The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

At the moment the United Kingdom is celebrating Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee, that is 60 years of her reign.  Celebrations have started at the beginning of this year but they have reached their peak the last 2nd June and will close on the 5th June.

The programme is very rich and, as usual, no expense was spared in organising sumptuous events. Yesterday it took place the diamond jubilee river pageant, with the Royal Family dressed in it’s Sunday best. A million spectators coming from all Britain converged on the Thames to watch the show.

The British fondness for the Queen is at its top-level. The diamond jubilee has also increased the business on the Royal Family with all kind of souvenirs prepared for this occasion.

Certainly, British culture also includes the long tradition of the monarchy and all the aspects related to it, with great importance given to ceremonial occasions.

Pubblicato in U.K. and U.S.A. | 1 commento

Les expressions françaises avec les couleurs.

Voici quelques expressions idiomatiques avec les couleurs et leurs explication en italien:

Être blanc comme neige: essere innocente
Connu comme le loup blanc: essere molto conosciuto
La nuit, tous les chats sont gris: è facile sbagliarsi in una situazione difficile
Rire jaune: ridere forzatamente
Faire marron quelqu’un: ingannare qualcuno
Broyer du noir: essere pessimista, malinconico
Être fleur bleue: essere ingenuo
Voir la vie en rose: essere ottimista
Voir des éléphants roses: essere ubriaco
Être dans le rouge: essere al verde
Voir rouge: arrabbiarsi
Se mettre au vert: andare in campagna
Donner le feu vert: dare l’autorizzazione
Avoir les bleus: essere triste, malinconico
En voir des vertes et des pas mûres: vederne di tutti i colori
Faire grise mine à quelqu’un: trattare qualcuno con freddezza

Pubblicato in France, Locutions | 2 commenti

Quotations on stereotypes.

“I imagine hell like this: Italian punctuality, German humour and English wine.”
-Peter Ustinov-

“Americans are a lot more open, of course. There’s something more declamatory in the way you express emotions. It’s a stereotype but it’s true. British people can appear repressed in expressing emotions. Not very good at self-evaluating, or affirming situations, touching, anything like that.”                                       -Emily Blunt-

“Nothing is ever simple. What do you do when you discover you like parts of the role you’re trying to escape?”
-Marylin French-

“All stereotypes turn out to be true. This is a horrifying thing about life. All those things you fought against as a youth: you begin to realize they’re stereotypes because they’re true.”              -David Cronenberg-

Pubblicato in U.K. and U.S.A. | 5.946 commenti

Tongue Twister

 

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck would chuck wood? He would chuck, he would, as much as he could, and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

 

We surely shall see the sun shine soon.

 

Which witch whished which wiched wish?

 

Betty Botter had some butter, “But”, she said, “this butter’s bitter”. If I bake this bitter butter, it would make my butter bitter. But a bit of better butter that would make my batter better. So she bought a bit of butter, better than her bitter butter, and she baked it in her batter, and the batter was not bitter. So ’twas better Betty Botter, bought a bit of better butter.

 

Swan swam over the sea, swim, swan, swim! Swan swam back again well swum swan!

I thought a thought but the thought I thought wasn’t the though I thought I thought.

Are you able to pronounce quickly and corretly those tongue twisters??

Pubblicato in U.K. and U.S.A. | 7 commenti

Le verlan.

Le verlan est une forme d’argot français très utilisé, de nos jours, par les jeunes. Il consiste en l’inversion des syllabes d’un mot, comme le prouve le nom même de ce phénomène: c’est en inversant les syllabes de la locution à l’envers que l’on obtient le mot verlan.


Par exemple:
femme devient meuf
arabe devient beur
copine devient pineco
jeune devient neujeu
petit devient tipeu

Récemment une nouvelle tendance s’est affirmée: le verlan du verlan, qui est encore plus incompréhensible de la version standard!


meuf est retransformé en feumeu
beur est retransformé en rebeu

Pubblicato in France, La langue française | 1 commento

The tradition of drinking tea in Britain.

The British are the major consumers of tea in the world, but this beverage appeared in England only in the mid 17th century. The first tea’s importers from Asia were the Portuguese and the Dutch in 1610.
Tea became very popular thanks to coffee houses and it is still the Britons’ favourite drink. A lot of people drink even six or more cups of tea a day!
Black tea with milk is the typical British way to serve tea. But, even though tea drinking is worldwide considered as a refined cultural element, the British consume it in mugs and so often that most offices allow their employers breaks for tea.

