Learn Italian in a Hurry

Grasp the Basics of Italian Rapidamente!

Michael P San Filippo

• Editorial: Adams Media
• Año: 2007
• ISBN:
  9781440516467
• Categoría: Languages & Linguistics
• Categoría: Italian Language

The Ultimate Guide to Learning Italian ASAP! You know how to order your favorite "ravioli" or "vino"--but that can only get you so far. If you are planning to travel to an Italian-speaking country or want a jumpstart on on how to "parlare" for a class, Learn Italian in a Hurry is your ideal pocket-sized primer to learn this beautiful language, with sections on Commonly used Italian phrases (days of the week, letter, numbers), Pronunciations and conjugations, Grammar and sentence construction, Useful words and terms, and Helpful Italian-English and English-Italian dictionaries.Complete with easy-to-read tables, pronunciation guides throughout, and even a must-visit list of Italian cities, Learn Italian in a Hurry is your key to learning Italian "rapidamente"!

03 / Grammar

Maybe you fell in love with the rolling hills of Tuscany on your first visit to il bel paese—or maybe you fell in love with an Italian! Maybe your grandparents emigrated from Italy, so you want to investigate your family history. Perhaps you’re an aspiring musician who wants to learn what adagio, allegro, and andante mean, or an opera singer who wants to improve her pronunciation. For all these reasons and more, you’ve decided to learn Italian, improve on what lessons you’ve already taken, or formalize those rudimentary phrases you’ve been speaking when traveling to Italy.

No matter what your motivation—-the opportunity to work overseas, cultural exchange in a land steeped in history and culture, researching your genealogy, or studying other topics such as literature or art history—you can discover new worlds when learning Italian. So raise a glass of Montepulciano and congratulate yourself on embarking on a new adventure. Buon viaggio!

Top Ten Reasons to Learn Italian

1. Understand Luciano Pavarotti when he belts out a phrase in a high C.

2. Order in Italian with confidence at an authentic Italian restaurant.

3. Improve your cultural understanding and global communication.

4. Stop relying on subtitles when watching Italian-language movies.

5. Get directions in Italian on your next visit to Rome.

6. Converse with your Italian-born grandparents.

7. Choose the right size at the Armani boutique in Florence without guessing.

8. Research your family roots and interpret old documents.

9. Study art history in the land where Michelangelo was born.

10. Read La Divina Commedia as Dante wrote it.

Love Those Romance Languages!

What comes to mind when you hear the word “romance”? Champagne and chocolates, candlelight dinners, soft music, and Valentine’s Day? Not many people will think Italian, Spanish, or Portuguese. So what are Romance languages and why is Italian part of this group?

Linguistically speaking, Romance languages are descendants of the spoken form of Latin, known as Vulgar Latin. In this case, “vulgar” doesn’t mean “coarse” or “off-color,” but rather “common,” referring to the usual, typical, everyday speech of ordinary people.

Romance languages consist of modern French, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Catalan, the Romansch group of dialects (spoken in Switzerland), and Sardinian. Also inc...