Italian - English
cinema - cinema
danza - dance
dentista -dentist
galleria - gallery
poeta - poet
poesia - poetry (I think of poetry and prose to rmember to add the letter s to distinguish the word fro what is written from the person doing the writing)
Useful websites
duolingo.com
On a hiking holiday to Spain I met a fellow hiker who was ordering food in Spanish. I asked him if he had learned Spanish in school. No, he had taught himself Spanish, every day for a year, ready for his holiday.
I was inspired by his success and dedication. I decided I would learn Italian for my next forseeable trip the following summer.
I learned Italian on Duolingo. Each time I started a new set of exercises, I began to make two lists of words I learned on Duolingo, the easy ones, which is encouraging, and fun. Then the harder ones which I need to practise.
You might like to test yourself, from your own list, or mine, or both. Make two columns of words in any language you are learning, a minimum of 5 to 15, a maximum of twenty to thirty.
Then cover each column and test yourself. Keep repeating your self-administered quiz until you score full marks once, after some hesitation and thought.
Then repeat another time or two until you get 100 per cent right. Instantly and effortlessly.
At the end of the day, or week, or month, look back over the previous lists, or my posts. Duolingo will help you learn the grammar and sentence construction. My lists simply help you with the vocabulary for reading comprehension.
Easy Words
Italian - English
classico - classic
fame - fama
familiare - familiar (adjective, not the noun family)
finendo - ending
fisica - Physics
foto - photo
immagini - pictures (like images)
muro - wall (like mural)
sezioni - sections
stile - style
studi - you study
video - video
English - Italian
finding- trovando - like a treasure trove ando is an ing ending, going on AND on n END (other words end endo
sections - sezioni
wall - muro
Difficult words
Italian - English
mostra - exhibition (I thought it was a mosque wrong. more like a demonstration)
placo - stage (like a platform, or place to perform not
a park)
English - Italian
exhibition - mostra (think mounting pictures)
pictures - immagini
It is Sunday and tonight on Duolingo the top learners in the Leaderboard go up to the next level. So I am learning extra new words.
Italian - English
architetto - architect
architettura - architecture
Cinema (ponounced chin ay -ma) - cinema
circo - circus
concerto - concert
classico - classic
dentista - dentist
elefanti - elephants
galleria - gallery
gallerie - galleries (feminine plural ends in e)
idea - idea
locale - local
medicina - medicine
nuovo - new (like the English word novelty)
romantico - romantic
scena - scene
speciale - special
vestito - dress (as in the old-fashioned word vestment, still osed to describe the dress of Roman Catholic clergy)
voce - voice
English - Italian
architect - architetto
architecture - architettura
classic - classico
cinema - cinema
circus - circo
concert - converto
dentist - dentista
dress - vestito
elephants - elefanti (plural ending in Italian is i, like the word spaghetti)
gallery - galleria
galleries - gallerie
idea - idea
medicine - medicina
new - nuovo
romantic - romantico
scene - scena (prounounced shen -uh)
special - speciale
voice - voce
Websites
duolingo.com
wikitravel. com prhasebook
UK
Clocks change on the last Sunday in March in the UK and much of Europe. The clocks march forward in March. This chance is also called Daylight saving time. Or British summer time.
The clocks change after midnight during Saturday night, so when you wake up in the morning, any clocks which co-ordinate with a rddio controlled system are automatically updated.
You need to check your watch, microwave, old fashioned battery operated wall clocks. And your car clocks.
With most systems such as a laptop, you have a setting for time and date, so you can change to the local time when travelling.
So, in the UK, in springtime, my watch tells me it is 8 am, time to get up. The Kitchen clock has re-set to 9.
I used to go to a book group on the last Sunday in the month. In Springtime, if I went by my watch on the old time, I was late, because at 4 pm when the meeting started, my watch said it was 3 pm.
You lose an hour of sleep if you get up at the new time. But you catch up later, because the new clock time is already midnight when a watch set to yesterday's time tells your body clock it is only 11 pm.
The clocks are re-set on Sunday, or course, to you can get up when you like, and don't risk being late for work, so long as you don't work on a Sunday.
