After a crazy couple of weeks full of delicious distractions it's time to "buckle down" as my father would say, and hit the books, being that final exams are looming.
I will keep this short (famous last words); just in the last week I have expended, literally, thousands of words on the (still almost finished...) book project.
Other words, however, I've been drinking up in Italian like water (oh who am I kidding ... like a luscious, chewy Cabernet). My "multimedia" approach, in addition to Ms. Stone, includes more language exchange (with like, you know, real people) in groups and one-on-one, dual language books, music, and Italian language blogs. In one such blog post a little over a week ago by Melissa Muldoon in her Diario di una Studentessa Matta (diary of a crazy student - thought it was me, didn't you?? Ha!) got me thinking about my favorite words in this language as she talked about her favorite Italian words.
Here are the "which, what & why" of my top five favorite parole italiane (and NO, the word peekUPpa is not one of them) to follow Melissa's lead, as well as Italofile Melanie's (love that she's a "list" girl!) entry titled "Five Favorite Italian Words: The Sequel.
1) Sgabuzzino: A small closet for storage.
Perche: My friend was having some work done to the exterior of her apartment building. With construction workers outside the windows early every morning, she commented once that, "I'm thinking of getting dressed in the sgabuzzino." At the time, I thought the word just meant "closet." So I wrote the word on a pink Post-it & stuck it to what I thought was my sgabuzzino door. I later found out that my purported sgabuzzino was, indeed, an armadio (wardrobe), but the Post-it remains months later, and I still giggle and say the word every time I walk past it. It makes me smile.
2) Finirà: The furture tense of "to finish or end," 3rd person, singular.
Perche: About 2 years ago when I started playing with Italian language CDs and verb conjugations off-and-on, a song by Josh Groban was one of the motivators. In the song L'Ultima Notte he sings about a last night together and how the next day everything will end. OK, one would think it's a depressing little ditty, but in fact, the song honors the memories and special moments of trying to soak up a last night in a very beautiful way. Stay with me here, tonight, because tomorrow it will all end...domani tutto finirà. It just rolls off the tongue, especially when sung in the shower. Just sayin'.
3) Bruciato: Burned.
Perche: OK, it's also the name of a lovely bottle of wine by Antinori, "Il Bruciato" made with mostly Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, & a bit of Syrah. Love the wine in my mouth as much as I adore the feel of the word coming back out - preferably not at the same time.
4) Sera: Evening.
Perche: When I was hiking through the Cinque Terre 5 years ago, I remember meeting different people on the trail. Sometime late in the afternoon around Riomaggiore, I encounted a young man who just simply greeted me with "Sera." Not "Buona Sera" as in, "good evening." Just, "evening." Indeed it was. And it sounded just as good to me.
5) Orsacchiotino: Teddy bear (or other stuffed animal) - or as I call my significant collection of them, "stuffies!"
Perche: Awwwww. This word I saw neatly written into the sand on the beach yesterday. Later in the evening I scribbled it on a place mat next to my pizza for my friend to decypher. It took us a while to come to English and Italian clarity on this word, but we managed.
The word, I decided right then and there, was one of my new favorites. Maybe because so was the evening, the sera sotto le stelle (evening under the stars), watching the first lucciole (lightning bugs) either of us had seen in years. For a while we sat amongst the olive trees playing with words for the constellations, the wind, the bugs, and after a while, hearing and saying ... nothing ... senza parole. It is also quite possible my brain buffer was full and needed time to process.
Words take on so many more dimensions than one can find in a dictionary, I believe. They can be spoken, heard, written, read, sung, and shared - but realizing you get to live them sometimes adds a certain richness to the way you remember them and offer them up to someone else in the future.
I'm only tagging one person in this blog today - my friend Rebecca of Via Poggio Gerardo. She is responsible for word #1, as well as many laughs, and little lessons from a native-born Tuscan perspective. Not to mention, she makes a mean ragu...
So much for keeping this short...back to the books.
I will keep this short (famous last words); just in the last week I have expended, literally, thousands of words on the (still almost finished...) book project.
Other words, however, I've been drinking up in Italian like water (oh who am I kidding ... like a luscious, chewy Cabernet). My "multimedia" approach, in addition to Ms. Stone, includes more language exchange (with like, you know, real people) in groups and one-on-one, dual language books, music, and Italian language blogs. In one such blog post a little over a week ago by Melissa Muldoon in her Diario di una Studentessa Matta (diary of a crazy student - thought it was me, didn't you?? Ha!) got me thinking about my favorite words in this language as she talked about her favorite Italian words.
