Mameha

A mi me gusta mucho el Raggaeton, como Daddy Yankee, J balvin, j Alvarez ecc....:D

On 1/12/2015, 16:12:37, lushlala said:

A lot of Setswana names have meanings, and are also unisex. So here goes:

Girls:

• Neo (gift)
• Boitumelo (joy)
• Gaone (of God's will)
• Bontle (beauty)
• Mpho (gift) *
• Kgomotso (comfort)
• Basadi (women)

Boys:

• Tshepo (faith)*
• Kgosi (chief)
• Pule (rain)
• Mpho (gift)*
• Thapelo (prayer)
• Thato (will)*
• Tebogo  (thanks)*

*These names are unisex

@DivaDee....I love American type names including Hunter, Chase, Tailor, Tyler and Zac. 

 

I've never heard these names, that's so interesting!

Maybe i expressed very badly what i meant...i'm sorry for that, my intentions were just to have an advice from you all or maybe just opinions, i'm sorry again for this.

@lushlala i remember she even answered me "if you teach me some english", but in reality we didn't talk about it anymore

I think you just misunderstood what i said. I didn't ask her to teach me Spanish with lessons or something like this, i just wanted to ask her something when i have a doubt, obviously i don't want her to teach me everything. I thought only that speak with her sometimes in Spanish would be great for pronunciation, obviously if i want to learn all the grammar etc i search for something on the internet since when there are a lot of sites, apps, video lessons where i can learn, but if i need to translate something and i have a doubt about it i can ask her her since when she is a native speaker. (for exemple i asked her to translate me a short phrase because i really needed it but she just avoided that)

There's no need to be so rough...

Hello and welcome! I like Hong Kong! And i hope i can learn Chinese

I have this problem. In addition to Korean and Chinese, i wanted to learn Spanish because it is more similar to Italian, i like it and it's really spoken in the world. I have a friend from Sud America who is here in Italy since when she was young, in fact she considers Italian her first language and she speak spanish only with some Sudamerican friends or with her family sometimes. I asked her many times to teach me Spanish because it's a great opportunity to speak with someone who's near you and to have a conversation, it would be a luck! But unfortunately she avoids this and it seems like she would not teach me Spanish. When i think of this, i compare myself to her, if someone near me would ask me to teach Italian to him i would be really happy to do this because it's beautiful to share my own language and culture. Why some people are so reluctant to teach a language to a friend or anyone? what do you think of this?

7 hours ago, takibari said:

Thank you! I like our tropical weather than the cold, too. I don't think I can thrive in the winter season. I was in HongKong once, and their temperature during December was I think around 10 degrees or lower, and boy did I have a hard time. Although, I would want to experience snow at least once God-willing.

Yep, we are a happy bunch even with a lot of problems around.

Funny, I don't know Zendee Rose until you had that song translated.

Anyway, here's a video of something you can expect from our country. Hope you can experience the Philippines, sometime soon!

 

So beautiful! I have a Filipino friend here in Italy, maybe in the future i'll have an holiday in the Philippines 

1 hour ago, anna3101 said:

Thanks for the thread, I'm really surprised just how many of these phrases are exactly the same in Russian! That's probably because they come from Latin, and Latin had huge influence on all the nations. Still, it's so amazing for me. I had no idea that Russian and Italian can have something in common.

I didn't know too! Fortunately they are similar, so you can learn and remember them easily

About Befana and Babbo Natale, i think that the difference is that Babbo Natale gives presents to all, not only kids. In addiction to this, we use to open together all the presents with relatives, so there is not the idea that Babbo Natale is the one who gives presents...not in all Italy, in my family we use Babbo Natale only as an ideal symbol of Christmas. 

The Befana is the one that brigs presents to the kids and she takes them during the night, so most little kids use to believe in her existence

About the songs you posted, i can't see the first one because youtube give a problem, about the second one it is so beautiful and sweet! (the video too  )

Anyway i will try those salad recipes! They seem to be good

1 hour ago, anna3101 said:

Thanks for the thread, Mameha! I'm also very interested to hear about typical names. And the "pet" versions, I've heard that you have those in Italian too, right? Like Alessandro - Sandro? What are some other "smaller" versions of the popular names?