USA
The Americans have a rhyme to help you to remember which wasy the clocks go. Spring forward, fall back.
The Australian and New Zealanders down under have winter in the UK's summer snd summer in the UK's winter. One might hope that they would change their clocks in the opposite direction on the same day. No. The same day as who? Australis and New Zealand are a day different, especailly if you fly in their diection from the UK.
Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Summer_Time
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time_by_country
French
At school I learned French, for O level and A level. I concisdered myself bilingual. When I went to Belgium, I found a bilingual country, with signs in French and Dutch.
Spanish
At my late parents' second home in Spain I picked up a little Spanish vocabulary. Is there a word for this basic knowledge?
Tests Of Language Levels
What about the tests administered by universities and employers and language courses. Levels A B and C?
Singapore - Chinese
In Singapore, hearing four languages on the trains inspired me to start trying to learn to recognize Chinese signs. Signs everywhere were in four languages, English, Chinese, Malay, Tamil.
Finally, in Singapore I started an online Toastmasters club and learned a few words of a new language every week for a year..
Chinese was challenging. So were Japanese, Korean, and Indian languages. Suddenly, Spanish seemed easy.
Baack inBritain, I speak French fluently, and can translate signs in Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. But, am I bilingual in French?
Words For Multingual Learners
When I was employed to translate packaging for a cosmetics company into French and German, I spent a week hunting for the French translatoion of the word for nail file. So, at that time, I was not really bilingual. I was what? I just found out, in March 2025, that there are several handy words or labels for succinctly describing the type of bilingual I am.
I did know that I am a native speaker of English.
But what about my knowledge of other languages? How to describe it accurately, without making false claims, nor belittling myself?
1 Aspiring Learner
Firstly, I am an aspiring bilingual speaker of Italian. My first aim is to be able to read signs and menus.
I have learned new words to describe my aims and achievements in learning this year's new language, which is Italian. I am an emergent (still learning).
Reader - Receptive
My first aim is to be able to read menus and street signs to get to a restaurant, hotel, or museum. And find the toilets and exits.
The magic word describing this level is receptive (understand spoken and written words) bilingual. Not yet proficient in speaking and writing, but able to read menus, streets signs and newspaper headlines.
Productive - Producing Writing
If you can spontaneously speak and write, you are a Productive bilingual. You produce thoughts in the other language so you speak without hesitation.
Whether you are watching opera on YouTube or in an Italian theatre, eating a meal in Italy or at an Italian restaurant, or buying a ticket in person or online, here are several words you will instantly recogize. With very little effort you will be able to translate back to Italian from the English.
Italian - English
arte - art
cliente - client
danzo - dance
farmacia - pharmacy
film - film
galleria - gallery
una (feminine) lettera - (a) letter
musculo - muscle
musica - music
poeta - poet
silenzio - silence
teatro - theatre
English - Italian
art - arte
client - cliente
dance - danzo
film - film
gallery - galleria
letter - lettera
muscle - musculo
music - musica
pharmacy - farmacia (I think of Maria in the farmacia)
poet - poeta
silence - silenzio
theatre - teatro
Mother's Day in the UK is Sunday 30th March 2025. The celebration is also known as Mothering Sunday.
In the UK the corner shops or newsagents display Mother's Day cards. You can buy cards, balloons, and bunches of flowers.
A printer in a home office in a mobile home is a good idea, working from home on the move. On a holiday, taking photos, printing.
At a writing convference, the venue's printer broke. People wanted to run of twenty copies of a poem or course note handouts for meetings. One man had a printer in his van and printed off his own handouts. His friends found out and asked him to oblige. Others joined in clamouring for help. He then had to ask for money to reinmburse the spiralling cost of the ink and paper. We all realised he had a potential business opportunity, not at that venue, which would have banned any commercial enterprise.
However, for one's own use, it is a great idea for travellers.
I saw a small printer in use recently, for printing the meeting programme at a Toastmasters Speakers meeting. Normally, the committee member would print copies out at home, or work, working from home, but sometimes this would be wasteful as more copies were printed than needed. If too many people came to the meeting, the audience had to share.
