Una cosa mai fatta...

In a TV series inspired by the novel of the same name, Per dieci minuti (For ten minutes),  five real-life people are challenging themselves and discovering new possibilities by undertaking a simple sfida (challenge or dare):

Everyday, for ten minutes a day, they must do something new, something they've never done before.

Ho fatto immersioni.

I've been scuba diving.

Non ho mai studiato cinese.

I've never studied Chinese.

Watching the second episode: Fiducia (faith or confidence), I was struck by the activities that each person chose for their first week.  In some cases, it was surprising that the person had never done it before, and in others, I wondered how they even
came up with the idea.

Check out some of the first week activities, and practice your Italian vocabulary by matching the activity name with its corresponding picture.  As you match, ask yourself the following questions...

Ho mai fatto questa cosa?

Have I ever done this?

and..

Mi interessa farla?

Am I interested in doing it?

{You may prefer to print the PDF worksheet, and write out your answers there!}

a. fare i muffin con la sorella
b. fare un cappuccino al bar
c. smontare un motore
d. suonare la batteria
e. farsi fare un massaggio
f. parlare francese per strada
g. giocare al burlesque
h. cantare a squarciagola in mezzo alla gente
i. prendere un caffè con un vicino
j. fare gli origami
k. fare jogging
l. seguire uno sconosciuto per strada
m. andare a cavallo
n. chiedere ai sconosciuti per strada "Quanti anni mi dai?"
o. ballare il tango
p. piantare un albero
q. chiedere di giocare a basket
r. ballare lo swing
s. stirare una camicia
t. vendere la frutta
u. fare paracadutismo
v. fare l'esame di guida
w. fare lo skate
x. fare la giocoleria

Check your answers by highlighting the space below,
(or see the answers on the PDF answer key)

1. m	2. e	3. o
4. h	5. d	6. n
7. f	8. k	9. g
10. w	11. i	12. l
13. x	14. c	15. u
16. q	17. r	18. p
19. t	20. b	21. a
22. s	23. v	24. j

then….

Fammi sapere (let me know)! 

C'è un'attività che ti piacerebbe fare che non hai mai fatto?

Is there an activity that you've never done that you would like to do?

Comment below or on Facebook!

Several people have participated in the challenge at home and shared their experiences online.  Here are some of their ideas:

giocare al ping pong al buio

play ping-pong in the dark

osservare le anatri

observe ducks

fare la polenta

make polenta

As for me...

Non ho mai ballato il tango, ma vorrei provarci!

I've never danced the tango, but I would like to try it!

Watch Fiducia (starting with Parte 1) here:





Or visit the show's web page to see more:

Per Dieci Minuti su La Effe

 Potrebbe pure interessarti….

Per Dieci Minuti | For ten minutes…
The above quote by Rudolf Steiner appears in the first few pages of Chiara Gamberale's most recent novel, Per dieci minuti (For ten ...

Per dieci minuti... | For ten minutes...

The above quote by Rudolf Steiner appears in the first few pages of Chiara Gamberale's most recent novel, Per dieci minuti (For ten minutes).

Key Vocabulary:

(l') essere umano -  human being

(la) facoltà - ability

latente - latent

giungere - to reach

attraverso le quali - through which

(la) conoscenza - consciousness

(il) mondo - (the) world

Using the above mini-dictionary, if necessary, can you write a literal translation of the quote in English (highlight below to reveal one possibility)

In each human being, there exists latent abilities, through which he or she can reach the consciousness of the world.

Though the literal translation makes sense, in English the quote is often worded differently:

Gli aggettivi di nazionalità - The adjectives of nationality in Italian

Aggettivi di nazionalità are the adjectives that specify which country a person or thing comes from.

In English the adjective of nationality for Italy is "Italian".

Giovanni comes from Italy.  He is Italian.

In Italian, the adjective of nationality for Italy (Italia) is "italiano."

Giovanni proviene dall'Italia.  È italiano.

Chances are, you've heard "italiano" before, but what about the adjectives of nationality for other countries… like Antigua and Barbuda? Kenya?  Sri Lanka?

In Italian, like in English, even if you don't know the exact adjective, you can still express this idea by using the following construction:

di (definite article)* + (paese)

of/from +  (country)

*When the preposition di (of/from) is combined with a definite article, either: il, la, l', i, le or gli they get joined together to create the articulated forms:  del, della, dell', dei, delle, degli. Whether you can simply use "di" or must use one of the articulated forms in this construction depends on the country/context.

Kasun? Lui è dello Sri Lanka.

Kasun? He's from Sri Lanka.

La squadra olimpica del Kenya è bravissima!

The olympic team from Kenya is great!

That construction works, but often it sounds better to have a single word— the appropriate adjective of nationality.  

Kasun?  Lui è singalese (anche "cingalese")

Kasun?  He's Sri Lankan.

La squadra olimpica keniota è bravissima!

The Kenyan olympic team is great!

The following is an almost complete list of the countries of the world (listed alphabetically in Italian) and their corresponding Aggettivo di nazionalità: 

..

(available as a pdf on Google drive)

or

flip through the list here in Flashcard format:

Hint: you can also use the drop down menu on the bottom right hand side "Choose a Study Mode" to see the list in various learning modes and games.

There isn't always a corresponding adjective (in this case the aforementioned construction is the only option) and sometimes, more than one term is acceptable.  