Pubblicato in U.K. and U.S.A. | Lascia un commento

Les Français et les langues étrangères.

En général les Français ne sont pas considérés très doués pour l’apprentissage des langues étrangères. Selon une étude réalisée par l’Union Européenne, 41% des Français ne parlent aucune langue étrangère, tandis que 28% de la population de l’UE en parle au moins deux.
Toutefois, ils n’acceptent pas volontiers cette critique et ils affirment que les anglais ou les américains ne s’appliquent pas du tout dans l’apprentissage des langues, mais on ne les reproche pas pour leur manque vu que l’anglais est l’une des langue plus utilisées au monde.
Les Français, en outre, essayent de protéger leur idiome contre l’invasion des mots anglais en créant des mots pour les remplacer. Ce phénomene est évident surtout dans les domaines informatique, et technologiques. Voici quelques exemples:

  • “ordinateur” pour “computer”
  • “souris” pour “mouse”
  • “réseaux sociaux” pour “social network”
  • “baladeur” pour “walkman”
  • “logiciel” pour “software”
  • “matériel” pour “hardware”
Pubblicato in France, La langue française | 8 commenti

Straniero

THE STRANGER

The Stranger within my gate,
He may be true or kind,
But he does not talk my talk–
I cannot feel his mind.
I see the face and the eyes and the mouth,
But not the soul behind.

The men of my own stock,
They may do ill or well,
But they tell the lies I am wanted to,
They are used to the lies I tell;
And we do not need interpreters
When we go to buy or sell.

The Stranger within my gates,
He may be evil or good,
But I cannot tell what powers control–
What reasons sway his mood;
Nor when the Gods of his far-off land
Shall repossess his blood.

The men of my own stock,
Bitter bad they may be,
But, at least, they hear the things I hear,
And see the things I see;
And whatever I think of them and their likes
They think of the likes of me.

This was my father’s belief
And this is also mine:
Let the corn be all one sheaf–
And the grapes be all one vine,
Ere our children’s teeth are set on edge
By bitter bread and wine.

Rudyard Kipling

L’ETRANGER

- Qui aimes-tu le mieux, homme énigmatique, dis ?
ton père, ta mère, ta soeur ou ton frère ?
- Je n’ai ni père, ni mère, ni soeur, ni frère.
- Tes amis ?
- Vous vous servez là d’une parole dont le sens m’est
resté jusqu’à ce jour inconnu.
- Ta patrie ?
- J’ignore sous quelle latitude elle est située.
- La beauté ?
- Je l’aimerais volontiers, déesse et immortelle.
- L’or ?
- Je le hais comme vous haïssez Dieu.
- Eh ! qu’aimes-tu donc, extraordinaire étranger ?
- J’aime les nuages… les nuages qui passent… là-bas…
là-bas… les merveilleux nuages !

Charles Baudelaire

GIROVAGO

In nessuna
Parte
Di terra
Mi posso
Accasare

A ogni
Nuovo
Clima
Che incontro
Mi trovo
Languente
Che
Una volta
Già gli ero stato
Assuefatto

E me ne stacco sempre
Straniero

Nascendo
Tornato da epoche troppo
Vissute

Godere un solo
Minuto di vita
Iniziale
Cerco un paese
Innocente

Giuseppe Ungaretti

Pubblicato in France, Italia, U.K. and U.S.A. | Lascia un commento

Les pires touristes du monde!

Selon un étude international, les français sont les pires touristes dans le monde entier, ils sont surtout impolis et mauvais avec les langues étrangères. En effet, ce n’était pas difficile à imaginer vu que le stéréotype le plus connu sur les français est qu’ils sont très désagréables à cause de leur identité nationale très forte et toujours présente, même à l’étranger. Mais c’est vraiment comme ça? Il faut toujours généraliser?

Regardez ce vidéo et dites ce que vous en pensez!

les pires touristes du monde

Pubblicato in France | Lascia un commento

Italia vs Europe

Ecco un video carino e divertente, che molti già avranno visto, sulle classiche abitudini italiane in cui ci si riconoscerà in pieno!!

Buona visione! :)

Italia vs Europe

Pubblicato in Italia | 2 commenti