Here are the "which, what & why" of my top five favorite parole italiane (and NO, the word peekUPpa is not one of them) to follow Melissa's lead, as well as Italofile Melanie's (love that she's a "list" girl!) entry titled "Five Favorite Italian Words: The Sequel.
1) Sgabuzzino: A small closet for storage.
Perche: My friend was having some work done to the exterior of her apartment building. With construction workers outside the windows early every morning, she commented once that, "I'm thinking of getting dressed in the sgabuzzino." At the time, I thought the word just meant "closet." So I wrote the word on a pink Post-it & stuck it to what I thought was my sgabuzzino door. I later found out that my purported sgabuzzino was, indeed, an armadio (wardrobe), but the Post-it remains months later, and I still giggle and say the word every time I walk past it. It makes me smile.
2) Finirà: The furture tense of "to finish or end," 3rd person, singular.
Perche: About 2 years ago when I started playing with Italian language CDs and verb conjugations off-and-on, a song by Josh Groban was one of the motivators. In the song L'Ultima Notte he sings about a last night together and how the next day everything will end. OK, one would think it's a depressing little ditty, but in fact, the song honors the memories and special moments of trying to soak up a last night in a very beautiful way. Stay with me here, tonight, because tomorrow it will all end...domani tutto finirà. It just rolls off the tongue, especially when sung in the shower. Just sayin'.
3) Bruciato: Burned.
Perche: OK, it's also the name of a lovely bottle of wine by Antinori, "Il Bruciato" made with mostly Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, & a bit of Syrah. Love the wine in my mouth as much as I adore the feel of the word coming back out - preferably not at the same time.
4) Sera: Evening.
Perche: When I was hiking through the Cinque Terre 5 years ago, I remember meeting different people on the trail. Sometime late in the afternoon around Riomaggiore, I encounted a young man who just simply greeted me with "Sera." Not "Buona Sera" as in, "good evening." Just, "evening." Indeed it was. And it sounded just as good to me.
5) Orsacchiotino: Teddy bear (or other stuffed animal) - or as I call my significant collection of them, "stuffies!"
Perche: Awwwww. This word I saw neatly written into the sand on the beach yesterday. Later in the evening I scribbled it on a place mat next to my pizza for my friend to decypher. It took us a while to come to English and Italian clarity on this word, but we managed.
The word, I decided right then and there, was one of my new favorites. Maybe because so was the evening, the sera sotto le stelle (evening under the stars), watching the first lucciole (lightning bugs) either of us had seen in years. For a while we sat amongst the olive trees playing with words for the constellations, the wind, the bugs, and after a while, hearing and saying ... nothing ... senza parole. It is also quite possible my brain buffer was full and needed time to process.
Words take on so many more dimensions than one can find in a dictionary, I believe. They can be spoken, heard, written, read, sung, and shared - but realizing you get to live them sometimes adds a certain richness to the way you remember them and offer them up to someone else in the future.
I'm only tagging one person in this blog today - my friend Rebecca of Via Poggio Gerardo. She is responsible for word #1, as well as many laughs, and little lessons from a native-born Tuscan perspective. Not to mention, she makes a mean ragu...
So much for keeping this short...back to the books.
I'm truly honored. For the nod, for your amazing friendship and support and for all the things you have taught me to love about life, friends, and myself.
ReplyDeleteCiao bella! Ho appena trovato il tuo blog! Mi è piaciuto molto leggere delle tue parole favorite e delle tue esperienze in italia! Beata te vivire in italia per un anno! Dovrebbe molto difficile ritornare negli stati uniti...spero che il viaggio e la transizione vada bene! A presto!
ReplyDeleteCiao, Melissa - e piacere! Si, e difficile per me partire, ma tornero` in Settembre studiare la lingua italiana piu! Grazie per i commenti!
ReplyDeleteanch'io ritornerò in italia settembre - ma solo per una breve vacanza! Lo sai che sono molto gelosa di te stare tutto l'anno in italia! Per quanto tempo starai in italia in settembre?
ReplyDeleteSaro` a Firenze solo per due mesi, e poi, un'altra scuola di vino in Francia. Pero, sto pensando un giorno a vivere qui - forse in pochi anni ... ancora pensando ... ;)
ReplyDelete