Haha, can you guess what language I am speaking? (Answer: Cat-alan, HAHA)
Well, it just occurred to me how many words we use in different languages that are pretty much the same as our English words, even in Catalan. The one that comes to mind is grevi for gravy!
The Italians have adopted many English words and use them far more often than before, just as the French have been doing for so long.
Some examples in French: Sweater is pullover or shortened to only pull, just as they shorten restaurant to resto, and adolescent to ado (long ‘o’). Certainly makes speaking a lot easier sometimes. Here are some of the words stolen by the French from English: okay, happy hour, stop, weekend, sweat for sweatshirt, string for string bikini, parking, jogging, kidnapper, sandwich, cookie, hamburger and so on.
So in a way, it’s not so difficult to speak a little French! Or even Italian because THEY use lots of our words, too, such as shopping, pullover (yet again), sport, football, and so many more. This website is really fun to read because the writer actually gives examples of Italians who think they do not speak any English but they are using practically all English words in their conversation.
And of course, many of these words are derived from Latin, especially in Italian so if you happen to speak Latin (oh, yeah, sure), you will have a good paw up on learning Romance languages.
Well, all of this has worn me out and probably you, too. So I’ll just say bye bye in French and Italian:
“Bye, bye!”
And what is this Italian teaching his dog to say? CIAO, of course.
Very interesting ! Did you know that our human was learning latin in high school ? It’s thanks to latin that she learned so quickly Italian “just like this”. If she doesn’t know a word in Italian, she goes back to latin, and voilà ! Purrs
Yes, Latin is what helped mama, too. Plus it’s a fascinating language. Mama just bought book called X-Treme Latin that has such phrases as “cape somnum”—catch some zzzzs.
Jan used to “speak” Latin in high school, but she has forgotten all of it. All she remembers of it now is the tiny little teacher with the spike heels, bouffant hairdo and the wafting perfume.
Boy, that’s some garb for a gladiator! Well, cape somnum–catch some zzzzs. I should send Jan this crazy book. She would be in hysterics.
Those were so good, especially the bye-bye doggie! Thanks for joining the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop!
I love your hops, Brian. Thanks for reading.
Oh, Loulou, you can be goofy!
Oh, you just wait!
Loulou, you are always expanding my horizons!!! And now i know why we are such pals – since my name is Mya Pujalte – well, Mya is mia (how Italian is THAT!!) and was obviously misspelled by my former human (maman and papa adopted me when she died), they kept it the same – but my last name now is Pujalte – and that’s CATalan!! SO, you see? I’m part Italian CAT! Well, it’s a stretch, but you’re good at stretches, so I know you will accept the DOGma of my logic here. Tootaloo ( Southern speak for toute a l’heure! ) for now….
Toot-a-loo? Are you sure that is not something to do with a litter box? Haha. YES, no wonder we are friends, MIA. Love tour Dogma, whenever, wherever. A French Cat alan doggy for sure you are.XXXX
MOL Fanks fur da language lesson LouLou. We always wanted to speak Italian. Mommy luvs Italian foods and we luv pizza. MOL We also luv your fotos today. Adorable as always. Big hugs to all.
Luv ya’
Dezi and Raena
Grazie, Dezi, and may your 2017 be full of pizza!
I took 4 years of French is high school ( a long time ago), but I remember un peu.
Un peu est un bon debut.
Ciao, chow !
Spanish tends to take words from English and add a Spanish ending
so it’s easy to cross-communicate by fudging. (Of course I can’t come up with an example now, but I’ve done it enough. Sort of like “No problemo !”
Oh, mama does that, too. It often works well. Porta , plata, riserva, that a works well on many words.