½ûÂþÌìÌÃ

[QUOTE=Francesca]Wish me luck!!Frances[/QUOTE]

In bocca al lupo, Frances! Spero che andia bene per te.

I hope you have a good mix of people in the class to make it fun, and a good teacher who makes it even more fun!!

Let us know how you get on.

Neal and I start on 27th. James (age 10) is coming too, although he will not be able to partake in any discussions, hopefully he'll learn just as much as us, and if we're struggling we will be able to ask him :rolleyes:

Good luck Frances, I'm sure you will enjoy it ....

Hi there,
thanks for all the best wishes, I shall need them all!

Peter, I looked up your ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ, and got the gist of " Good Luck", but could not decipher the second part!! :o

Anyway, will let you all know how I progress or otherwise :rolleyes:

Take care
Frances

[QUOTE=Francesca]Peter, I looked up your ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ, and got the gist of " Good Luck", but could not decipher the second part!! :o [/QUOTE]

OOPS! Sorry, Frances.

What I said - and I can't guarantee I said it correctly!! - was : I hope it goes well for you. Spero is from sperare (to hope), and when you use verbs such as hope, wish, understand, believe, you have to use a tense that we do not use very much in English, called the subjunctive, the most common example of which, in English, is 'if I were you'. So, 'andia', as I've used it here, is the 3rd person singular subjunctive. HOWEVER, DO NOT concern yourself with it now; all I've done is to try and explain what I said, and you'll meet the subjunctive eventually in your course, when your tutor should explain it in more detail!

Hope I have not confused you more!!

Hi Peter,
thanks for explaining that to me, but I shall not worry too much about that at the moment. One step at a time so they say! :rolleyes:
Ciao
Frances

Good luck with your course. I really enjoyed mine.

[QUOTE=will]Hi Peter, where does the sayng "in bocca al Lupa" come from?....Is it a romulus /remus link.... intrigued.........[/QUOTE]

Hi Will

It originated within the hunting fraternity in Italy. At the start of the hunt someone would cry 'In bocca al lupo' - literally 'in the mouth of the wolf' - to which the response was 'crepi al lupo' - death to the wolf. The ½ûÂþÌìÌÃs didn't go pussyfooting around chasing some verminous fox! No, they hunted wolves, which used to roam the countryside and were just as big a pest to the ½ûÂþÌìÌÃs as the fox has always been to our sheep and chicken farmers.

You use it instead of 'buona fortuna' when, for example, someone is taking an exam or, as in Frances' case, even if they are just starting a course, and you want to wish them well.

In some respects it is similar to saying 'break a leg'.

Hope this answers your query.

[QUOTE=Peter Head]OOPS! Sorry, Frances.

What I said - and I can't guarantee I said it correctly!! - was : I hope it goes well for you. Spero is from sperare (to hope), and when you use verbs such as hope, wish, understand, believe, you have to use a tense that we do not use very much in English, called the subjunctive, the most common example of which, in English, is 'if I were you'. So, 'andia', as I've used it here, is the 3rd person singular subjunctive. HOWEVER, DO NOT concern yourself with it now; all I've done is to try and explain what I said, and you'll meet the subjunctive eventually in your course, when your tutor should explain it in more detail!

Hope I have not confused you more!![/QUOTE]

Ciao Peter,

'andia' doesn't exist in italian! Perhaps you meant 'vada'

[QUOTE=Paolino]Ciao Peter,

'andia' doesn't exist in italian! Perhaps you meant 'vada'[/QUOTE]

ooooopsss!! Oh, my! Why andia got stuck in the old walnut I have not the faintest!!

[QUOTE=Francesca]Hi there,
just to say that I start an ½ûÂþÌìÌà ½ûÂþÌìÌà Course for Beginners on Monday evening at my local evening class in Greenwich. Wish me luck!! :o
Ciao
Frances[/QUOTE]

Hi Frances,

How was your first class?

Both me and my partner Laurence started our ½ûÂþÌìÌà classes at the ½ûÂþÌìÌà Institute Edinburgh last night as well (him as an absolute beginner and me on elementary level!).

He seemed to enjoy his class although his group was very quiet - while my group is a noisy mix of 7 nationalities (incl our brilliant tutor, a Roman called Claudia)!!

I hadn't attended any classes there before and found it quite daunting at first when Claudia started off in quick ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ!! :rolleyes: But after a while my memory improved and I managed to pick up bits & pieces again! There's hope for next week!!!

Good luck!