On this occasion the committee member had travelled several miles to visit his elderly mother, at home or in a care home. He had bought the portable printer second hand on ebay to print items for her. Correspondence.
Since he was travelling, he had no time to print the programmes. When we went for coffee in another room, he did not want to leave it unattended because of the possibility of theft, or unathorised use, or somebody thinking it belonged to the building and moving it. It was light to carry and not to bulldy. So he had the choice of carrying it with him or locking it in his car boot.
I thought this was a great idea.
Children's Prizes & Certificates
Later, I saw my grand-daughter being presented with a certificate or badge for various activites, first at classes near home for swimming alone for the first time. Then at a Club Med on holiday overseas. skiing alone for the first time, partaking in fancy dress, posing like a model to have her while ouphoto taken with mother.
I could not see the certificates, and she sometimes just got a sticker. I suggested half-jokingly that her father or mother could print of certificate to reward her for an achievement. You could print off a colouring page for the restaurant table. If the restaurant runs short of kiddie colouring menus, find one not yet used, copy it and print it for the child or children which was waiting hoping to receive one.
Print extra copies of the menu or wine list, in large print for somebody who forgot their reading glasses.
Create a window sticker for glass so you don't bump your head, or to warn birds not to fly into it. Printe instructions for the printer!
I thought of all the possible uses. A photo you have to supply for a ski lift pass. A replacement passport.
Printing your boarding pass for a budget airline which sends you the online version, charges you at the airport to print it, and delays you queue for their machine and try to work out how to use it.
Some business centres in hotels and conference centres provide printing services, in the hours when they are open. Your own printer is abailable evenings weekends and national holiday.
You also need a printer for business. Invoices, receipts, contracts. Letters requesting appointments. Letters of introduction. For businesses which open by appointment only, and have answering machines.
For happy occasions. Last minute birthday cards, gift tags, holiday greeting cards, thank you notes. And certificates. Extras needed in a hurry when you mis-spell a name, smudge the ink, or two people are joint first so you need an extra certificate.
A consolation for a child who didn't win at the fancy dress contest. Or just something to make them smile. Something you made up to reward and encourage a small child, like sitting quiety and well behaved in a restaurant.
Endlessly joys and oportunities.
I want online to look at the possibilities, the prices.
The cheapest ones are about twenty pounds sterling. For small items. The larger ones start at about sity, seventy, eighty. For businesses, and machines which are business expenses, to justify the expense, or to claim money for printing from the company, or offset the cost against tax, you could pay between two hundred pounds to three Humdred. I looked on Amazon.uk and ebay.uk You might get better deals elsewhere. Or buy overseas on holiday ir you find a need and then bring the used item home with you.
New Zealand Earhtquake
In February I visited Napier in New Zealand which had a catastrophic earthquake in 1931 which destroyed the city in the subsequent fire and killed more than 200 people. Napier's free museum has exhibits on the earthquake. The city was rebuilt by intrepid and determined business people who raised funds to restored the roads, and rebuilt the streets with shops and the hotel in art deco style, which is a tourist trade selling point today.
USA Earthquake
I also visited San Francisco after its fire. I remember being told that poolside chairs had to be chained down to prevent them fling off, being ruined and more importantly injuring or killing people below.
Now March 28 2025 earthquakes have destroyed buildings and lives in Thailand, and Myanmar worse hit because that country had the eipicentre.
What do you do in an earthquake.
I was in Greece on a travel writer familiarisation trip to Zakinthos.Ironically, a local dignitory was welcoming us with a speech about how safe the isalnd was. A loud bang shook the building.
Everybody ran out, at least the Greeks did. We Brits thought the Greeks had rushed to find out what caused the explosion.
After a few minutes they did not come back. I could see the ear-rings shaking on the girl sitting opposite me, and the drinks shaking in their tumblers.
One of the Brits said, 'I think that was an earthquake. Wherever they've gone, we need to join them. We should leave - now.'
Thailand and Myanmar
As you can see from the videos of Thailand and Myanmar, (like 9/11 when the Twin Towers fell in New York) when buildings fall, you have to contend with the falling structure, debris, plus a cloud of dust or fire or flood spreading.
