |
| Marco: 10 minutes? |
| Cinzia: Yeah. |
| Marco: Would you go away or will you stay around there? |
| Cinzia: I will just try to hear from him or her and see… |
| Marco: What happened? |
| Cinzia: Yeah but then I’ll just disappear. |
| Marco: Cinzia will disappear. |
| Cinzia: Yes forever. |
| Marco: So don’t be late with your comments. |
| Cinzia: You better not. And now let’s take a look at today’s grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Marco: Technically named false cognates in English. |
| Cinzia: False friends. |
| Marco: These expressions and words are the learner’s most deceptive friends, because they are very similar to other English words but their meaning is completely different. |
| Cinzia: Right and we shall now see the most widely used false cognates and their proper translation. Tom vive attualmente a Roma. |
| Marco: Tom lives presently in Rome. |
| Cinzia: So as you can see, the Italian word attualmente is very similar to the English one actually but they don’t have the same meaning. So be careful. |
| Marco: Because actually in Italian means |
| Cinzia: In realtà. Let’s take a look at one more example. John è molto annoiato. |
| Marco: John is really bored. Hah! This is very nice. |
| Cinzia: Oh yes, it’s a verb. |
| Marco: Yes and annoiato is very, very similar to the English |
| Cinzia: Annoyed. |
| Marco: Very similar. Let’s go with it slowly now. Annoiato and the English |
| Cinzia: Annoyed. |
| Marco: It’s so close. |
| Cinzia: Yes they – they are very look alike even the sound |
| Marco: Yes, yes. |
| Cinzia: But annoyed has to be translated as infastidito. |
| Marco: So it’s very different in this case. |
| Cinzia: Yes it is. |
| Marco: One more false friend is in the following phrase. |
| Cinzia: Il datore di lavoro vuole assumere Mike. |
| Marco: The employer wants to hire Mike. |
| Cinzia: So we have the Italian verb assumere very similar to the verb assume. |
| Marco: To assume. That in Italian would actually be translated as |
| Cinzia: Presumere. |
| Marco: So be careful. Don’t assume that assume is the same as assumere. That was difficult. And now the classic false friend. |
| Cinzia: Yes and the classic mistake. |
| Marco: Yes. Everyone does it. |
| Cinzia: Even we Italians read the English. |
| Marco: Yes I mean it is two way. |
| Cinzia: Yes. |
| Marco: It is not only English to Italian but also Italian to English. |
| Cinzia: Yeah of course. |
| Marco: So go with this one Cinzia. |
| Cinzia: I miei parenti vengono da Napoli. |
| Marco: My relatives come from Naples. |
| Cinzia: So my dear listeners, as you can see, parenti is the Italian word very similar to parents. |
| Marco: Yes but it has to be translated as relatives because parent in Italian is |
| Cinzia: Genitore. |
| Marco: So don’t mix this up. Let’s give it to you one more time slowly. |
| Cinzia: Parenti |
| Marco: Relatives and |
| Cinzia: Genitori |
| Marco: Parents. |
Outro |
| Marco: But wait, there is more. A lot more of these false friends in the PDF. We can stay here the whole day just going with false friends. |
| Cinzia: Yes so please download the PDF. |
| Marco: And that just about does it for today. Before we go, we want to tell you about the way to drastically improve your pronunciation. |
| Cinzia: It’s the voice recording tool. |
| Marco: Yes the voice recording tool in the premium learning center. |
| Cinzia: Record your voice with a click of a button. |
| Marco: And then play it back just as easily. |
| Cinzia: So you will record your voice and then listen to it. |
| Marco: Compare it to the native speakers. |
| Cinzia: And adjust your pronunciation. |
| Marco: This will help you improve your pronunciation fast. Arrivederci, a presto. |
| Cinzia: Ciao ciao. |
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