19 April 2016

The dangers of learning Italian...

Forgive my lack of presence lately. My blog posting app died (sadly, Bloggsy collapsed under the weight of Apple's latest IOS update...). So I've had to find another app that will enable me to upload blog posts easily via my ipad. Well, I found an app (BlogPro) but it has a bug which removes all paragraphing and lumps everything into one huge ugly monstrosity of a blurb. Not happy. However, BlogPro has promised that the next update will fix this bug so while I wait, I will post a simple little post that warns against the dangers of knowing a little Italian... Stu has recently become serious about learning Italian. He is dedicated to practicing on an app called Duolingo which has pushed him ahead in leaps and bounds. Yesterday, I was out when the phone rang. Stu answered and a woman told him (in Italian) that he was Stuart Whyte and that his wife was Caterina Doyle. Hugely relieved that he'd understood what she'd said, he answered with a confident "Si" and she promptly gabbled at high speed something about "Postale Canelli" and hung up! Disturbed that we might be required to do something urgent, Stu paced the house for the next 3 hours until I returned home then demanded that we go to the post office urgently. At the post office, we took a number and waited anxiously. When our number came up, I tried to explain to the nice lady behind the counter that someone from the post office had phoned us and we wanted to know what they wanted. She looked confused, she asked her colleague who also looked confused, then she asked her boss who also looked confused. Finally she went out the back but returned a few minutes later still looking confused. Meanwhile, we were becoming increasingly embarrassed. Imagine walking up to someone and telling them that they wanted you for something but you dont know what (!?) Stu has now figured that he's much better off without a phone...

5 comments:

  1. How come "poor Stuart" gets blamed for everything??

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  2. Hi Caterina, I'm Davide (Sandro's son). Italian's language is very difficult to learning, don't worry about Stuart.. it doesn't matter! Many times the phone rang because of some marketing advise that want to sell you some products or some telephone offering.. (Sorry for my English.. I need more practise!!)
    Have a great time!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Davide! It is wonderful to hear from you and thank you for your advice. It gives me confidence. Have you started university yet? Which university? What course are you doing? Your English is fine...using it more and more will help to make it perfect. Let me know if you would like to practice by talking to me!

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  3. Yes, I'm studing Maths at Genova's University! It's really difficult but I like it so much and I hope to pass well all my exams! I don't have enough time for practise English now, but I would have it for improve my speaking and my listening with you. How about your driving license? I hope that you'll pass it well and let me know if you have any problems with the language.
    Finally, how long do you stay in Italy? You don't know how much I would like to working one season in Australia, so I'll improve my English and I'll explore your fabulous country!

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