Here's a list of the names I hear most often here in Poland. It's not an official list of "this year's most popular names given to babies" - that changes each year, just my subjective feeling of what names are most prevalent. So I'm taking into consideration all ages here. I'll put diminutives in the brackets. In actual fact, each name has many versions but there is usually the most "standard" way to make the name shorter, and that's what I'll do here

Female: Katarzyna (Kasia), Maria (Marysia), Małgorzata (Gosia), Anna (Ania), Magdalena (Madzia), Ewa, Izabela (Iza), Joanna (Asia)

Male: Piotr (Piotruś), Jan (Jaś), Wojciech (Wojtek), Łukasz, Adam (Adaś), Krzysztof (Krzysiek), Mariusz (Marek), Kamil

As for Russian names, here's the list of those that I see most often:

Female: Tatiana (Tanya), Irina (Ira), Elena (Lena), Natalia (Natasha), Maria (Masha), Ekaterina (Katya), Olga (Olya), Anna (Anya), Svetlana (Sveta), Ksenia (Ksiusha)

Male: Sergey (Serezha), Andrey (Andrusha), Aleksandr (Sasha), Igor, Mikhail (Misha), Oleg, Anton, Dmitriy (Dima), Piotr (Petya), Pavel (Pasha)

I've never looked into the meanings, except for my own name and the names of family and friends But generally speaking, those "tradionally" Russian names are not as popular as some others whose origin is Jewish or North or Greek. As for Polish, as you can see some of those are also religion related, which does not come as a surprise for me. Poland is still quite a religious country.

Yeah, there are some abbreviation of some names like Alessandro-Sandro. It works even for the female version Alessandra-Sandra. Generally female names ends with A and male ones with O but obviously there are some exeptions. Other exemples... the name Fernando sometime become Nando (this is not so common), Filippo - Pippo, Matteo-Teo, Luigi-Gigi. About female ones: Roberta-Berta, Filomena-Mena, Emanuela-Manuela, Marinella-Marina.

The are even some composed names that are the result of a fusion between 2 names or just are a derivation of a same name:

Male: Pierpaolo (Piero+Paolo), Pierfrancesco (Piero+Francesco), Pierluigi (Piero+Luigi), Gianluca (Gianni+Luca), Gianpaolo (Gianni+Paolo)

Female: Arianna (Anna), Marianna (Maria+Anna), Annalaura (Anna+Laura), Annamaria (Anna+Maria), Rosanna (Rosa+Anna), Susanna, Elisabetta (derivated from Elisa)

3 minutes ago, anna3101 said:

@Mameha  Molto grazie per le correzioni! I wonder if I could occasionally write in some thread in Italian so that I could practise and you could enjoy all of my funny mistakes I'd love that!

@Chiara My French is not that bad, I can talk and write, according to the tests I'm somewhere at C1. Used to be at C2 but I had several years without any practice at all My Spanish is B2 when it comes to reading/listening but only A2 for speaking. Not sure about writing, haven't tested it yet. With German I'm a complete newbie I used to study German for about 4 years at school but then I dropped it for various reasons so now I'm starting from level 0. Luckily for me, some passive knowledge stays no matter what, so I can still read simple texts, like women's magazines or Internet shopping sites, and I understand the emails that my German colleagues send to me. But all other skills are dead and need a lot of work.

And I find German the most difficult language of all that I'm currently studying. But so rewarding for my mental health! I feel that when I try to construct sentences there is no brain cell that is not working hard

You're welcome! I'm here to help  

2 hours ago, JasleenKaur said:

Bing and Google both are providing translate options for their users around the world. 

Everytime i try to translate a phrase on Facebook it says "Translated by Bing" but the translation is a bit weird and awkward...even worst than Google translate 

Thank you all for the advices! I imagine that it's hard, almost impossible to have a translator for an entire phrase but i see that something that goes near exists...always better than google translate 

Today i was talking to my brother about some things about culture and languages in general and i was wondering about names, What are the most common female/male ones in your country? And have they a particular origin or meaning in your language? I know, i'm curious, but i find it really interesting  

Ops! I forgot to put some names of my country:

Most common female: Giulia, Federica, Alessia, Chiara, Giorgia, Francesca, Elena, Sara, Martina, Valentina, Valeria

Most common male: Mario, Cristiano, Alessio, Andrea,  Alessandro, Marco, Michele, Giuseppe, Francesco, Antonio, Luca, Matteo, Giovanni

Most of the most common male names are apostle's names. 