Stephanie

Hi Stephanie,

thanks for the message. Yes it went quite well thanks. There were people of all ages, most of them like me an absolute beginner. Our teacher was very friendly, and she helped to break the ice, so to speak! I am sure as we get more confident, then no doubt the noise will go up a few decibels! :p

I am glad that you enjoyed your first night, also I have been given a bit of homework to do. I shall have to start getting used to doing that again! :o

Will post regular up-dates on here, if you are interested. Also can you let me know how you are both getting on? Thanks. Bye for now.

Frances

[QUOTE=Francesca]Hi Stephanie,

Will post regular up-dates on here, if you are interested. Also can you let me know how you are both getting on? Thanks. Bye for now.

Frances[/QUOTE]

Hi Frances,

I'm glad you enjoyed your first night. Our group was quite noisy too, all trying to get their ½ûÂþÌìÌà right and nearly all with different accents (Spanish, American, Greek,...)! :D

Laurence was given some homework and he keeps asking me the same questions every night, in the car, while watching telly.... 'Come ti chiami?' (or 'chiamo', as he keeps saying!), 'Di dove sei?' etc... great fun!!!

I've got to repeat present tense of verbs both regular and irregular plus the 'reflessivi' ! So far so good!!

A presto!
Stephanie

Good luck Frances

e buon divertimento

Hi Ilm,
thanksforthe goodluck message!

Buorngiorno Stephanie,
well I am now into my 3rd week of learning, and so far not doing too bad!
Am now at the stage of trying to learn the masculine/feminine endings whether ending in o, a, or e. Most confusing :confused:
The class is gradually raising the level of decibels, as we sit there and try and communicate with each other!
I am getting used to saying the introduction bits now. So can say and ask names, where I come from and how I feel , non ce male (cannot put the squiggles in) :p
Anyway, I am still enjoying it, and my fellow pupils all seem a nice bunch, and complete beginners like me.
Speak soon
ciao
Francesca

Ciao Francesca
Tonight is my 4th lesson in a beginners class at my local school, although my partner is ½ûÂþÌìÌà and we can have some sort of conversation I would rather start from the beginning and learn why, rather than learn 'you say it this way because you do'.
My biggest problem is speaking to the others in the class, they are a great bunch but 'public' speaking is not my forte :o , I would probably feel more comfortable speaking to an ½ûÂþÌìÌà who can't speak English.

Good luck
Stribs

Ciao Francesca & Stribs,

Glad you're enjoying your classes, Francesca, despite the increasing noise levels! :D Ours go along similar lines, especially as our teacher tries to bring students at different intermediate levels together! Lots of chatting in small groups, which I find very useful.

My other half is getting on well in his beginners class too. He's enjoying learning a new language and I'm always testing him on his latest learning achievements ... in the car to work, while cooking, on going to bed... be it numbers in ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ, times, etc! Imagine waking up not to 'good morning' but to 'five hundred and eighty-seven?' :p At least this way I remember basic stuff again!

Stribs, perhaps your tutor should encourage smaller groups doing exercises such as 2 or 3 together taking it in turns to ask questions or answer them. I find this tactic very useful in my class.

Hope you both continue enjoying your classes...

Buona fortuna!

Stephanie

Ciao Stribs,

thanks for the reply. I am like you, in the fact that I do not like speaking in public, especially as I am not sure of what I am saying and if it sounds right :o But I am lucky, as there are only about 10 of us in my class, so we tend to speak in 2's most of the time.

Anyway, buona fortuna! for this evening.

Francesca

Ciao Stephanie,

you sound as though you and your hubby are having great fun learning ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ, and that is how it should be.
Hopefully, when I get a bit more confident, then I will try teaching my hubby a few more basic words. His excuse is, that when he triesto listen to anything on tape, it sends him to sleep!! Needless to say, I will not let him play the tapes in the car :D

Bravo to you both.
Francesca

Ciao tutti! :)

Hmmm latest developments in our class is that half the group are busy chatting away in ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ, with however many mistakes in it, while the other half doesn't dare speak out for being overruled! I guess I'm somewhere in the middle ...

The girls who can't follow quickly enough complained to our tutor after class yesterday (overheard it while waiting for hubby), saying things moved too fast. And in fact, we've so far covered a wide range of topics in those 5 lessons (repetition of gerundio, presente, passato prossimo, and now imperfetto...), so they might have a point.

Our class has 15 students, half of them at different levels, and it must be very tricky for our tutor, who's very good, to keep track of all our abilities. Ahhh ....

