Learn how to introduce yourself
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Cinzia: Buongiorno! Mi chiamo Cinzia. |
| Marco: Marco here! Beginner series Season 1, Lesson 1 - The Importance of Introductions in Italian! Hello, my name is Marco, and welcome to ItalianPod101.com |
| Cinzia: Hello, everyone! And welcome to the first lesson of the Beginner series in ItalianPod101.com. With us, you'll learn to speak Italian in a fun and interesting way. |
| Marco: So join us for this lesson on ItalianPod101.com. |
| Marco: Hey! So our Beginner series is starting! |
| Cinzia: Yes! I’m so happy! |
| Marco: But this means so much more work for us. |
| Cinzia: Hmm… sure, but think of all the people we’re helping learn Italian. |
| Marco: You’re right. I should stop thinking about myself. But I’m so tired! |
| Cinzia: Stop, stop, Marco! Stop it! Or you’ll get us all yawning. |
| Marco: Ok then, let’s start this lesson. |
| Marco: In this lesson, we’ll learn how to introduce ourselves in Italian. |
| Cinzia: The following conversation takes place in a cafe. |
| Marco: And it is between Peter and Elena. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Peter: Ciao, mi chiamo Peter. |
| Elena: Ciao, sono Elena. |
| Peter: Come? |
| Elena: E-l-e-n-a. Per piacere, chiamami Ele. |
| Peter: Piacere di conoscerti, Ele. |
| Elena: Altrettanto. |
| Marco: One more time, slowly. |
| Cinzia: Ancora una volta, lentamente. |
| Peter: Ciao, mi chiamo Peter. |
| Elena: Ciao, sono Elena. |
| Peter: Come? |
| Elena: E-l-e-n-a. Per piacere, chiamami Ele. |
| Peter: Piacere di conoscerti, Ele. |
| Elena: Altrettanto. |
| Marco: Once again, this time with the translation. |
| Cinzia: Questa volta con la traduzione. |
| Peter: Ciao, mi chiamo Peter. |
| Peter: Hello, my name is Peter. |
| Elena: Ciao, sono Elena. |
| Elena: Hi, I’m Elena. |
| Peter: Come? |
| Peter: I’m sorry? |
| Elena: E-l-e-n-a. Per piacere, chiamami Ele. |
| Elena: E-l-e-n-a. Please, call me Ele. |
| Peter: Piacere di conoscerti, Ele. |
| Peter: It’s nice to meet you, Ele. |
| Elena: Altrettanto. |
| Elena: You, too. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Marco: So Cinzia, what do you think of today’s conversation? |
| Cinzia: Um… well, it was nice. But, what is Peter? |
| Marco: What do you mean by that? |
| Cinzia: That is not Italian, Marco. |
| Marco: Oh, you mean my way of saying Peter isn’t how an Italian would say the name Peter, right? |
| Cinzia: Exactly. |
| Marco: Ok, because an Italian would say Peter. |
| Cinzia: Yes, yes, Marco, you got it! |
| Marco: So… |
| Cinzia: Yes, Peter. |
| Marco: Did you find any interesting points in this dialogue? |
| Cinzia: Yes, I would also mention the sweet way we Italians have to shorten the names, like Elena, and in Italy, we could call Elena Ele. |
| Marco: So take the first one or two syllables to make the name more intimate. |
| Cinzia: Yes exactly, that’s the word, intimate. |
| Marco: So for example, let’s take the name, Cristina. |
| Cinzia: That’s another name you could shorten, so it could become Cri. |
| Marco: Ok, so Cristina might become Cri. |
| Cinzia: Yes, and Alexia could become Ale. |
| Marco: Perfetto! Perfect! Now we’ll take a look at the vocabulary and phrases for this first lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Cinzia: Ciao. [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Hello, hi, bye. |
| Cinzia: Ciao. [slowly - broken down by syllable] Ciao. [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next expression |
| Cinzia: Piacere di conoscerti. [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Pleased to meet you. |
| Cinzia: Piacere di conoscerti. [slowly - broken down by syllable] Piacere di conoscerti. [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next expression |
| Cinzia: per piacere [natural native speed] |
| Marco: please |
| Cinzia: per piacere [slowly - broken down by syllable] per piacere [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: chiamami [natural native speed] |
| Marco: call me (informal) |
| Cinzia: chiamami [slowly - broken down by syllable] chiamami [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: mi chiami [natural native speed] |
| Marco: call me (formal) |
| Cinzia: mi chiami [slowly - broken down by syllable] mi chiami [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: salve [natural native speed] |
| Marco: hello, hi |
| Cinzia: salve [slowly - broken down by syllable] salve [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: come [natural native speed] |
| Marco: what |
| Cinzia: come [slowly - broken down by syllable] come [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: altrettanto [natural native speed] |
| Marco: you too, as much, just as |
| Cinzia: altrettanto [slowly - broken down by syllable] altrettanto [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Marco: Let's take a look at chiamami (informal) and mi chiamo (formal). |
| Marco: Now Cinzia, let’s say I meet one of your girlfriends in an informal setting, in a normal everyday situation, which of these two would I use? |
| Cinzia: Oh Marco, for sure, you should use chiamami. |
| Marco: Why is that? |
| Cinzia: Because it’s my friend and it’s an informal situation. |
| Marco: So, for example, if instead, I was meeting for the first time, let’s say the Pope, or even someone less important, which one should I use? |