The name "Giulia" is what i think the most famous and its origin is from the "gens Iulia", an ancient family in the Roman period.

2 hours ago, takibari said:

Oh, the movies. I forgot

Anyway, the Philippines is a tropical country. Though we don't have snow, the weather during December can get colder. (Cold by our standards, at least! Probably just around 18 to 24 degrees. I know this isn't cold for those with WINTER season).

So being cooped up in the house to watch movies during the Christmas season IS NOT a thing here. Although around Christmas time, we have the Manila Film Fest. So, during this period ONLY FILIPINO-produced movies are shown in the cinemas ALL over the country for a week or two. This is a huge bummer to Hollywood movie fans as not a single movie from abroad is shown during the duration of the Film Fest.

Oh i like your country more and more! I hate the cold, to me a temperature like 18-24 degrees it's a paradise, not too much cold but not too much hot. And i noticed that Filipinos are so kind and smiling people... (my favourite singer is Zendee Rose, the filipino girl of the song you translated last time!  )

I noticed that in this section there isn't a specific topic for italian idioms, so i decided to make one to the ones who are learning  my language or are just curious about it .

Dormire sugli allori (lit. Rest on laurels): To recline, maybe on someone's shoulders.

Fare orecchie da mercante (lit. Make a deaf ear): To pretend not to hear something.

Essere un libro aperto per qualcuno (lit. To be an open book to someone): Not having secrets with someone

Cercare un ago in un pagliaio (lit. Look for a needle in a haystack): It's used when it's difficult to find something

Avere un diavolo per capello (lit. To have a devil for hair): to be particularly nervous or angry.

Gettare la spugna (lit. To throw the sponge): To give up.

Non tutte le ciambelle escono col buco (lit. Not all the donuts have a hole): Not everything turns out as it should

Salvarsi per un pelo (lit. To save yourself for a nap): Save yourself just in time, at the last minute.

Piovere sul bagnato (lit. Raining on the wet): It means that problems never come alone, when you already have a problems you could have another anyway,

Lavarsene le mani di qualcosa (lit. To wash your hands of something): not to care of something.

Non vedere l'ora (lit. Not to see the hour): To be impatient, not being able to wait something

Andare coi piedi di piombo (lit. To go on with lead's foot): it means to procede very cautious.

Avere fegato (lit. To have liver): To be very couragious, brave.

Avere la coda di paglia (lit. To have a straw's tail): It is used when someone tryes to justify himself without being accused, not having a clear conscience.

Bersi qualcosa (lit. To drink something): To believe something. Example---> Non mi bevo cio che hai detto (i don't drink the thing you said): I don't believe in what you said.

Bruciare le tappe (lit. To burn the stages): To go on on too fast (This is really used when someone procede too fast in a relationship)

I stop for now, but there are a lot of others interesting idioms that i will add another day. If you have some questions ask me. I hope this was helpful

1 hour ago, anna3101 said:

Ciao Chiara,

Sono felice d'incontrate qualcuno chi studia il francese, lo spanolo e il tedesco come io!

Benvenuta nel forum!

Ania

In italian we don't say "Qualcuno chi studia" but "Qualcuno che studia". "Chi" (who) is more used in questions, "Che" (that) is used in questions and answers like in this case

And we also say "Come me" and not "Come io"; "Io" is the english "I", "Me" is the english "me", (but in english it is pronounced "mi", in Italian it is pronounced "me" with a close "e") so as in english, you say "like me" and not "like i" 

I hope this is helpful!

Oh i forgot that Santa Claus here is called Babbo Natale  (Babbo is an old way to say Father, it is used nowdays in some italian dialect, not in mine  )

About the songs, there are some traditional ones but most of all are adaptations of other songs from other countries:

Bianco Natale (White Christmas)

Jingle Bells italian version 

Tu scendi dalle stelle (literally you get down from the stars) this is an Italian song.

Astro del ciel: The original is the austriac Stille nacht (english Silent Night). 

Adeste Fideles: The song is in Latin but it is considered of traditional here

L'albero di Natale: (Literal: The Christmas tree) is the adaptation for 'O tannenbaum.