Onwards & upwards... :D

Stephanie

Buonosera Stephanie,
well last night's class progress was fairly slow. We spent nearly half of the lesson going over the week before's work of nouns and aggettivi and masculi/femminile endings. This was because a couple of pupils had been absent and needed to catch up.
The second half, we had to make up our own conversation between a waiter and customer in a bar, great fun :o For me, I find it hard to remember what the person has just asked me, so kept having to say "scusi" :D
Also, when listening to a tape recording, I find that the language flows so fast, that I cannot keep up!
Anyway, it is coming on slowly. Next week there is no class, so have been given plenty of homework!
Hope you enjoy your next class.
Ciao
Francesca

Hi
I feel I need to join this thread as I am also learning ½ûÂþÌìÌà (for about 5 weeks). I was struggling to know what Ti va and senti mai meant yesterday. I should have asked the forum!

Pat

I find it very strange to have people of different levels in the same class room. This can be really frustrating for people at lower levels. And indeed I can see this is causing some problems to some of you who do not feel at ease when having to talk "in public".
Anyway, you're not expected to be perfect, you're learning after all, so mistakes will be forgiven. And it's only by practicing that you learn, no matter how many mistakes you make.
So forget the fear, talk and learn. Remember that once in Italy your teacher won't be here to help you when you need saying something, so just have your go!

Francesco
[url]www.learnitalian.bravehost.com[/url]

We've been asked if we are interested in hosting some full immersion courses for both residents close to San Ginesio and those with holiday homes. If you'd be interested in joining us, send me a private email and I'll pass you directly to the tutor.

I for one, could really do with some improvement to my grammar!

Ciao tutti,
well I am still attending my ½ûÂþÌìÌà evening class and making progress, albeit at a snail's pace!!
Last night we were learning numbers and how to tell the time ( le sono dodici e dodici hope that's right!)
Also we are now learning all the verbs, whether regular, irregular and reflexive!:o
I expect this is boring for the people on this site who are fluent, but I think that once I get the hang of these, I am hoping the learning will become easier.
How are other "students" getting on with their classes? I would like to know, especially Stephanie and her partner.
It is nice to know that I am not alone in learning.
Francesca.:)

Ciao Francesca!

Have been wondering about the same the last couple of days...

Great to hear you're moving forward. Good luck with the verbs!! Reflexive verbs can be the proverbial pain!

Laurence did the time-telling bit a few weeks back and he's only now starting on verb conjugations - regular and irregular and the occasional reflexive verb! He's struggling to remember when to use the reflexive 'mi...' and keeps using it all the time (i.e. mi vado, mi leggo, etc...)! They get a lot of written exercises for homework which I think is very good for them. They have to write up their daily routines, or what they did the previous weekend, etc... and he always asks me for feedback. Which is good training for me, I suppose ;)

The problem of different levels that existed in my class has been resolved by moving the 2 more advanced ladies to a higher level! Now the group is more at the same level, though for me a lot is still repetition. But then, that's good for the memory, which lets me down more often than not! Sadly!!! We have now started on the imperfetto after having repeated the passato prossimo earlier in the course. I personally don't find it too hard as it resembles Latin which I had to take at school (for 4 years!).

Overall still enjoying it greatly & have just signed up to continue in January... I guess you're going to continue as well?

Buona fortuna!

Stephanie

[QUOTE=Stribs]Ciao Francesca
Tonight is my 4th lesson in a beginners class at my local school, although my partner is ½ûÂþÌìÌà and we can have some sort of conversation I would rather start from the beginning and learn why, rather than learn 'you say it this way because you do'.
My biggest problem is speaking to the others in the class, they are a great bunch but 'public' speaking is not my forte :o , I would probably feel more comfortable speaking to an ½ûÂþÌìÌà who can't speak English.

Good luck
Stribs[/QUOTE]

Ciao Stribs,

How are you getting on lately?

Stephanie

Ciao Stephanie,

it is so nice to hear from you again. I did wonder how you and your partner were getting on.
I agree that the reflexive verbs, are a bit of a pain, but the saying does go " no pain, no gain", does this apply here?:D
Regarding the level of learning in the class, on the whole we are more or less all at the same level, which is a comfort and my teacher is a lovely lady in the fact that she has plenty of patience with us!!
I have actually signed up for the whole year for my class! Now was that me being brave or being optimistic about staying the course!! Time will tell.
The main thing is that I am still enjoying the course and hope that you are too.
Now where is my trusty dictionary?
Ah, here it is.;)
Parlare presto!
Francesca

I have had two lessons with lady locally - she is just going through a list of words and phrases and I am not sure how helpful that is going to be? I learnt French and German at school doing all verbs etc and as I am not a "young one" wonder whether I should start with the grammar with ½ûÂþÌìÌà ? Anyone have any views ??
Thanks.