(If you are uninjured and able-bodied, you might desire to return to rescue others, which may be thwarted by cautious security wanting to save you from the risk of further earthquakes or dangerous buildings.
I remember reading about the fire in a hotel in Florida. A survivor said that people like him who were around the swimming pool, survived, but could not get back to their bedrooms to retrieve their passports and money. He was lucky because he was not swimming but wearing shorts and had his credit card in the pocket, so he was able to buy clothes, food, and an air ticket to get home.
It is good precaution to keep an ID and credit card and a spare piece of clothing such as a folded scarf or sarong with you at all times.
The Victorinox Jetsetter is a multifunction folding tool with scisors but no knife, accepted by the TSA for plane travel.
Being prepared for any emergency should be standard practise foe everyhone everywhere. Remember Benjamin Franklin's saying, hope for the best but prepare for the worst. It is standar practise for many schools, offices and other public buildings to have regular fire drills to pracise evaluating a building and gathering in one place to check how many are missing and whom. That is one reason for taking a roll call, or signing into a building. In an evauation, the fire officers know if anybody is missing and needs help, and they don't go risking thier lives hunting for people who were never there because they weant out fo the evening or day or night but did not bother to tell anybody.
A doorbell camera on the front door of a building is handy for elatives to check on olderly people or those who live alone. They can see in any emergency when you left and escaped to safety.
Save the children has a useful set of guidelines outlining how you can ensure everybody of every age knows what to do and where to go in an emergency so they can reach safety and find each other.
Useful Websites
https://www.savethechildren.net/blog/nine-tips-earthquake-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crlxlxd7882o
I read in my daily dose of the Daily Mail about a Ryanir boss who was charged extra by a restaurant in Ireland, mimicking his budget airline's extra charges. I got to thinking what else the restaurant could have jokingly charged him extra for.
They could have charged for late check-in.
They could have taken his briefcase, and jacket, put them on their 'carousel'. And returned the briefcase half an hour later. They could have asked him to take off his shoes for security.
I have flown on RyanAir. They do cheaply from Stansted to France, to airports such as Beziers. (Note that the spelling of Stansted has only one a. Unlike the London NW area of Hampstead which has a second letter a.)
RyanAir plane. Photo by Trevor Sharot. Copyright
Useful Websites
Daily Mail
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-14539427/Ryanair-CEO-Michael-OLeary-extra-charges-Irish-restaurant-practical-joke-airlines-hidden-fees.html
Ryanair
The restaurant
The words in Italian are in bold so you can re-read and learn them. Mano of the words simply add o to create the masculine in Italian, for bambino, mano, medico, parco, telefono, vino. Add the feminine ending e (like our English word feminine) to aprile, credere, impossibile, and simile. Watch out for the double letters in infatti, in fact the letter t appears twice, like in the words letter and fatter.
EASY WORDS
aprile - April (No capital letters starting months in Italian)
bambino - baby
credere - believable
durata - duration
infatti - in fact
impossibile (im-poss-ee-bill-ay) - impossible
mano - hand (like manual labor, hand work)
medico - doctor
parco - park
(il - the masculine) progetto - project
simile - similar
telefono - telephone
televisione - television
(il) trena - (the, masculine) train
vino - wine
CONFUSING WORDS
ragioni - not regions but reasons, rationality. The i at the end is a plural, like the word spaghetti.
These are todays words from my Duolingo exercises. I used Duolingo for free for a year learning Spanish.
Now I am doing Italian. This was for a proposed holiday in Spain which has now been cancelled. Never mind. My project for the year is to learn Italian.
Advertising On Duloingo and Websites
Duolingo is no longer the same as before. It has turned more commercial, like Facebook and the Daily Mail, everything on the internet seems to be bombarding me with advertising. I can't afford to buy another garment from Shein every hour. No point sending me cat food ads when I don't have a cat. I already have installed Grammarly.
