We are all well aware that English is abound with words of Italian origin but did you know that Italian regularly borrows from English as well? Italian has a long history of incorporating foreign words into its vocabulary but it is only in recent years that the amount of English vocabulary entering Italian has exploded. …
Goodbye! So long! Farewell! Toodle-loo! In English, there are dozens of ways to say goodbye besides the standard textbook phrases everyone learns in class, so it should come as no surprise that Italian has plenty of expressions of its own! In this article, we cover all the most important expressions you need to enrich your …
Christmas is just around the corner and that means it’s time to put up the tree, decorate the house, and most importantly, brush up on your Italian Christmas greetings! 😉 Perhaps you want to be able to say a few phrases when you call or write to your Italian relatives, or maybe you’re just curious …
False friends are words in different languages that sound or look the same but have completely different meanings. Although the vast majority of words that resemble each other in English and Italian do share a similar meaning due to their shared origin, there are a number of false friends that will certainly catch you out …
There are literally hundreds of words in the English language that sound or look similar to their Italian equivalents. This is because English has been heavily influenced by Latinate and Romance sources, such as French and Anglo-Norman, ever since the Early Middle Ages. In this article, I’m not going to be investigating Italian-sounding words that …
As languages go, I would classify Italian as one of the easiest to learn for English speakers, at least in terms of pronunciation. A big advantage is that it is a highly phonetic language – unlike English and French, for example – so what you see written on paper is very close to how it …