Liguria
I am in my ninth week of a course in our local school, we started off with the basic greetings, name asking, noun and adjective genders etc, but for the last 4 weeks we have been doing verbs, this was my main reason for joining.
I have various phrase books, dictionarys etc but I think learning how to conjugate verbs (similar to French) are very important to make yourself understood.
By the way my partner is ½ûÂþÌìÌà and can tell me how to say things but cannot always explain why.
Saluti
Stribs

It all depends on what you plan to do with your ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ. If you need it for the odd holiday, then a good phrase book is more than enough.
But if you want to get a more solid knowledge of the language, good conversation skills, paired to a good grammar background will do the job. I am a bit for the old way, giving my students a bit of grammar (not too much, they tend to get bored easily) and applying the grammar to the conversation, to the writing or to the reading right away. It usually works!

Francesco
[url]www.learnitalian.bravehost.com[/url]

Ciao tutti!

Nearly there - one more evening class to go before the Xmas break!! :( :(

We'll be having a small scale Xmas party with wine & cookies! I bet the conversation will improve after a few glasses of vino!! ;)

I think finally the group has started to bond, so hopefully most of them will return as well after the break. Would be a shame if the group broke up...

A presto,
Stephanie

Ciao Stephanie,

just to say that I think we still have another 3 lessons before we finish for Xmas? Apparently the last class being on the 19th Dec? Also, the week before we are to be given a small "test" to see how we are all progressing:o

All in all, the class numbers between 8-10 people each week, and I have to say that we are all getting to know each other a bit better now. There is one man in the group who has a great sense of humour and usually manages to stop us from getting too serious and lightens up the mood a bit!

I am enjoying the course and have now started to look at the beginner's course on the B.B.C. web site as well. The short videos and typing in sentences and guessing the right words are quite fun to do (I need as much help as I can get!!)

I hope that you and your partner carry on with your course, it is so good to have someone else to talk things over with on this site.

Don't know what we are doing on our last evening yet, but I think we all deserve a bit of Xmas cheer!!:D

Francesca

Ciao Francesca!

Awww we're all done for this year! Had our final classes on Monday night and didn't really learn anything but chatter away about Xmas traditions (from Torino & Roma), holidays, good restaurants & places to go... over a few goodies from Markies, Sainsburys & someone's wine cellar... ;)

While Laurence's group spoke mostly in English (shame!), ours attempted to chat a lot in ½ûÂþÌìÌà with one or two exceptions who felt more comfortable in English.

The only downside was that many didn't bother turning up! Very sad! I thoroughly enjoyed it...

We've signed up to continue on 9th January & I can't wait!!

Enjoy your remaining classes!

A presto,
Stephanie

Ciao Stephanie,

well I still have two more weeks of classes! We are to be given a short test next week, to see how we are progressing ( oh how I hate that word!)

Glad that you enjoyed your last class. Hopefully our last class will be a little more relaxed as well, goodness knows I think that we have deserved it!

Will be back in touch to exchange notes again in January ( 9th).

Buon Natale! Buon anno! :) :)

Francesca

Buon natale e un buon anno nuovo, Francesca!!

Fingers are crossed for your test! Buona fortuna!! I'm sure you'll do just fine! Looking forward to continuing our updates in the new year...

Enjoy the Christmas days...

Stephanie

Ciao a tutti
I've only just found this forum and thread. I started evening classes here in Birmingham (UK not Alhabama) just over a year ago as I was very keen to learn ½ûÂþÌìÌà in spite of my great age of 68. I decided to go for a two year GCSE exam course figuring that it would give me the incentive to stick at it.
I started my second year in September so you can see I must be enjoying it. I'm getting a bit worried about about the exam though (which we take in June this year)
Because it is an exam course we do two and a half hours a week on Tuesday evenings and there are usually ten to twelve of us each week. Our next class will be the last one before Christmas and we restart the second tuesday in January.
If anyone fancies exchanging emails (in ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ) for practice drop me a private message on this forum:).

