Archive for June, 2010
Jun
Jun
The secret to overcoming shyness, conquering your fears, and building confidence in a second language
Have you ever found yourself in a perfect situation but afraid to take advantage of it? Have you ever passed an opportunity to talk to someone in a foreign language, out of fear that you would make a mistake? Do you ever downplay your studies or your skills out of fear that your reputation is…
Jun
Jun
Irregular comparisons and superlatives
In addition to the regular comparative forms we already looked at (using più and meno) there are also some irregular comparatives and superlatives for Italian adjectives and adverbs.
Irregular adjective comparisons
With most English comparatives, we just add -er and -est to the adjective (eg: light, lighter, and lightest…), but that
Jun
Jun
The Lonely Planet iPad app failure
As a traveler and language learner, I am particularly fond on Lonely Planet’s phrasebooks and I find many of their other travel-related materials useful as well. I follow @lonelyplanet on Twitter, and in general have a pretty good opinion about them.
So it should come as no surprise that when looking for iPad apps, I…
Jun
Jun
Additional style notes about superlatives
We’ve already looked at how to form comparisons in Italian, as well as a few irregular comparative forms. Today I want to suggest one more way to convey the thought, and add a few notes on usage.
Augmentative suffixes
The Italian language allows us imply an additional degree of a particular adjective or adverb —…
Jun
Jun
¡Ay madre! What your mother never taught you about Spanish!
One of the most versatile words in many languages is “mother”, but there is probably no language in which it is more versatile than in Spanish. To a person who is learning Spanish but doesn’t know slang, one could easy walk away from a conversation wondering why people talk about their mothers so much. However…
Jun
Jun
Lithuanian greetings
In anticipation of a coming trip to Lithuania this fall, I wanted to learn a little about the language. I decided this would be a good opportunity for me to put my list of the 10 most important things to know, to get by in any language to the test.
Today, we’ll look at the…
Jun
Jun
Preposizioni improprie
In addition to the simple prepositions we’ve already covered, there are also “improper” prepositions, called preposizioni improprie in Italian, which are actually adverbs, adjectives, participles, and phrases, which often function as prepositions in general use.
If this is unclear, think of an English example. For instance, the word around… is an adverb, because it describes
Jun
Jun
These Romance languages are all just Vulgar Latin!
One of the ways polyglots become polyglots is by using the tools they’ve already learned in one language to help with the next. Sometimes those tools are more than just learning techniques. Sometimes, when studying a second language in a language family that is already known, the entire previous experience can be mapped onto the…
Jun
Jun
The who’s and what’s of Italian pronouns
Pronouns are among the most used of any word in any language, and they have many uses. Today I’d like to take a look at some of the ways they are used in Italian.
Subject pronouns
By this point, you’ve probably already figured out that subject pronouns are frequently omitted. We learn the subject pronouns…
Jun
Jun
Hurrà Blackhawks!
After cheering for the Blackhawks all season long, I got to see them hoist the Stanley Cup.
Today I’m taking a day off from blogging.…