Fantastic! Thank you so much for all your entries!
Some comments on them:
A big well done to Phil who, not only, ‘blogged’ for the first time, but also is the only student of German amongst all the italianists! :)
Message for Jonathan: ‘blog’ in Italian is…’blog’, but you need to say it with an Italian accent - we will practise in class on Thursday! (Ah, ah…I’m joking!!!)
The verb (= to blog) is ‘bloggare’ and I assume is a regular verb, given that it’s taken from another language.
Message for Avril: 10/10 for your choice of TV programmes! I LOVE Montalbano! I would really recommend watching it if you have some time.
I am reading a new book at the moment.
It’s called New Finnish Grammar and it’s written by Diego Marani. A friend of mine gave it to me as a present as, he said: ‘I am a linguist and, obviously, interested in grammar’.
It’s a novel, though, so I am not sure if he knew what the book was about! I have generous, but inaccurate friends! :)
Anyway, I liked the book immediately as it opens in Trieste, my hometown. The more I read of it, though, the more I like it, as it explores cultural identity and how much our language makes us who we are. Or does it?
In any case, even if you do not like the story, reading the book will make you feel better as you will be grateful the language you are studying is not as complex as Finnish! :)
(You can read Nicholas Lezard’s article for a better review than mine:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/26/finnish-grammar-diego-marani-review)
I also noticed that Topping has chosen it as their book for their next reading group on 21 March, so Mr Lezard and I cannot be wrong!
Has anybody else come across this book?
I'm actually studying Mandarin and German too, task which has proven to be quite hard... but if you speak Italian very slowly to me I can make sense out of it :P
ReplyDeleteYou are obviosuly a talented linguist! Glad you are studying with us!
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ReplyDeleteIo non l'ho ancora letto (mi hai incuriosita però), comunque mi bastano i sei casi dello sloveno per capire che avvicinarsi ad una lingua che ne ha 15 è cosa che richiede molta determinazione: non proprio il mio forte!
DeleteIn attesa di un Montalbano finnico, comunque, consiglio Aki Kaurismäki a chiunque voglia avvicinarsi alla Finlandia tramite il cinema.
Oh sì, Slovenian is a very difficult language! I cannot imagine how difficult Finnish is! :) I don't know Aki Kaurismaki, but I watched Montalbano last Saturday! Did you?
DeleteI think I'll have to recommend this to my book group, as I am learning another Scandinavian language (Swedish), and one of the other members is an Italian translator.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be a very good idea. It's a very interesting book that gives insights on language and identity. Let me know how your group finds it.
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