Buon Natale

John (Giovanni)

Ciao John,

it's nice to hear from someone else who is trying to grasp the lingo!

Unfortunately, my ½ûÂþÌìÌà is still very basic, so as yet I am not up to sending messages, it would probably take me all day, then still not make much sense!!

Hopefully we can start up a new thread when the classes start again in January?

By the way, how have you managed to master the dreaded "verbs" ? Have you a recipe for making it stay in the head for more than a few minutes?:o

Anyway, Buon Natale!

Francesca

Ciao John,

forgot to say, welcome to the forum and if you have any questions about Italy, there are plenty of helpful people around.

Enjoy:)

Francesca

John, I have complete empathy with you. Our last lesson is next Tuesday and we are going to be doing 'asking where somewhere is and how to get there'. I have spent hours so far this week listening to cd's, making notes, printing work sheets from the net and feel really confident. Thats until I actually get into the class room when suddenly I will develop amnesia and can't remember a bloody thing. I can read and understand but when it comes to my turn to speak its as if somebody has stollen my brain. So fustrating when it all returns during the drive home......:mad:

I'll also tell you what a really bad mother I've been this week but also a very proud one at the same time.

The health visitor was coming to see my daughter for her three year assessment on Monday morning and just off the cuff my husband told her over breakfast that the lady was coming to check up on her italian. Nothing else was said and the health visitor arrived at 10.30 am as arranged.

She got out some bricks and asked Lottie to stack them up, which she did, then make a bridge out of them. Then asked her to draw a face with a pencil and she was impressed that she could already write her name. Then there was the hopping excersise, and the standing on one leg and jumping.

The health visitor then got out some coloured bobbins and a piece of string and asked Lottie to thread them onto the string which she did. The then asked her what colour one of the bobbins was to which Lottie said 'verdi'. I burst out laughing and the health visitor looked at her and me and said again 'what colour' to which Lottie said 'V E R D I' in a loud clear voice and I was laughing that much I couldn't speak. When I could I had to explain she was telling her in ½ûÂþÌìÌà it was green and when the lady said 'ok in english please' Lottie just shrugged, gave me a nasty look and said 'I dont know', which was the reply she gave to the other's she asked her about. She ended up putting them on the floor and asked her to point to the correct colour.

We used to have a fab cd rom which all the kids used to love and it had games on and they used to play and learn at the same time. It unfortunatly had an accident with somebody's shoe.

Good luck with the course and hopefully we'll also be able to comunicate in ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ.

Ciao

[QUOTE=paula hampson].....
The health visitor was coming to see my daughter for her three year assessment on Monday morning and just off the cuff my husband told her over breakfast that the lady was coming to check up on her italian. Nothing else was said and the health visitor arrived at 10.30 am as arranged.

She got out some bricks and asked Lottie to stack them up, which she did, then make a bridge out of them. Then asked her to draw a face with a pencil and she was impressed that she could already write her name. Then there was the hopping excersise, and the standing on one leg and jumping.

The health visitor then got out some coloured bobbins and a piece of string and asked Lottie to thread them onto the string which she did. The then asked her what colour one of the bobbins was to which Lottie said 'verdi'. I burst out laughing and the health visitor looked at her and me and said again 'what colour' to which Lottie said 'V E R D I' in a loud clear voice and I was laughing that much I couldn't speak. When I could I had to explain she was telling her in ½ûÂþÌìÌà it was green and when the lady said 'ok in english please' Lottie just shrugged, gave me a nasty look and said 'I dont know', which was the reply she gave to the other's she asked her about. She ended up putting them on the floor and asked her to point to the correct colour.

We used to have a fab cd rom which all the kids used to love and it had games on and they used to play and learn at the same time. It unfortunatly had an accident with somebody's shoe.

Good luck with the course and hopefully we'll also be able to comunicate in ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ.

Ciao[/QUOTE]

Brilliant, Paula - just shows that Lottie has already quite a mind of her own!! Good gal!!! ;)

Stephanie

[QUOTE=lockettpots]Ciao a tutti
I've only just found this forum and thread. I started evening classes here in Birmingham (UK not Alhabama) just over a year ago as I was very keen to learn ½ûÂþÌìÌà in spite of my great age of 68. I decided to go for a two year GCSE exam course figuring that it would give me the incentive to stick at it.
I started my second year in September so you can see I must be enjoying it. I'm getting a bit worried about about the exam though (which we take in June this year)
Because it is an exam course we do two and a half hours a week on Tuesday evenings and there are usually ten to twelve of us each week. Our next class will be the last one before Christmas and we restart the second tuesday in January.
If anyone fancies exchanging emails (in ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ) for practice drop me a private message on this forum:).

