Learn how to join a conversation using an informal conversation between friends as an example
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to ItalianPod101.com. This is Lower Intermediate Season 3, Lesson 23 - What’s Your Favorite Italian Magazine?. Becky here. |
| Ofelia: Ciao. I'm Ofelia. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn useful expressions to join a conversation. The conversation takes place in the company break room. |
| Ofelia: It's between Elia, Lucia and Maria. |
| Becky: The speakers are friends, so they’ll be using informal Italian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Elia: Che rivista è? |
| Lucia: Vogue. C'è uno speciale sul Made in Italy. |
| Elia: Non l'ho ancora letto, me lo passi? |
| Lucia: Certo. Tu invece hai una copia di Velvet? Non sono riuscita a comprarlo questo mese. |
| Elia: No, neanch'io. E' andato a ruba. Non l'ho neanche visto in edicola! |
| Maria: Scusate, ho sentito Velvet. Per caso state parlando dell'allegato di Repubblica? |
| Elia: Sì. |
| Maria: Ve lo presto io! Da quando sono in Italia, colleziono tutti i numeri. Avete mai visto qualche rivista americana? |
| Becky: Now listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Elia: Which magazine is this? |
| Lucia: Vogue. There’s a special (column) about (the brand) Made in Italy. |
| Elia: I haven't read it yet. Can you hand me that? |
| Lucia: Sure. You, on the other hand, do you have a copy of Velvet? I couldn't buy it this month. |
| Elia: No, me neither. It sold like hot cakes this month. I didn't even see it at the newspaper kiosk. |
| Maria: Excuse me, by any chance are you talking about the Repubblica enclosure? |
| Elia: Yes. |
| Maria: I'll lend it to you! Since I'm in Italy, I am collecting all the numbers. Have you ever seen some American magazines? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: So they were talking about fashion magazines! Ofelia, what can you tell us about these? |
| Ofelia: Well, although Italy has some of the most important fashion firms in the world, the most famous Italian fashion magazines actually have a different origin. |
| Becky: That’s true. For example, Vogue and Cosmopolitan come from the United States. |
| Ofelia: Among the original Italian titles there is Grazia, which was first published in 1936. It has many foreign editions now too. But the most influential fashion magazine in Italy is Vogue. |
| Becky: That’s also not Italian! Do you have any useful expressions about magazines? |
| Ofelia: You can say Collezionare riviste di moda. |
| Becky: "To collect fashion magazines." |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Becky: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Ofelia: rivista [natural native speed] |
| Becky: magazine |
| Ofelia: rivista [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: rivista [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Ofelia: speciale [natural native speed] |
| Becky: special |
| Ofelia: speciale [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: speciale [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next... |
| Ofelia: passare [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to hand |
| Ofelia: passare [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: passare [natural native speed] |
| Becky: The next word is... |
| Ofelia: copia [natural native speed] |
| Becky: copy |
| Ofelia: copia [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: copia [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Ofelia: andare a ruba [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to sell like hot cakes |
| Ofelia: andare a ruba [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: andare a ruba [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next... |
| Ofelia: per caso [natural native speed] |
| Becky: by chance |
| Ofelia: per caso [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: per caso [natural native speed] |
| Becky: The next word is... |
| Ofelia: allegato [natural native speed] |
| Becky: enclosure, enclosed |
| Ofelia: allegato [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: allegato [natural native speed] |
| Becky: The final word is... |
| Ofelia: prestare [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to lend, to yield, to give |
| Ofelia: prestare [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: prestare [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is... |
| Ofelia: ...andare a ruba. |
| Becky: Meaning "to sell like hot cakes." Let's review the Italian expression in detail. |
| Ofelia: Sure thing! Andare is the verb “to go,” a is the preposition “to,” and ruba is the noun for “to steal.” |
| Becky: Is it like its English counterpart? |
| Ofelia: Yes, you can use this phrase when you’re talking about very cool or popular items. |
| Becky: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Ofelia: Sure. For example, you can say, Questo profumo andrà sicuramente a ruba. |
| Becky: Which means, "This perfume will sell like hot cakes for sure." |
| Becky: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Ofelia: Neanche. |
| Becky: Meaning "neither” or “even." |
| Ofelia: Neanche is formed by ne or no plus anche, which in English are “not” and “even” respectively. |
| Becky: That’s useful. |
| Ofelia: Neanche io means "me neither" and you can use it when you want to share the same negative opinion or situation as the other person. |
| Becky: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Ofelia: Sure. For example, you can say, Neanche io so cosa fare per il weekend. |
| Becky: Which literally means "Neither do I know what to do for next weekend." Okay, now on to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Becky: In this lesson you’ll learn how to join a conversation. |
| Ofelia: That’s right. In Italian, you can use several different expressions to join a conversation. |
| Becky: Let’s review the expressions introduced in this lesson’s dialogue. |
| Ofelia: First there was scusate, which you can use to draw someone’s attention. This word lets you get attention when two or more people are talking about something, and you want to express your own opinion. |
| Becky: Is there a difference between formal and informal conversation? |
| Ofelia: Well, Scusate and Scusa are the informal version and Scusate and Scusi are the formal. The plural form, Scusate, doesn’t change. For example, Scusate, potreste dirmi qual è il problema? |
| Becky: Meaning, “Excuse me, could you tell me what the problem is?” |
| Ofelia: Second, in the dialogue there was Per caso. This second expression can be translated in English as “by any chance,” and it’s followed by a direct question. For example, Per caso stai dicendo che non vuoi più partire? |
| Becky: “By any chance are you saying that you’re not going on holiday?” |
| Ofelia: A synonym for Per caso can be Forse, meaning “perhaps” or “maybe.” When the verb is compounded, put forse between the auxiliary and the main verb. |
| Becky: This term can be also used to ask for confirmation of what has been said or what you think you heard. Can you clarify that? |
| Ofelia: Yes. The most common structure is asking Hai or Avete forse detto, scritto, dichiarato…? |
| Becky: In English that means “By any chance have you said, written, declared…?” |
| Ofelia: Here’s an example. State forse parlando della riunione di ieri? |
| Becky: “By any chance are you talking about yesterday’s meeting?” |
| Ofelia: In the dialogue, we also saw Hai or Avete mai (fatto qualcosa). |
| Becky: In English, this means, “Have you ever (done something)?” This can also be a good way to join or start a conversation, right? |
| Ofelia: Right! For example, you could ask something like, Avete mai provato uno sport pericoloso? |
| Becky: “Have you ever tried a dangerous sport?”. Do you have any other useful expressions to join a conversation? |
| Ofelia: For example, you can ask Cosa state dicendo? |
| Becky: Meaning “What are you saying?” |
| Ofelia: Or you can be more explicit and say Scusate, mi posso intromettere? |
| Becky: “Excuse me, may I interrupt?”. Listeners, for more examples, please check the lesson notes! |
Outro |
| Becky: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Ofelia: A presto. |
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