Italian speaking practice and grammar tutoring
Sometimes the trick is so powerful that you start dreaming about visiting such place – or even moving there – and you feel that you absolutely HAVE to go there, sooner or later.
But probably it is worth writing one more post about the topic because I still hear too many people ordering “un espresso” when asking for coffee, here in Italy. So let’s take some time to recap a few basic guidelines you need to follow if you want to order coffee in Italy.
But “what is Ferragosto?”, you may ask. What is this weird holiday that makes Italy stop and basically close down in the middle of summer? Why do Italians love this day so much? Well, let me try to explain that to you.
In this post, I chat with Chris and Eva, a British couple who lives and works in Italy. They lived in the Cotswolds but years ago they decided to change their life, relocating to Tuscany – in La Lunigiana, precisely. They have been living there for 13 years now and have started an online business which clearly shows their love for Italy.
As it always happens with other cultures, if you look at us from afar, you probably see us as one general group. You may think that we all are very friendly, we like to talk a lot (usually with quite a loud voice and using hand gestures), we have a strong bond with our family, we don’t know how to queue and we all like to take things slow.
When you are tired or feeling a bit down or simply in need of a boost of energy, sitting on the couch and watching a movie is just the perfect thing to do. Movies can change your mood, make you dream, make you want to go out and explore new places, and also make you discover new cultures.
These are some of the questions I get asked quite frequently, by either students or newsletter readers. It’s always difficult for me to answer these kinds of questions, as I have the feeling that each of us lives his or her own life and it is really difficult to generalize.
If during summer months I am barely at home, trying to be outside as much as I can, in autumn things change quite a bit.
No matter how well you know a language, there’ll always be hues of meaning that you might not immediately get until a native explains them to you or until you spend some time in the country where such a language is spoken.
If you have never heard about it though, let me explain to you a little bit. Hygge – according to the Cambridge dictionary – is “a Danish word for a quality of cosiness (= feeling warm, comfortable, and safe) that comes from doing simple things such as lighting candles, baking, or spending time at home with your family”.
