Venice, just the other day.
I'm attempting to read The Great American Novel by William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) in two languages. In Italian it's called Il grande romanzo americano.
Chapter 1 is 'The Fog' - 'Nebbia'.
Chapter 1 is 'The Fog' - 'Nebbia'.
There was plenty of fog in Venice. Four days running I was roused from my slumbers by deep throated foghorns.
Here's a picture of the fog on the Grand Canal - Canal Grande.
William Carlos Williams peers into the fog and notes that history is blurred.
William Carlos Williams peers into the fog and notes that history is blurred.
On television (Rai 1) this morning it was said that Italian is 4th most popular language currently being studied in the world. I find that I'm not surprised to learn this.
Italian is a magical and charming language which conjures up images of romantic places like Firenze, Venezia and Napoli, and happy Italian people.
Italian is a magical and charming language which conjures up images of romantic places like Firenze, Venezia and Napoli, and happy Italian people.
L'italiano e una lingua romanza basto sul dialetto toscana principalmente quello fiorentino.
Ah Venice. My favourite place in the whole world Gwil - even in the fog. I took the farmer but he was not enchanted either by the queues everywhere or by the flooding whilst we were there.
ReplyDeleteYou had high water - 'aqua alta'. There's a Donna Leon novel of that title. Commissar Brunetti is the detective hero as in all her Venezia books. You should have parked the farmer on the Venice Lido and let him watch the seagulls. ;)
DeleteHave you just been back in Venice? Lucky you.
ReplyDeleteI just had a few days. Traffic and road works horrendous. It took 10 hours to get there and 7 hours to get back. On the train it can be slower. I've known it take 13 hours to get there and 12 hours to get back. But it's always worth it. Fog is something one has to expect in autumn.
DeleteIt is a pity because we want to be American; TV news presenters and announcers use English words in place of Italian ones, often pronouncing them incorrectly. I often hear my mum say an English word in the same way she heard it on the news.
ReplyDeleteComplimenti Gwil for learning Italian.
Greetings Maria x
Here the vogue is for English words combined with German ones. Often with odd or amusing results. Yesterday's 'bargain' is today's 'preishit'. Yuk!
DeleteI read in either English or French. I once tried to learn Italian but nothing would 'stick'. I think it has a lot to do with NEED; and I didn't really need it.
ReplyDeleteNEED is a powerful driver. German is difficult to read. They combine words to make new words, wordsthatareverylong. You can look up the longest German word on a dictionary website and add a word of your own to make a new word. Doesn't seem to matter that it interrupts the readingflow. There you are Cro, a readingflowinterruptingword.
DeleteHello!! I'am glad to read the whole content of this blog and am very excited.Thank you.
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