Hi everybody! I'm Luca from Italy, I'm a linguist and a polyglot, I have a bachelor's degree in Japanese Language and Culture (Transcultural and Linguistic Studies) and I'm here to offer those of you who are interested in Italian language and culture some basics of my language! :)
Are you passionate about Italian food and you would love to visit Venice (Venezia) riding a gondola and to be able to interact also with all those Italians who have poor understanding of English?
Are you planning a trip all over Europe and you want to stay some days in Rome (Roma), see the Colosseum (il Colosseo) and ask for directions to locals without having troubles of understanding?
Here I am to help you to start your travel into Italian language and, since language is a bridge for culture, as you probably already know, this will probably lead you to understand better what Italy is nowadays and, generalizing, the way Italians think.
So let's get started with Lesson #1!
Lesson #1 - I saluti (Greetings)
The most common and informal greeting in Italian is "ciao!" [Pron. chaa-oh]. You can say it to friends and people you are familiar with, but not to your superiors, such as teachers, your boss, etc.
We say "ciao" when we meet someone (just like "hi", "hello" in English) but we also say it when we separate (so, like "bye"). In the latest case, you may hear people saying it twice: "Ciao ciao!", which is after all as common as saying "bye bye!" in English.
A more polite greeting you can tell to elderlies, superiors etc, is "buongiorno" (literally "good day": buon/buono = good; giorno = day).
Buongiorno! [Pron. Buon jornoh]
We use it from early morning until the late afternoon.
Then, we have discrepancies about the correct time to say it: some old people start wishing others for a good evening (buonasera, pron. buonah seh-rah) right after midday, 12 o'clock, but to young generations this sounds pretty awkward and old-style, so we keep saying "buongiorno" until 5-7 pm, or until the sun sets.
You may be wondering now if I skipped a "good morning"... well, we don't have it. The morning (il mattino, or also "la mattina") is part of the day in Italian culture, so you only have to wish the others to have a good day... because this is what greetings were born for here, to wish others to enjoy their time.
I should also add that, lastly, maybe because of TV programmes, some also wish for a good afternoon: buon pomeriggio!
"Il pomeriggio" is the word for afternoon, and it is a contraction of Old Italian: post, in Latin, means "after", and "meriggio" in Old Italian derives from Latin "meridiem", which is of course the noon.
So: post-meriggio -> pomeriggio
Then we finally have a greeting for late evening, and we mostly use it when we go to sleep:
Buona notte (good night) [buonah notteh].
It is to be underlined that the gemination of the consonants (double consonants) must be heard when pronouncing words like "notte", "mattino", "pomeriggio".
A correct pronunciation in a foreign language may make some feel weird at first, but I ensure you from my own experience in learning more than 10 different foreing languages (I am not trying to show off) that, when it comes to speak to natives of the language you're learning and you pronounce it well and enough correctly (a native will almost always grasp that you are not native as well of their language), they will appreciate it very much and feel much more at ease to speak to you in their idiom.
We also have a polite greeting for "bye, see you next time" in English, which is also very common: arrivederci!
This comes from "al rivederci", which means "until we see each other/meet again".
So, to sum up our first words in Italian, we have:
Ciao = hello/bye
Ciao ciao! = bye bye!
buongiorno = good (morning)/ good day
buon pomeriggio = good afternoon
buona sera = good evening
buona notte = good night
arrivederci = see you next time
If you liked this lesson and found it interesting, please like it and resteem it!
Grazie! (Thank you!)
ありがとう トモくん!!!! あの。。あなたの写真はどこか｡ はは
でもほかの語できるね。。español y francais et tagalog diba? Haha
Hahahaah I'll update Jas! ;)
For tagalog I'm still a beginner, for Spanish and French we may consider it! :P
How about japanese too, more folks like that !
Hey hahaha gimmie the time for Italian lessons first hahaha
hhmm wow this is cool..
Thank you very much!
Grazie mille! ;)
i know only ciao because my italian friend only learn me it.
That may be the first step of a nice journey then! ;)
Bienvenido mi amigo!
From: #steemitachievers
Muchas gracias :)
Woooow! Consider me as one of your avid readers from now on! I’d visit your page from time to time. I love the Italian language! I’ve come to work with the Italian Medical Team in 2013 when Super Typhoon Yolanda hit our province. And I could really say that the Italians are naturally happy and wonderful people. Italy is one of my dream destinations. I hope to visit your beautiful country someday. 🤗💚
Wow! Thank you very much for the appreciation! I'm glad you found it interesting and I hope I won't let down your expectations! :D
Italy has thousands of beautiful places to visit that may connect to any of your interests, from History, Art, Music, natural scapes, and so on! So I hope you can visit my country someday! :)
Nice...
Thank you! :)
#untalented
@originalworks
Hi lucaaxus! :) yes.. very interesting stuff. nice to meet u. im following u and upvoted now. i'm no official steemit guy, but maybe a pic or 2 in your post would attract more ppl to view it. :)
Hi, nice to meet you too! Thank you for the advice, I will do it! :)
Also glad you liked my post ;)
:)
very cool
Oh welcome...we have italians now on Steemit and if you need help just holler. We have an italian OCD curator too if you have friends who post in italian. name is @meanmommy33
Have fun!!
Thank you very much! :)
yw
Followed and upvoted since I want to learn Italian! Welcome to steemit! :)
I'm very happy to hear that, and I hope I can help! :D
Welcome here @lucaaxus! Enjoy your stay in Steemit community.
Thank you! :)
awesome! ciao!
Ciao e grazie! :P
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