| Cinzia: Oh Marco, if you believe in God, you should definitely use the formal one - mi chiami. |
| Marco: Thank you Cinzia for making that so clear! |
| Cinzia: Oh Marco, you’re more than welcome. |
| Cinzia: Let's have a look at the usage of some of the words. The first word we will look at is - ciao. |
| Marco: Cinzia, can you give us an example sentence, please? |
| Cinzia: Ciao, Marco! |
| Marco: “Hello, Marco!” |
| Cinzia: It’s the most common Italian greeting. |
| Marco: Remember, you can also use it with the meaning of “bye”; and sometimes, also repeating it twice - ciao ciao, just like bye-bye. |
| Cinzia: Ok, the next expression - Piacere di conoscerti. |
| Marco: Cinzia, can you give us an example sentence with Piacere di conoscerti, please? |
| Cinzia: Piacere di conoscerti, Luca. |
| Marco: “Please to meet you, Luca.” There’s some tricky grammar behind Piacere di conoscerti, more about this in the Grammar section. |
| Cinzia: Don’t forget that Piacere di conoscerla is the formal expression. |
| Marco: Exactly. |
| Cinzia: Ok, the next expression is Per piacere. |
| Marco: Would you give us one short example with Per piacere, please? |
| Cinzia: Un gelato, Per piacere. |
| Marco: “An ice cream, please.” |
| Cinzia: It is a polite way to ask for something. |
| Marco: Yes, yes, but aside from Per piacere, let’s talk about gelato for a moment. |
| Marco: Now, gelato can be translated as “ice cream,” but we noticed going around the world that gelato is also used as gelato in English, what does that mean? |
| Cinzia: Really? I didn’t know that, can you explain it better. |
| Marco: Ok, so it seems that many shops are now using gelato, in their name, for example, ice cream made with Italian tradition or Italian love. |
| Cinzia: Oh! Ok, now, maybe now I understand. |
| Marco: Let’s say, for example, gelato is slowly getting into the English vocabulary just as “pizza.” |
| Cinzia: Ok, ok, so what if I am in New York and I ask for a gelato? |
| Well, they should be offering you a handmade ice cream, following the Italian tradition. |
| Cinzia: Ok, so everything comes from Italy then. |
| Marco: Well, after all, all roads lead to Rome, isn’t it? |
| Cinzia: Troppo vero! |
| Marco: Very true! |
| Marco: Talking about ice cream, what is your favorite flavor? |
| Cinzia: My favorite flavor? Fragola, which is strawberry. |
| Marco: I prefer vaniglia, “vanilla.” |
| Cinzia: I like vanilla, too. |
| Marco: Ok, ok, but I won’t give you my part. I’ll eat it all for me. |
| Cinzia: Ok, so we keep all my fragola for me. |
| Marco: Then that’s settled. Going back to Per piacere, when can you use it? |
| Cinzia: It’s a polite way of asking for something. |
| Marco: Yes, please use it when ordering or asking for something in Italy. How about one more example? |
| Cinzia: Salve |
| Marco: “Hello, hi” |
| Cinzia: It can be used as ciao to mean “hello” but as a slightly more formal meaning. |
| Marco: Perfect, this wraps it up for the vocabulary usage of the first lesson in Beginner ItalianPod101.com |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Marco: Let’s take a look at the grammar behind mi chiamo. |
| Cinzia: Yes, it is not so easy. Pay attention, please. |
| Marco: And for this lesson, we’ll only see the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person singular. So Cinzia, take it from here. |
| Cinzia: Io mi chiamo |
| Marco: “My name is” |
| Cinzia: Tu ti chiami |
| Marco: “Your name is” |
| Cinzia: Lui/Lei si chiama |
| Marco: “His/Her name is.” Now, it’s difficult, isn’t it, Cinzia, this reflexive verbs. |
| Cinzia: Yes, it’s very complicated. |
| Marco: It’s one of the problems with Italian. At the beginning, you find many small things that are actually difficult to understand. One of the most difficult to understand for English speakers is the reflexive verbs. So for now, let’s just learn how to use them, in very simple situations, we’ll then be able in time, when we have mastered how to use them, to understand the grammar behind it. Let’s go with the next one. “Come?” is an expression used very often when a person didn't catch what someone said. |
| Cinzia: Come? |
| Marco: Exactly. |
| Cinzia: yes, it is a polite way to ask someone to repeat what he or she has just said. |
| Marco: Moving on, altrettanto has no good literal translation. |
| Cinzia: It means “and you,” or “you too.” It is used to return good wishes to the other person. |
| Marco: For example, in this dialogue, Peter says, Piacere di conoscerti; and Elena responds, Altrettanto. |
| Cinzia: Another example would be if someone said “have a nice day,” buona giornata. An appropriate response is Altrettanto. |
| Marco: What if I tell you, buon appetito. |
| Cinzia: Grazie, atrettanto, Marco. |
| Marco: And in English, that would be… |
| Cinzia: “Thank you, and you.” |
Outro |
| Marco: This is the end of this lesson, but don’t be despair, we’ll be back tomorrow for more. |
| Cinzia: Don't forget to come by the ItlaianPod101.co and be sure to check out the vocabulary list with audio in our Learning center in ItalianPod1010.com. Also, ask us a question in the forum or leave us a comment. |
| Marco: See you soon! |
| Cinzia: Grazie, arrivederci! |
| Marco: Ciao ciao! |
| Cinzia: Ciao ciao! |
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