I think these are the most famous ones! If i remember some others i will add them here

About the movies, i really really like the ones we call "Cinepanettoni" (There is not a translation for this word because Cine is the abbreviation of Cinema, "panettone" is the typical Italian sweet, so it just indicate that these are Christmas movies  ) They are comic-demential with famous italian comic actors movies that normally are released during the Christmas period. If you are interested watch all the ones with Christian De Sica (a famous italian actor). Trust me, everytime i watch them i'm out of breath for the hard laughs i do xD

About the Nougat's recipe: I usually buy nougat in the supermarket or candy stores because there are some good brands and we prefer to prepare others home-made desserts for Christmas  And i'm allergic to hazelnuts too! so i can't eat nougats ;( Anyway i found these interesting recipes from sites:

http://www.delallo.com/recipes/torrone-italian-nougat-candy this is the white nougat

http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/soft-nougat-torrone-morbido?cid=trending this is the white nougat but the soft one 

http://www.mylittleitaliankitchen.com/homemade-soft-nougat-with-chocolate-and-hazelnuts/ this is the chocolate nougat.

Io sono di Roma

It's very interesting to see how other countries celebrate Christmas!

About Italy's Tradition:

We start to decorate the Christmas Tree and the crib on December, 8 (this in general, but a lot of people start even before).

On December, 24 we celebrate the Christmas Eve (Vigilia di Natale) by making a big dinner with relatives. In this day we usually don't eat meat, in fact we use to cook dishes based on fish. After dinner we use to talk all together while eating some typical sweets like nougat, Pandoro and Panettone*. We use to play some games like Tombola or cards Games, then we open all the gifts at Midnight (so we don't open gifts in the morning of Dec 25, but i don't know if all italians do this way)

On December,25, the Christmas day (Natale) we use to have a big launch with all the relatives again and after we usually play again Tombola and the card games, but if you want to leave and go out with friends you can. People who are married normally organizate in the way that they spend the Christmas Eve with one's relatives and Christmas Day with the other one's relatives. 

We use to celebrate December, 26 too, because it's "Santo Stefano" (Saint Stephen). Santo Stefano was the first christian to give his life for the faith in Christ. You can spend this day with who you want, but it is considered holiday anyway.

On December, 31 we start to celebrate the New year's day having a dinner with friends, usually people go to restaurants, locals, squares, friend's houses. Normally wherever you are here in Italy it's useful to watch tv programs dedicated to this where there are a singers, comics, special guests ecc because they do all together the countdown to midnight. So, precisely at midnight all Italy use to celebrate the first day of the year with Fireworks all over the cities!

You can spend the January, 1 as you want,  i think it is very beautiful to walk in the centre of the town through all the lights, decorations and stalls (with all the typical Christmas foods and sweets )

The Christmas Holidays close with the Jenuary, 6, the Epiphany. During the past days kids usually write a letter with all the gift they want from the "Befana". The night before Jenuary, 6, kids prepare a glass of milk with some biscuits so during that nights this woman can have a "breakfast"  and she leaves all the gift in a room. She even fills the stockings with a lot of sweets! 

*Pandoro and Panettone: These are 2 typical Italian sweets. They are born in Verona and they are consumed during Christmas Holidays. Pandoro and Panettone are soft sweets with the form of a 8-pointed star. The difference between these 2 is that Panettone has candied fruit inside.

Useful words and expressions:

i wish you a merry Christmas and happy new year! - Vi Auguro un buon Natale e felice anno nuovo!

Wrap presents - Carta da regalo

Christmas Eve - Vigilia di Natale

Christmas Day - Giorno di Natale

The first of the year - Capodanno

Epiphany - Epifania (the woman of the Epiphany is called "Befana")

Christmas Holidays - Vacanze di Natale/ Vacanze natalizie

Christmas Tree - Albero di natale

Crib - Presepe/presepio

Nougat - Torrone

Christmas eve's dinner -  "Cenone di Natale" (Cenone is "big dinner" literally)

Christmas stalls - Bancarelle di Natale/Bancarelle natalizie

Ciao e benvenuta! E' bello vedere qualche compaesano ogni tanto

3 hours ago, takibari said:

Not stupid at all. There seems to be an assumption that because you are a local, then you probably know ALL the words in your language. I remember a comment from a Korean co-worker before who was surprised that I don't know the local equivalent of English words. He pointed out that since I'm local, I SHOULD know how to say things in the vernacular. NOT knowing ALL the words in your language is clearly indicative that language is truly dynamic. Exposure, exposure is key. If you are exposed to old people who seem to know deep-rooted words, then there's a chance that you'll have a wider vocabulary compared to someone who may be local but continuously use the second language in his daily communication.

