Contents
Track
First published in 2008 by The Publishing Cupboard 20 St Vincent Crescent Glasgow G3 8LQ
www.publishingcupboard.co.uk
Feel free to suggest any subjects you think would
benefit from the Nod Off approach.
compiled by Caroline Smart
designed by Fi Steel
produced by Peter Rinne presented by Jessica Giuffre ©The Publishing Cupboard 2008 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
All rights reserved. A catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978–0–9553294–2–5 Printed in Scotland by Montgomery Litho Group
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What is the Nod Off approach?
Relaxation Speaking & writing Italian Nouns & gender Plurals Adjectives Key adjectives Numbers, months, days Adverbs Prepositions Essere (to be) Avere (to have) Regular verbs Irregular verbs Negatives Questions Exit relaxation Learning tips
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What’s the approach?
And why nod off?
Some people get tense just thinking about learning – even when it’s something they actually want to learn. Perhaps it’s reawakening bad memories. Unfortunately this tension can act as a barrier to learning.
So that you don’t have to rely solely on listening, we have distilled all the information into this booklet. The subject is presented in a logical and confidence-building order. Rather than shy away from grammatical terms, it explains them. We focus on small words – the real key to any language. We also try to help you see connections between English and Italian.
Research has shown that being relaxed is the ideal state for our brains to absorb and understand information and Nod Off uses relaxation techniques to put you into the right frame of mind. There’s no pressure to keep up with what is said on the CD, so don’t worry if your mind wanders or if you nod off. Your brain is still listening and taking in the information. Have you ever gone to bed unable to work out the answer to a crossword clue, only to find that you wake up knowing the answer? While you have been asleep your brain has been beavering away. The only bit of ‘homework’ is for you to think up a personal statement. One that focuses on the goal you want to achieve. Rather than, ‘this time I will learn Italian’, which could remind your brain of past failures, choose something like ‘I can speak Italian’. This plants a positive message in your subconscious. For it to work, your mind needs to be calm and quiet. The message grows stronger the more you repeat it.
By listening and referring to the booklet, you will get a good basic understanding of Italian. At the back of the booklet we give tips on learning a language plus useful websites and other resources for you to move on to a higher level. You can also visit www.publishingcupboard.co.uk where there are further tips, resources and links.
Before you nod off, make a positive statement such as ‘I can speak Italian’ or ‘I understand how Italian works’.
Warning!
Sleep bubbles contain a short nugget of information or advice that give a clearer understanding of the language.
Only listen to the relaxation track when lying down or in a comfortable chair. Skip it if you are driving a car and go straight to track 3.
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Relaxation
Relaxation
Lying down
Face
Lie on your back – preferably without a pillow. Check that your body is in a straight line from the crown of your head to the point between your heels. Let both feet roll outwards, then your knees, then your thighs. Feel your hips relaxed and open. Have your palms turned upwards, with hands slightly away from your hips – this allows your shoulders to open and relax. The back of your neck should be long – tuck your chin in slightly and this will lengthen it.
You face should feel soft and relaxed. Your jaw muscles should be relaxed. Check for any tension inside your mouth. Your tongue should be soft and relaxed. Check for any tension in your eyes – eyelids should be gently shut, with eyes beneath them soft and smiling.
Sitting Make sure you are sitting in a comfortable seat – one you can relax back in. Have both feet flat on the floor. If your feet don’t reach the ground place a stool or a couple of thick books beneath them. Your feet and knees should be a few inches apart, thighs parallel to the ground. If possible, have your lower back supported with a cushion and sit back. Don’t try to keep your spine too straight. Shoulders should be wide and relaxed. The backs of your hands should be cupped gently on your lap. Check that the back of your neck is long – tuck your chin in slightly to lengthen it.
The quickest way to quieten a busy mind is to focus on your breathing.
Breathing Breathe in and out through the nose. Keep your focus on your breathing. Become aware of the movement of your chest and belly as your breath fills the lungs. First the chest fills and the rib cage expands. As you exhale, become aware of the lungs emptying and the chest contracting. Feel the slow strong rhythm as breath and movement work together. Awareness Try not to let any ‘outside’ thoughts disturb or distract you. Just focus on your breathing. If you find thoughts intruding, just observe them, don’t get involved in them. Watch them come and watch them go. Nodding Off Don’t worry if your mind wanders or if you fall asleep, your brain is still listening. Coming out of Relaxation Always end with Track 17, even if you are only listening to a selection of tracks.
