When I first met Enrico, I spoke no Italian, and at some point early in the relationship I decided to learn it. I already had one language under my belt: I had studied Hindi in high school and college, and spoke it fluently. Italian is a lot easier. In terms of pronunciation, it’s one of the simplest languages… Continue reading Learning Italian
Tag: Italian language
Sandokan – an Italian Children’s Classic
We saw Pirates of the Caribbean in Italian, though I felt it lost something in translation. But it was fun, pretty much what you’d expect from a movie developed from an amusement park ride. And it reminded me that I’ve been meaning to write about Sandokan. Sandokan, a character created in 1883 by an imaginative… Continue reading Sandokan – an Italian Children’s Classic
Naming a Multicultural Baby
Having been saddled all my life with a name that no one can spell or pronounce, I am always curious about how people get their names – especially, of course, the unusual ones. In July, 2003, the New York Times ran an article about what people are naming their kids, based on the Social Security… Continue reading Naming a Multicultural Baby
Fess Up: What Happens when a Name Can’t Be Translated into Italian?
During our US trip last year, Ross and I visited the Texas History Museum in Austin (new since I graduated from the University of Texas in 1986). They had a temporary exhibit on Davy Crockett, the near-mythical frontiersman who was a Senator from Tennessee before moving on to Texas, where he died at the Alamo. The exhibit included a… Continue reading Fess Up: What Happens when a Name Can’t Be Translated into Italian?
Raising a Bilingual Child
Our daughter is bilingual in English and Italian, and some people have asked “how we did it.” There really wasn’t much to it. While I was pregnant, I read the only book I could find on the subject (The Sun is Feminine Amazon UK | US), which happened to be written (in English) by a… Continue reading Raising a Bilingual Child