Leaderboards On Dulingo
I am addicted to the Leaderboards on Duolingo. You can't be bored with the Leaderboard. It gives you points for every exercise completed. You compete with up to thirty others on your level. If you are in the top half dozen (the exact number varies from fewer in the lowest to more the hightest leaague) you go up. Conversely, if you are in the lowest of your league you slip back to compete with those who spend less time and effert.
Competing For Position
You do an exercise and add points. Go away for an hour or two, to do something useful, cleaning and tidaying the house, calling a friend, calling family, writing a book, answering mail, paying bills. You come back and somebody else has been busy and caught up right behind you in points or overtaken you.
Blocked By Duolingo
Then, last week, March 2025, I kept getting signs that I had run out of hearts and could not do any more exercises. Maybe, last year, I had not reached this limit. Maybe, this year, they have changed their system.
Resisting Paying
At first I resisted paying. I am in a system which advertises itself as free. I have been promoting it in my blogs as free. I am a loyal long term member.
I was afraid of being sucked into paying a big sum later, or small sums forever, even after I die. (I am in my seventies.)
The system promised that I would start getting hearts again if I came back after three hours. Two hours, one hour.
Agreeing To Pay
I thought again. Let's at least check the prices. I have had a year's worth of value from them. I get hours a day from them. I owe them something. I'd pay for food, clothes, entertainment.
Comparative Costs
The amount asked was less than UK one hundred pounds. (Some of my travel websites are quoting hotels in NZ currency because of my February trip to New Zealand when I set my laptop to the local currency.) If you are being quoted in another currency, or in your own currency and you want to tell a friend or readers another currency, you can look for the flag or currency abbreviation on the website page, click on it and change it, instead of having to go into another website to get the day's currency exchange rate and echange table column.) The answer was sixty pounds.
Family Budget
I thought, that's doable. I told all the family in a whatsapp group chat. They did not objects. They were all spending far more on other activities overseas.
Commitment and Cancelling
I now have two weeks to cancel. Then I will be committed to sign up to premium for the year.
Any Advantage To Premium?
I must admit I am a bit disappointed because don't find that premium is doing me much extra good.
I was expecting to be given the grammar clues about what I had done wrong. But I am getting most answers right. I am writing down the correct answers in an A6 notebook labelled Italian.
Self-Checking Translation Answers
My hand-written pages listings are no longer in alphabetical order, dictionary style That used to delay me in writing, while I looked for a page which still had an empty line for that letter of the alphabet. Instead, I write down in the running order of the day's words and sentences learned.
Some of the exercises are timed. I keep Google translate open to check the spelling.
Mistakes Allowed
f I am tired from not enough sleep, or over-confident, I get impatent and make a silly mistake. Sometimes if I mistype, or use a spelling closer to the English sound, a instead of e, or vice versa, the system just warns me of a typo.
No time is lost on Duo.
But I take time to check and if necessary correct that spelling in my hand-written list, or underline the vowel or double letter as a memory aid.
Time Lost On Mis-Translation
However, if I am hasty and careless, I might miss out the word not, or only, having grasped the subject object and verb. So I slow down and check both all the words in the Duolingo suggestions. Then I re-read all the words I have typed, to see if I am missing any extra word.
Word Order And Alternative Words
I use Google to select the word order.
Sometimes google translate gives me another similar word which is not acccenpted by the Duolingo system. Is that unreasonable? I can flag this in the choice of comments as 'my answer should be accepted'.
But I now realised that there is a good reason for me to be using the suggested word in the Duolingo exercise. The reason is because it was teaching me a particular word and I have not learned it.
Conclusion - For You
So, hey, ho, off to study I go. I hope this has helped you, or at least entertained you.
Useful Website
Please follow my blogs. Here on blogspot you can find my blogs on travel, languages, dress of the day, and comic poetry, and wine and dine. The first three are the most active with new blog daily.
If you want to make a suggestion for a subject, you can contact me through here or another medium. I am on Facebook, linkedIn when I can recall my password after changing my email, but that's another story. Meanwhile, I'm off back to Duolingo.
Have a nice day. In Italian that's buona giornata.!
Please, share links to your favourite posts, with your friends.
Per favore, condividi i link ai tuoi post preferiti, con i tuoi amici.
