Friday 27 June 2008

IMPEGNATISSSSSSSSIMA (VERY VERY BUSY)


My New Zealand bee keychain given to me by Pam, my dear dear artist friend.
Il mio portachiave dalla nuova zelanda che mi ha dato la mia carissssssssssssima amica artista.

The famous and beloved FIAT 500

A VERY QUICK ITALIAN LESSON
because I am very very busy
Una lezione in italiano perchè sono impegnatisssssssssssssssima.

In Italian, if you want to say that you are very very something,
you can put on issimo. Like I am busy sono impegnata...but if it is a lot,
it is impegnatissima ( if you are boy, then impegnatissimo).
And that is what I am right now. If you are tall (alto, or alta if you are
a girl or woman) then it is altissimo, altissima. Or happy (felice)
feliccissimo, feliccissima. It is not difficult.


When you don't know a language (like I didn't know Chinese
when in China) I want to recommend SMILING.
I noticed that everyone smiled back and not only did
I get to photograph lots of Chinese smiling, but it was
so enjoyable to share the moment, and I made friends that I now
write to (instant translator is how I write to Candy, but that is another story....)
Smiling really is an international language, and you don't have to remember
any rules of grammar or even know the language!!

ANOTHER thing I was just thinking about, being terribly
busy (organizing the photography show) is that expressions like
"busy as a bee" just don't work when you translate them over.
If I said "Impegnata come un ape" it is funny because here, ape is
bee, yes, but it is also one of those miniature little
car/trucks, like really really little, and even though they
are busy, it just doesn't work.
I have to get back to work now....I don't have a picture of an
APE (bee/truck) so the next best thing is Italy's adorable little
FIAT 500...which I saw zooming around the streets.


THIS TIME...if you need the translation to this POST please send me a "comment" and I promise I will send it out in Italian...just too too BUSY right now!!


PS JUST REALIZED THAT I
DO HAVE A PICTURE OF A BEE...
MY KEYCHAIN THAT MY FRIEND PAM GAVE ME IN
NEW ZEALAND (ANOTHER INCREDIBLE TRAVEL
EXPERIENCE...HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!)

EXTREMELY QUICK ITALIAN TRANSLATION:
più o meno, comunque, parlo delle parole con issimo, e del famoso "Ape",
che si traduce "Bee" in Inglese.....se volete sapere la traduzione totale,
vi prego...mandatemi un "commento" ed anche se sono troppo impegnata
al momento, lo farò, prometto!

Stephanie

4 comments:

JunkJeweller said...

Love these mini Italian lessons... is Venice still called Serenissima? Do other cities have "issima" nicknames?

Stephanie said...

My Italian husband says that yes Venice is still called Serenissima....I didn't even know that, which means I have a really knowledgeable person following my blog!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the Italian lesson.
Here's one I learned when first visiting Italy many years ago to see my friend, Stephanie.

I went into a pharmacy just to look at the products in their lovely Italian packaging.

I saw a tube of something that I thought might be a lotion. The picture on the label had a stylized bee. The word 'api' was on the label, but I didn't understand it.

I asked the pharmacist in my extremely limited Italian, "what is this?"

He made a buzzing sound and flapped his hands in a flying motion - then pointed to the picture on the label, and said in English 'mosquito'!

When I later looked in my Italian-English dictionary, I saw that api translates as bee.

When I returned to the States, I saw the products in my local store, and realized that they are made with beeswax - the reason for the bee on the label.

Another reason to carry your translation dictionary when you travel ;-)

Stephanie said...

DinDon
thanks for that wonderful little story - I give you an A for that B story!! Amusing, yes, you cannot always tell a book by its cover... and it does pay to have a dictionary when you travel. I bit into what I thought would be a delicious lemon torte in France to find out that it was egg, and not very good. Oh well, saved the calories.

WHO AM I??

WHO AM I??
The best way to know who I am is to see what I create. Take a look at this blog or my other one regarding my art.

Double images....

Double images....
LOVE the double or triple image maker on my Nikon D80. Just set it, and then take two or three pics.

What's the weather like now in Perugia?

Cold one day, sunny the next. Cold in the house. But we still need our coats or lightweight ones or padded jackets outside. Chilly, and not sunny. I like it like this, no problem for me.