Tiny Beautiful Italian Things2/20/2018 2 Comments
Just a public service advisory that I'm going to try to more consistent with updating the PINS section of the blog where you can find ITALIAN QUOTES (or lyrics) like the ones above, ITALY QUOTES, LIFE QUOTES, and TRAVEL QUOTES. I'm especially loving these pink graphics using Italian song lyrics that I love, they look great in Instastories so please feel free to use, just tag on it! What do you guys think? Love or really love...? If you have some lyrics or quotes you think would make a great graphic or Pinterest image, send them my way!
2 Comments
Music in Europe is Better Than North America2/5/2016 0 Comments
Italians always like to list off things that they hate about their country and love about other ones and I'm usually on the listening end of it. However, I would like to point out one example where I think Italy and Europe in general are better at and that's music. I love that music in Europe is not limited to the language of the country that you live in, instead over here in Canada I'm forced to listen to the Anglo-fied version of "Bailando" by Enrique and it just pains my little heart. Why not leave the Spanish lyrics?! On the radio right now, there are no songs that are non-English. There are hardly ever non-English songs, I can't remember if there ever has been one recently. The top song in Italy at the moment is actually a French song (surprising considering what a hard time Italians give the French and vice versa in their eternal rivalry for being the most fashionable/best cooks/best lovers and the list goes on...). I hate how English-centric we are in North America so Italy is always a treat because I might hear an Italian song, then a French one, then Spanish, and all of a sudden Sam Hunt comes on and blows my mind ("Take Your Time" is #11 on MTV Italia's Hitlist, this is not a joke).
On a sidenote, vote for my blog! It's been nominated as one of the Top 100 International Exchange Blogs and every vote counts.
0 Comments
Music That Italy Loves at the Moment: Ti ho voluto bene veramente by Marco Mengoni10/24/2015 0 Comments
In Italian music, you can pick and choose from a lovely selection of solo male singers (often coming off of X Factor Italia or similar shows like Amici). Never been a huge fan of this one, Marco Mengoni, but his latest single is gorgeous and I think easy to understand if you're studying Italian. The video was filmed in Ireland, so it goes along nicely with my photographs from this past summer. In Italian, there's an expression used which is 'ti voglio bene' (which is the song title, just in the past tense), the non-equivalent equivalent of "I love you" that is not the same as "ti amo". Searching high and low, I've come to the conclusion there's no easy way to explain it- it's a version of those three little words that can be used between friends (whereas English speakers say "I love you" all the same). Italians save their "ti amo" for very intimate, profound relationships perhaps? Truthfully, it's probably best this way. The song is basically about how distraught he is after separating from someone and goes on a long trip (Ireland qualifies I guess) to forget her, but obviously can't because everything reminds him of her. It's one of those rather heart-wrenching songs that is somehow wrongly romantic because every woman wants to ruin a man this bad. I know, so selfish of us.
0 Comments
Italy Love It or Leave It!9/23/2015 0 Comments
This documentary came out a couple years back but worth a mention- a couple of young guys take a trip around their motherland as a last ditch effort to re-discover Italy's beauty before taking on a decision to leave. It's a thought-provoking look at the ins-and-outs of Italy's nuances that are almost never seen through the eyes of us North Americans who think dream the "Italian Dream" and only have a couple vacations to Italy and the first forty minutes of Eat, Pray, Love as reference material. It's especially relevant given the fact that having talked to fellow colleagues and young Italians, the "American Dream" is still alive and kicking and so many people fantasize about life across the Atlantic. What do you guys think, love it or leave it?
0 Comments
CANZONI ESTIVE / summer songs in Italia: El Perdón7/3/2015 0 Comments
Just as I was doing posts during the year on music that is hot at the moment here on this side of the Atlantic, I thought I'd share some quintessentially summer songs that are quite frankly becoming the soundtrack of the season in Italy. I'm including only songs that are primarily not in English (because all the songs that are popular in America at this moment are equally popular here). Is this one out in North America? Let me know if you're over there!
0 Comments
Music That Italy Loves at the Moment: Incanto by Tiziano Ferro4/3/2015 2 Comments
We spent Good Friday in Mantova and I've got a ton of photos to share come next week, so stay tuned for those because it was stunning. To tide us over, I'm sharing the latest song by Tiziano Ferro, Italy's version of Michael Bublé basically. I will forever love Tiziano Ferro because every summer that I visited Italy he would have a signature tune topping the charts and since music is so intrinsically linked to memories, all my great memories have a very specific soundtrack- the drive to the airport the first time I had to leave Italy was , then when I was moping at home waiting for Massi to arrive in Canada it was , and finally a couple summers ago it was . Now, his latest is stuck in my head. Check it out.
2 Comments
Cinderella Theme Song in Italian (Liberi by Arisa)3/27/2015 2 Comments
Yesterday night we went to see Cenerentola at the multi-sala (multiple screens, just like in Canada). Massi fell asleep (as usual), but I loved it! It's only a shame that it's dubbed. They do an excellent job of it, but I would've liked to hear their true voices. They also change all the songs to Italian and obviously, due to rhythm and rhyme, they have to change lyrics as well. Here's the Italian version of the original theme song "Strong". It's title in Italian is "Liberi" (Free). Below are lyrics in Italian and the English translation (I didn't translate them, but I think they are more or less accurate). Lyrics always end up sounding strange when you translate them anyways!