I use more new words because it's how i talk normally with people, but i think that in my language speaking with old terms sometimes is more...elegant i guess, so i like to use them anyway in particular situations  and sometimes when i hear an old complicated term it seems sooo strange because most of old terms are long or complicated words (even the pronounce is strange). Yesterday my brother told me that in a tv show here in Italy someone used a term that we didn't know it existed and we laughed xD

6 minutes ago, lushlala said:

My language is very complex and even for us native speakers, it can prove difficult to understand. A lot of younger people prefer to communicate and be understood. But older people tend to use difficult words that many may not be familiar with. I find myself sometimes asking people to explain what certain words mean. Sadly, i can't remember those words for the simple reason that I don't use them in my day to day speech, they aren't part of my vocabulary. I much prefer to keep it nice and simple  

Fortunately the unknown words are even the less used ones

This may be a stupid question, can you always recognize all the words in your language? I mean, for example there are some old words/expressions, or ones that are not so used, and most of all the dialectal words, that in Italian i have no idea they exists. Obviously i think that everyone can recognize the meaning anyway by the context or maybe from the sound or the similarity with another word with the same meaning. What about your language? Give me some exemples!

Hello, i'm Italian so i guess i can help you   There are so many Italian quotes that i don't know where to start, but i think here there are some beautiful ones (simple ones too).

Ti amo vita mia - I love you my life

Di qualunque cosa le nostre anime siano fatte, la mia e la tua sono fatte della stessa cosa - Whatever our souls are made of, mine and yours are made of the same thing.

Se guardare avanti ti fa paura e guardare indietro ti fa soffrire, guarda accanto a te, li ci sono io, ad amarti, a proteggerti, ti amo - If you're afraid to look ahead and looking back hurts you, look beside you, I'm there, to love you, to protect you, I love you.

Il tuo sorriso è un mio sorriso, una tua lacrima è una mia lacrima, ogni battito del mio cuore lo dedico a te. Ti amo con tutto l'amore che ho - Your smile is my smile, one of your tear is a tear of mine, every beat of my heart I dedicate it to you. I love you with all the love I have.

Il sole, le stelle, la luna illuminano il cielo, tu con il tuo sorriso illumini la mia vita. - The sun, the stars, the moon lights the sky, you and your smile lights up my life.

L'amore è l'attesa di scoprirti, l'attesa di un tuo bacio, l'attesa di vederti e dirti ancora quanto ti amo. - Love is the waiting to discover you, the waiting for your kiss, the waiting to see you and tell you again how much I love you.

E come ogni giorno, ti amo di più. Oggi più di ieri e meno di domani. - And as every day I love you more. Today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow.

Ti amo non per chi sei ma per chi sono io quando sono con te. - I don't love you for who you are, but for who i am when i'm with you.

Here there are some quotes from Italian songs too: 

Innamorato sempre di più.. in fondo all'anima.. per sempre tu..  - In love more and more..into the soul..forever you. ( Lucio Battisti )

Supererò le correnti gravitazionali, lo spazio e la luce per non farti invecchiare e guarirai da tutte le malattie, perché sei un'essere speciale ed io avrò cura di te  - I will go through the gravitational currents, the space and the light not to make you grow old, and you will heal from all the diseases, because you are a special creature and I'll take care of you. (Franco Battiato)

Tu, tu che sei diverso, almeno tu nell'Universo.. Un punto sei che non ruota mai intorno a me, un sole che splende per me soltanto, come un diamante in mezzo al cuore - You, you that are different, at least you in the universe, you are a point that never rotates around me, a sun that shine for me only, like a diamond in the middle of the heart..

Turbini e tempeste io cavalcherò, volerò tra i fulmini per averti , meravigliosa creatura...- Whirlwinds and storms I will ride, will fly between the lightning to have you, wonderful creature..

I hope you liked them, i will update when i'll pick up some new quotes, in the meantime i hope you enjoy these ones