It'll be a month of food and celebration in May as Madonna King tackles Italian lessons on the morning program, with the help of teacher Adriana Diaz.
According to Griffith University Italian lecturer, Clare Kennedy, one of the things that's interesting about Italy and about learning Italian is the diversity of the culture. "Italy was only unified as a single state in 1860, and before that the different regions and cities of Italy had distinct histories and different contacts with outside countries - there are language differences and cultural differences not just in food and festivals, but also in public life and private life," she says.
Italian is the standard language of Italy, but many different regional dialects are spoken in different parts of the country. The dialetti italiani may differ greatly in pronunciation, grammar, syntax, and vocabulary So, the word for boy in standard Italian is ragazzo, in Sicily you have caruso or picciotto, in Veneto toseo, in Campania guaglione, in Sardinia pizzinnu, in Puglia vagnune.
The Italian alphabet has 21 letters - this is because Italian words do not contain the letters J, K, W, X, Y. These are called 'foreign letters' and are used in foreign words, or words of foreign origin, which are now commonly used in Italian, such as 'ok', or 'junior', 'windsurf', etc. When you need to spell your name in Italian, you refer to names of towns to clarify the sounds, so you would say "A come Ancona, B come Bologna," etc.
Pronunciation is reasonably simple in Italian - the words are basically pronounced as they are written. The Italian vowels are A, E, I, O, U and in the case of two vowels together, you pronounce each vowel separately. For example, the word for Europe - where the only spelling difference between English and Italian is the final vowel, which is 'a' in Italian - is pronounced EUROPA. Double consonants are pronounced distinctly: notte, bello, spaghetti, ecco.
When you start learning Italian, you will also need to use some sounds which may be new to you: for example the sound for gl - spelled 'gl' - as in the word biglietto (ticket), famiglia (family) and tagliatelle. To make this sound, place your tongue where you would for the 'l' sound, but flatten your tongue in that position, pressing it against your palate: 'gl', - pagliaccio (clown). Another sound is the 'gn' - spelled 'gn' - as in the words: Benigni (the famous Italian actor, director, comedian), gnocchi, signora. The tongue is in the position for the 'n' sound, but, again you flatten your tongue against the palate. Italian also has the resonant 'r', or r, as in the words; rosso (red), Leonardo, carne (meat). This is a difficult sound to learn if it doesn't come naturally to you: don't worry, there are many Italians who have trouble with 'r' too!
Italian Lesson 2 - At the restaurant