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Speaking & Noticing which part of the mouth you use helps to get the right sounds. Alphabet
The Italian alphabet has only 21 letters. The missing letters are k (kappa) j (i lunga) w (doppia vu or vu doppia) x (ics) y (i greca or ipsilon) These letters are only used when spelling foreign words. Vowels Vowels are a, e, i, o and u. In English vowels can have all sorts of sounds. In Italian they are much more straightforward with nearly always the same sound. Vowels should be pronounced clearly towards the front of the mouth: a (as in bat), e (as in bet), i (as in pizza) o (as in cot) and u (as in lunatic) Think of a, o and u as hard vowels; e and i as soft vowels. Vowel combinations These are known as diphthongs. Italian i combined with another vowel gives a ‘yuh’ sound: mia (mee-ya), grazie (grats-yay) mio (mee-yoh), più (pyoo), vorrei (vor-ray) Italian o combined with a or u gives a ‘wuh’ sound: Paolo (pow-loh), auto (ow-toh) buono (bwoh-noh), nuoto (nwoh-toh)
writing Italian
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Consonants These are all the letters which aren’t vowels. To get a good Italian d and t, press the tip of your tongue against the back of your top teeth: domani, dicembre, dieci, tutto, tempo, tanto The letter h The letter h is always silent: hotel, hamburger, ha. Used within a word, h acts as a hardening agent. The letters c and g These two letters are pronounced differently, depending on the vowel that follows. If it’s a hard vowel (a, o or u), then c and g keep their hard ‘kuh’ and ‘guh’ sounds (casa, gatto, gola, etc). But if they’re followed by a soft vowel (e or i ), then then c becomes ‘chuh’ as in the bread ciabatta and ciao, cinema and centro. And g becomes ‘juh’ as in giugno and gente (the missing j of the Italian alphabet!). When c and g need to keep their hard sound, then an h has to be inserted as a hardening agent. Italian plurals involve a change of ending rather than a letter being added: the endings -o and -a become -i and -e. Given that they are softening vowels, in order to retain the hard sound, an h is often added in the plural: lago (singular) but laghi (plural) parco (singular) but parchi (plural)
Italian ch is the missing k of the alphabet. Kilo is spelt chilo in Italian and bruschetta is pronounced broos-ket-ta
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Speaking &
writing Italian
To get this sound, the Italian letter combination is sc followed by a soft vowel: pesce (pay-shay), piscina (pee-shee-na). Or sci followed by a hard vowel: prosciutto (proh-shoot-toh), sciare (shee-ar-ay), sciocco (shok-koh).
The stress falls generally on the second to last syllable of each word: gior-no, not-te, ar-ri-ve-der-ci Lots of common words don’t follow this rule: pic-co-lo, Ber-ga-mo, met-te-re, vi-ve-re, te-le-fo-no
The ‘shuh’ sound
Stress
Letter s
Accents
The letter s can have two sounds depending on its position. It’s either ‘suh’ as in sono, sei, pasta, or between two vowels it becomes ‘zuh’: cosa, casa, riso double s keeps the ‘suh’ sound: cassa, messa
An accent is added when the stress is on the last syllable: caffè, città and parlerò
Letter z z can be ‘dzuh’ or ‘tsuh’: zanzara (dzan-tza-ra), zio (dzee-oh) double z is pizza (peet-sa), prezzo (pret-tzoh) English ph = Italian f ph in English is f in Italian: foto, telefono, farmacia Letter combination gli Italian gli gives a ‘lyuh’ sound: famiglia (fa-meel-ya), luglio (lool-yoh) Letter combination gn Italian gn gives a ‘nyuh’ sound: giugno (joon-yoh), bagno (ban-yoh)
Double letters should both be sounded with a slight pause between them: piz-za, pen-ne, lat-te.
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Accents are also used to distinguish words that are spelt the same but have different meanings: sì (yes) as opposed to pronoun si è (is) as opposed to e (and) Pronouncing all syllables Although all syllables should be pronounced in Italian, there’s a few cases where a final syllable combines with the next word and is replaced by an apostrophe (like ‘it is’ can be ‘it’s’). Italian does this with: è: dov’è? com’è? quand’è? cos’è? ci: ci + è = c’è lo and la: l’ho visto, l’abbiamo Polite you Lei is polite ‘you’ in Italian (like French vous and Spanish usted). Lei takes the same verb form as for ‘he’ and ‘she’.
Each area in Italy has a local dialect that can sound nothing like standard Italian.
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Nouns & gender
Nouns & gender
Nouns are the names we give to things: Paolo, cat, day, verb. All Italian nouns have a gender (masculine or feminine), not just people and animals. You find a house, casa, is feminine and a market, mercato, is masculine. This can cause mild panic for English speakers.
-o il parco, il lago, il giardino
The noun ending often tells you whether it is masculine or feminine. The -o ending is generally for masculine nouns; the ending -a is generally for feminine nouns. masculine
feminine
Paolo bambino (small boy) nonno (grandfather) giorno (day)
Paola bambina (small girl) nonna (grandmother)) mattina (morning)
Italian nouns have an article which is equivalent to ‘the’ (known as a definite article): il is for masculine nouns and la is for feminine ones. l’ is for all nouns beginning with a vowel or h: l’uomo, l’acqua, l’hotel
Nouns ending -e can be either masculine or feminine: il padre, la madre il mese, la notte. As well as il and la, there’s another article lo. Lo is for masculine nouns starting with: z: lo zio (uncle), lo zafferano (saffron), lo zucchero (sugar) s + consonant: lo sconto (discount), lo sposo (bridegroom), lo sport (sport), lo stadio (stadium) gn, pn, ps and y: lo gnocco (dumpling), lo pneumatico (tyre), lo psicologo (psychologist), lo yogurt (yoghurt)
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Endings can give a clue as to gender.
-ore l’attore, il colore, il motore -amma, -ema il programma, il problema, il tema most imported words il box, il computer, il film
-a la casa, la banca, la famiglia -trice l’attrice, la scrittrice, l’autrice -zione la stazione, la posizione, la tradizione -tà la città, l’università, la realtà
Nouns ending -ista can refer to men and women: il/la ciclista and il/la farmacista.
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