Heather Broster
When studying Italian, one of the important things you can do in order to make your sentences more descriptive is to learn your Italian colors. After all, if your basic vocabulary fails you, knowing how to tell someone the color of the bus you need to take or the dress you wish to buy can be …
The word fischio in Italian refers to any kind of high-pitched sound emitted by blowing through the teeth and lips, in addition to a similar range of sounds emitted by birds, animals or objects. Generally we’d translate this word as whistle, but other possible translations include hiss, call, cry, or whizz. Fischio is a masculine …
O Sole Mio is one of the most well-known songs to emerge from Italy, along with the likes of Nel blu dipinto di blu and Caruso. Written in 1898 by Giovanni Capurro and Eduardo di Capua, it has been recorded by dozens of artists and translated into various languages, most famously Elvis Presley’s It’s Now …
June, or giugno in Italian, is the month that marks the beginning of the middle of the year and the beginning of l’estate (summer). Thanks to the longer days and warm temperatures, it is a wonderful time to visit Italy if you enjoy spending time on the beach, swimming, and hiking in the mountains. Giugno …
A person with a lot of courage and resolve can be described using the noun grinta in Italian. The closest equivalents are grit or determination in English, although other translations such as fighting spirit and drive may also work depending on the context. Unlike the vast majority of words in Italian, grinta derives, not from …
In the months leading up to my son’s birth, I made the decision to raise him in Italian, despite being an English mother-tongue who learned Italian as an adult. The desire stemmed mostly from the fact that my husband is part-Italian, but I also wanted to make sure that he had an opportunity I never …