louisejane1994-2-blog

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16/01 Italian for Beginners: P1, Week 2

This week we learnt how to greet people

- informal: Ciao, Salve (hi), Come stai?, Come va? (how’s it going?),  Tutto bene? (everything ok?) - formal: Buongiorno, Buonasera, Come stai?

- saying goodbye: Ciao, A presto (see you soon), A domani (see you tomorrow), Buona giornata (have a good day), Arrivederci/Arrivederla, Buonanotte

- saying how you are: Benissimo, molto bene, abbastanza bene, bene, così così, non c’è male, malè - you might respond with “mi dispiace” (I’m sorry) if someone is not well

We learnt how to address people by their titles:

- a person’s title such as “professore” is always used to greet somebody, if this is not known we use “signor” or “signora/signorina” - before a surname, the final “e” of titles ending in “e” is dropped, such as Professor Rossi

We learnt about Essere:- (io) sono - (tu) sei - (lui/lei/Lei) èWe learnt about Chiamarsi:- (io) mi chiamo - (tu) ti chiami - (lui/lei/Lei) si chiama

We learnt how to introduce ourselves and to ask somebody’s name:

- sono/mi chiamo Louise Warwick - come ti chiami? (if)/si chiama? (f)

We learnt the Italian alphabet: 

a (a) b (bi) c (ci) d (di) e (e) f (effe) g (g) h (acca) i (i) l (elle) m (emme) n (enne) o (o) p (pi) q (cu) r (erre) s (esse) t (ti) u (u) v (vi/vu) z (zeta)

We learnt how to say letters from other languages:

j (i lungo) k (cappa) w (vi doppia, doppia vi) x (ics) y (i greca/ipsilon)

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11/01, And the Mountains Echoed

11/01, And the Mountains Echoed

I finished reading “And the Mountains Echoed” today, by Khaled Hosseini.

The book was fascinating. It told stories both throughout time and culture, beginning as far back as the early 1940s and finishing in the present day. Each chapter would start further forward than the last. It would be a starting point for a different subject’s tale who was connected to another. Although we’d also see into their past, so time was forever flowing as we wound our way through the web of characters, until the very end when the story had completed its full circle and come all the way back around to the children it began with, Abdullah and his sister, Pari, now old and grey.

Through its story telling, Hosseini was able to evaluate many different aspects of life. Relationships, both familial and romantic, were explored as well as cultural influences, across both the Western and Eastern populations, every character affected differently by their upbringing and surroundings.

Reading “And the Mountains Echoed” was particularly inspiring for me. During my time reading this I decided to start sponsoring a child via Plan UK. I’ll be donating £20.00 a month which will go towards improving the community that my sponsored child lives in. I didn’t know that this opportunity was available to me, but the book, in passing, mentioned that one of the characters had done this for years. The desire to sponsor a child as opposed to regularly donate is somewhat selfish, I understand. I want to feel a connection and feel a particular purpose for the money I send as opposed to donating it readily, happy for it to go into a huge pot and lose the significance it has of being mine once mingled with thousands of other donors. Having my own sponsored child makes my money seem more specific. More targeted. And although I know that’s selfish, surely there is no better way that we can be selfish than to receive satisfaction from something that is undoubtedly still supporting and benefiting those who are less fortunate?

There was a particular quote that will stick with me from this book. When two cousins went back to visit Kabul after the war having moved to America years before, one of the cousins remarked that the city was “a thousand tragedies per square mile”.

I’m sure that I cannot even imagine the horror that has befallen the people of Afghanistan, I’m sure that I remain unaware to most of the problems that this country has battled throughout my lifetime, as I will be ignorant to many problems of countries across the globe during the same period. However, if to share a few days soaking in the words of Hosseini is to open my mind to just some of the struggles that Afghans, and, by extension, many of the peoples of nations who have been at war have faced, then I consider myself a richer, wiser person because of it.

[louisejane1994-2-blog]

09/01 Italian for Beginners: P1, Week 1

This week we learnt about nouns and their gender:

- o (masculine) - a (feminine) - e (exceptions)

We learnt about the indefinite article:

- un or uno (for masculine nouns or masculine nouns beginning with s+consonant, gn, pn, ps, x, z, or with i or y followed by another vowel) - una or un’ (for feminine nouns beginning with a consonant or a vowel)

We learnt about plural nouns: 

- o to i (un cornetto, due cornetti) - a to e (una pizza, due pizze) - e to i (la chiave, due chieve)

- ending in a consonant take “s” (il bar, due bars) - ending in a vowel with an accent don’t change (un attività, due attività)

We learnt about the definite article:

- masculine nouns will take “il” for the singular (il cornetto) - masculine nouns will take “i” for the plural (i cornetti) - masculine nouns beginning with s+consonant, gn, pn, ps, x, z, or with i or y followed by another vowel will take “lo” for the singular (lo scontrino) - masculine nouns beginning with s+consonant, gn, pn, ps, x, z, or with i or y followed by another vowel will take “gli” for the plural (gli scontrini)

- feminine nouns will take “la” for the singular (la pizza) - feminine nouns will take “le” for the plural (le pizze)

- nouns beginning with a vowel will take “l” for the singular and “le” or “gli” for the plurals for feminine and masculine respectively (l’aranciata, le aranciate, l’apertivo, gli apertivi)