Lyrics: Nelle favole si sa c'è poca verità Il mondo è buono e poi ne ha di eroi Ma la vita quasi mai è come tu la vuoi E solamente tu, cambiarla puoi Spiega le ali e vai più su Vola in alto oltre il blu (In the fairytales, you know, there's little truth The world is good, and then there are a lot of heroes But real life is almost never the way you want! And only you can change it. Spread your wings and go higher. Fly up there over the blue.) Abbi fiducia in te stesso Sorprenditi sempre Ama e sorridi più spesso E il sole si accende Credo in te E tu credi in me Liberi! (Have faith in yourself Surprise yourself Love and smile more often And the sun lights up. I believe in you, and you believe in me We are free.) Una favola sarà la quotidianità Ogni cosa brillerà per te se vuoi Spiega le ali e vai piu su Vola in alto oltre il blu (And everyday will be a fairytale And if you want, everything will shine for you Spread your wings and go higher. Fly high over the blue.) Apri il tuo cuore alla vita Sorprenditi sempre Vivi una storia infinita E l'anima splende Credo in te e tu credi in me Liberi! (Open your heart to life Surprise yourself Live an endless story And the soul shines I believe in you, and you believe in me We are free) E lì, dentro te, proprio lì Una forza grande. Si, si.... (And there, inside you, right there There's a great power. Yes, yes....) Apri il tuo cuore alla vita Sorprendeiti sempre Vivi una storia infinita E l'anima splende Credo in te e tu credi in me Liberi! (Open your heart to life Surprise yourself always Live an endless story And the soul shines I believe in you, and you believe in me We are free)
2 Comments
Cenerentola and a Piccolo Italian Lesson3/13/2015 2 Comments
So excited to see Disney's Cinderella, it came out yesterday in Italy. The only issue I have is that it will of course, be dubbed in Italian and sometimes I wish we could watch new movies in their original version. There are a few cinemas that let us indulge in this, however they select one film each week and it's usually an "older" movie (for example last week was American Sniper). Sometimes I feel snobbish about language preferences, but it's a perk and vice of knowing a foreign language. When I watch a movie in Italian and then the same movie in it's original English, it's apparent that they are not the same movie. Of course, the Italian voices are extremely talented, but you lose the totality of the acting performance. This can go both ways though, because for example, Massi has always insisted that the movie 300 is much better in Italian.
Anyways, found some short clips from Cenerentola in Italian and this one struck me as I did not know what "me la cavo bene con le scarpe" meant. So I immediately looked up the verb cavare and it's reflexive cavarsi. Cavarsi means to indulge oneself. A fantastic and very useful verb indeed, I need to throw that into my vocabulary list ASAP! But then wait...you would think that the phrase has something to do with indulging oneself with shoes based on the verb, but me la cavo bene is actually an idiomatic expression from cavarsela for saying "I get along well/I do well/have a knack for", it's just a great example of a modo di dire (a way of saying) in Italian. That's at least my interpretation after scouring the web a little bit, am I on track? If you're a native Italian speaker let me know or if you're Cher Hale. Also found this (in Italian however), explaining the use of cavarsela however not sure it's applicable to the Cenerentola context: CAVARSELA: è formato dal verbo "cavare" + i pronomi SI e LA. Significato→ uscire da una situazione difficile; superare una situazione difficile. Esempi: pensi di cavartela all’esame?; "sai giocare a carte?" "me la cavo"; Luca ha studiato molto per l’interrogazione, credo che se la caverà; devi cavartela da solo. Se dopo "cavarsela" troviamo le espressioni "per un pelo" o "per il rotto della cuffia" significa che la situazione è stata superata, ma in modo appena sufficiente: ieri all’esame me la sono cavata per un pelo! Coniugazione→ io me la cavo; tu te la cavi; lui-lei se la cava; noi ce la caviamo; voi ve la cavate; loro se la cavano; passato prossimo → io me la sono cavata; tu te la sei cavata; lui-lei se l’è cavata ecc. Source: http://www.zanichellibenvenuti.it/wordpress/?p=3308
2 Comments
La Notte degli Oscar 2015 - When and Where to Watch if You're an Expat2/22/2015 0 Comments
I am so bloody excited that I'm going to be able to watch The Oscars live. For anyone in Italy, they are broadcasting it on Cielo starting at 22.50. Sometimes you feel a bit out of the loop when it comes to North American television etc, which I know is dumb: it's not life-or-death if I don't get to know who was eliminated on The Bachelor when the rest of Canada and the US does. However, it was always kind of a tradition for us to watch The Oscars (and especially the red carpet) as a family so it's a nice feeling to be able to partake all the way over here. Not sure if I'll watch right up to the end which will be 6.00 Italy time, I'm not enough of a cinema lover for that, I just want to see what Charlize is wearing...
0 Comments
The Next Big Thing in Italian Music- The Winning Songs at San Remo 20152/16/2015 2 Comments
Here are the two winners from Italy's big music festival, San Remo, that features only Italian songs and songwriters which helps in selecting the contestants that will represent the country for Eurovision (an annual song competition in Europe). Usually after San Remo, there's a sudden surge of Italian music on the charts. It's a great period of the year because most of the time, the top songs in Italy are all in English so it's nice to have some Italian back in the mix.
2 Comments
<
|
Search the blog:
(I suggest "Italian Men" or "wine" but that's just me!) Curator:
Jasmine is a former pharmacist turned writer and wine drinker from Alberta, Canada living "the sweet life" in Bergamo, Italy.
Feeling overwhelmed? Read the fan-favorites (click and scroll down):
{instagram&twitter}
|