Buon Natale

John (Giovanni)[/QUOTE]

Ciao John,

Welcome to the language learner's corner!! Strictly speaking, my ½ûÂþÌìÌà should be good enough to exchange emails but when I tried it a few weeks ago, it ended in a big mess...

But I'm sure we'd all like to read your updates in ½ûÂþÌìÌà on here so we can learn & follow... and even reply in kind!! :)

A presto,
Stephanie

Ciao John,

just to say I echo what Stephanie says about you sending us a messsage in ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ, and we try to decipher what you have written. Is that ok with you?

As long as they are not too long and kept fairly simple ( especially for me ) ;)

Parlare presto!

Francesca

Ciao Stephanie e Francesca

Ogni anno sono andato a Riva del Garda, una città sul lago di Garda in Trentino nel nord d'Italia. È una regione bellissima con il lago blu al sud e le montagne al nord.

È una regione dove non si parla molto inglese nei paesini nelle montagne così devo parlare in italiano!

Quasi tutti parlano l'inglese in città e di solito quando faccio un tentativo parlare in italiano rispondono nell'inglese :mad: . Però quando sono andato lì questo anno, quando ho parlato in italiano hanno risposso nella stessa lingua. Che meraviglioso! Forse il mio italiano divento migliore finalmente :rolleyes: .

In pochi giorni scriverò la spessa cosa nell'inglese così che potrete vedere se avete capito il mio tentativo inferiore.

A presto

Giovanni

Ciao John

Mi piace Riva del Garda. Siamo andati lì nel settembre del 1995, dopo aver passato quattro giorni a Venezia. Siamo rimasti al Grand Hotel Liberty. Erammo detti che la camera ha una balconia. Che balconia! Abbastanza grande di parcheggiare una macchina!!

Abbiamo visitato Malcesine con il suo castello interessante, Limone (che bella città) ed altri posti. Sei stato ad Arco? 2km nord da Riva, Arca è molto tranquilla, ma ha una vista meravigliosa del lago.

Io ricordo che siamo andati a Tremosine, ad un ristorante, dove c'era una grande vista attraverso il lago, verso a Malcesine.

Sì, ricordo Riva molto bene. Dai tre grandi laghi - Como, Garda, Maggiore - Lago di Garda era il nostro favorito, benché Maggiore, particolamente il Golfo Borromeo, sia così bellissimo.

A presto, John

Auguri

Peter

Ciao John,

Grazie per la lezione. I ho capito un po.

Il mio andaro Lake Garda, e una bella.

Io mi difficile a scrive.

Pratica faro perfetto.:D

A presto

Francesca.

Ciao John,

Abbiamo visitato Desenzano per poche ore nel Febbraio 2005 quando eramo a Venezia per 5 giorni. Anche io ho parlato un po d' italiano ma le gente hanno risposto (sp?) in inglese! No sorpresa! Ma eramo gli unici turisti nella citta'!!

Non mi piace molto Desenzano e la prossima volta deviamo visitare altre citta' sul lago. Ma primo vogliamo andare al lago Maggiore l'anno stesso.

A presto,
Stephanie

.... phew!! ;)

Brava Stephanie

Il suo italiano è ottimo!

Just a point - "people" in italian is singular (unless you are saying something like "peoples of the world unite") although the concept is plural - rather like our words "crowd" or, perhaps more appropriately, "population".

So one would say "la gente italiana è molto simpatica" not "le gente intaliane sono simpatiche" Seems very strange to our ears doesn't it.

John

[QUOTE=lockettpots]Brava Stephanie

Il suo italiano è ottimo!

Just a point - "people" in italian is singular (unless you are saying something like "peoples of the world unite") although the concept is plural - rather like our words "crowd" or, perhaps more appropriately, "population".

So one would say "la gente italiana è molto simpatica" not "le gente intaliane sono simpatiche" Seems very strange to our ears doesn't it.

John[/QUOTE]

Grazie mille, John! :)

Come to think of it... it had slipped my memory! This is a very good way of learning & remembering, I believe.

Ciao,
Stephanie

Ciao Aliena!

Qual' idea bella!! :)

A quiz sounds very good.... how should we go about it? Perhaps some kind of guessing game where we describe something & the others have to guess it in ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ? Any ideas, anyone?

A presto,
Stephanie