Want more explanation and/or activities? Check out these sites:


Aggettivi di Nazionalità da One World Italiano
Esercizio- Aggettivi di Nazionalità da Impariamo Italiano

Mi chiamo Alex e sono americana (o statunitense!)... e tu?

Song Lyrics and meaning: L'essenziale by Marco Mengoni

..

L'essenziale can be found on the 2013 album #prontoacorrere.

If you follow the Italian music competition, Sanremo, then you already know that the 2013 winner in the "Campioni" category was Marco Mengoni with his song "L'essenziale." What you may not know, however, is all the lyrics to the song and/or what they mean so let's watch a video of the song with the lyrics included. If you can, listen several times and sing along when you feel ready.

Now that you're familiar with it, let's look at the text all at once:

Sostengono gli eroi
"se il gioco si fa duro,
è da giocare!"
Beati loro poi
se scambiano le offese con il bene.
Succede anche a noi
di far la guerra e ambire poi alla pace
e nel silenzio mio
annullo ogni tuo singolo dolore.
Per apprezzare quello che
non ho saputo scegliere.

Mentre il mondo cade a pezzi
io compongo nuovi spazi
e desideri che
appartengono anche a te
che da sempre sei per me
l'essenziale.

Non accetteró
un altro errore di valutazione,
l'amore è in grado di
celarsi dietro amabili parole
che ho pronunciato prima che
fossero vuote e stupide.

Mentre il mondo cade a pezzi
io compongo nuovi spazi
e desideri che
appartengono anche a te.
Mentre il mondo cade a pezzi
mi allontano dagli eccessi
e dalle cattive abitudini,
torneró all'origine,
torno a te che sei per me
l'essenziale

L'amore non segue le logiche
Ti toglie il respiro e la sete.

Mentre il mondo cade a pezzi
io compongo nuovi spazi
e desideri che
appartengono anche a te.
Mentre il mondo cade a pezzi
mi allontano dagli eccessi
e dalle cattive abitudini,
torneró all'origine,
torno a te che sei per me
l'essenziale

Text provided by angolotesti.it (they're my favorite resource for the lyrics to Italian songs!)

What words do you recognize?  Which words don't you understand?  Using a dictionary (I almost always use wordreference.com) make a list of the unknown words.  See if you can identify which part of speech each word is (noun, verb, adjective, pronoun, preposition, etc.) For the verbs, can you tell which tense is used?  Any tenses you haven't studied yet?

Now, take a look at my rough English translation below. Note which words and phrases I translated literally and where I chose to change the wording a bit...  Can you think of other ways to word the expressions in English or do you see anything you would translate differently?


Heroes assert
“if the game is difficult,
then it’s to be played!”
Good for them then
if they mistake harm for good.
It happens also to us
to make war and then yearn for peace
and in my silence
I take away each one of your pains.
In order to appreciate what
I haven’t before known to choose.

While the world falls to pieces
I put together new spaces
and desires that
belong also to you
because you’ve always been to me
what’s essential.

I will not accept
another mistake in judgment
love is capable of
hiding itself behind loving words
that I said aloud before when
they were empty and stupid.

While the world falls to pieces
I put together new spaces
and new desires that
belong also to you
While the world falls to pieces
I move away from the excess
and from the bad habits,
I’ll return to the origin
I return to you because you are for me
what’s essential.

Now, listen to the song again.  Sometimes, I find that the mood of the song has changed once I understand the words more fully, is that the case with you?  Do you like the song any more or any less now?

Keep listening and singing along and stay tuned (pun intended) for more Song exercises... I promise, it's one of the best ways to learn a language!

Buon ascolto! 
—Alex

Where to find #prontoacorrere by country:

Mp3 album (or individual tracks): (uk) ~ (fr) ~ (de) 

CD #prontoacorrere: (us) ~ (uk) ~ (fr) ~ (de) ~ (it) ~ (es)

I Flash Card: Verbi da "Le luci nelle case degli altri"

I've always been a big fan of making flashcards for language study, and now with various computer programs and apps, I can do so without hurting the trees.  My favorite site is Quizlet because it allows me to easily copy and paste word lists from Microsoft Word or Open Office- plus, it keeps tracks of frequently missed words, automatically creates tests and games, and allows sharing of lists with other users.  It is also compatible with several iPhone apps.  (I use Orange or Apple)

I recently read a book by Chiara Gamberale called "Le Luci nelle Case degli Altri".  (A very good book- so good that I went out and bought the author's previous work "La Zona Cieca" featuring two of the characters found in "Le Luci..") 

One of my favorite quotes from the book— "We all live in the dark to something that pertains to us."

As usual, while reading I wrote down the words that I didn't know or wasn't sure about then found the definitions and typed it all out in a table.  I then converted the table to text (using tabs to separate the terms) and then copied and pasted the entire document using Quizlet's "Copy and paste from another source" function.

{Le luci nelle case degli altri}*

Free two-day shipping, worldwide

*I get a small percentage for referrals at no additional cost to you, so thank you for using my link! I only refer books that I thoroughly enjoy, and I do my best to find the best prices!

Below, is the verb set that I made for this book.  All the verbs are intermediate or advanced level, and probably best suited to those learning Italian from English and not viceversa (the English side would have to be simplified or clarified for English learners).

Choose a Study ModeScatterLearnFlashcards

Study these flash cards | Study italian flash cards

I have more lists I'll make public soon! Or- get reading and make your own lists! [View and save a copy of my Blank Vocab List word document to get started!]

Buona lettura!
-Alex