See you again, soon.Ci rivedremo, presto.
Maybe tomorrow.Forse domani.
I hope so!lo spero!
English: Democrat (Demokracja) dwarf from KOD located on Plac Solny Polski: Demokracja wrocławski krasnal ufundowany przed KOD znajdujący na placu Solnym 20 autorstwa kongijskiego rzeźbiarza Jeana Louisa Kotagomby. | |
| Date | |
| Source | Own work |
I bought double chocolate muffins from Lidl around Christmas 2004. They were kept in a cold garage, and still edible in mid-March 2025, and delicicious, a quick pick me up.
I checked current prices. For hosts of meetings, club meetings, committee meetings, hosts and guests.
You can get six chocolate muffins for one pounds from Poundland. So two of you, spending only one pound each could supply 12 muffins.
Mini muffins and quite filling and even cheaper. My pack of 16 came from Lidl. Similare are available from Asda and Tesco.
For the budget conscious, or more guests than expected, cut all of half of the muffins in half with a sharp knife. Or failing all else, use the blade of a sterlised Swiss army knife or penknife. (Sterilise in boiling water, dried with a clean paper towel/tissue Swiss army knife or penknife. Then everybody can have just a bite with their coffee, tea, milk, or water.
Grapes
If you are interested in supplying fresh fruit for dieters, health followers, anybody who wants to avoid meat products such as those who are Hindu, Moslem or Jewish, consider grapes. Wash the bunch and with washed hand detach all the grapes so nobody has to hold other grapes to pull off one or two. .
Small madarin oranged, tangerines, can be separated into segments. Two or three pieces of fruit make lots of segments.
Flag of Italy
Italian - English
cantare - sing (like cantor)
classe - class
coppia - couple
errore - error
dormire - to sleep (like the French dormir)
frase - phrase
lettera - letter (But letto is bed. I think of letter a is a bed but letto is let me lie on it.)
l'ombrello - the umbrella
osso - bone (useful for restaurants and hospitals)
perfetta - perfect
positivo - positive
uno - one (like unique)
voci - voices
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English - Italian
bone - osso
class - classe
couple - coppia
error - errore
letter - lettera
one - uno
perfect - perfetto (drop the c and doube the t, to be perfect in Italian)
phrase - frase
positive - positivo (an adjective ending in o to match a mascine noun, such as the name Mario)
sing - cantare
to sleep - dormire
voices - voci (the i ending is plural, like spaghetti)
Useful Websites
translate Google
Wikivoyage phrasebook Italian
Please follow my blogs and share with friends the links to your favourite posts.
I've seen children riding around airports on suitcases. My grand-daughter has one. So cute. Keeps kids happy.
Entertaining.
You can pull them along and know where they are.
A family member seeing a picture of a child on one said, 'I want one!'
Just what I thought. I checked the websites, and sure enough, they already exist for adults. And small enough to carry on.
For everybody.
The thing of the future. A wedding gift.
Stand or Sit
Some of them you stand on, like scooters.
Others you can sit on.
The Trunki for children appeared on Dragon's Den in the UK.
The starting price on Amazon, March 2025 is 29 to 30 pounds sterling for one for a child from age two upwards, their spec says.
Useful Webistes
https://www.trunki.co.uk/collections/kids-suitcase
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trunki
Please share links to your favourite posts.
 |
| Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. |
On Saturday I went to a fine wine lunch organized by my husband at the Cavalry & Guards Club. Each month they have a choice of several menus and my husband chose the one which ended with the cheese souffle, because it sounded different.
We discussed the timing of the start of the meal and speed of service with our liaison person from the kitchen. The chef needed over an hour to make the souffle dessert.
We timed the start of the meal to be about fifteen minutes after most people had arrived. We had to allow time for serving the meal, serving the wines, eating the meal and clearing away each course. clearing
The cheese souffle was a great success. First of all, it looked stunning. We had two between a table of abut 16 people, 8 per souffle. One of our number on each side of the table volunteered to cut it.
I had expected the cheese soufle to be savoury. However, like cream cheese, it was almost neutral. Not quite as sweet as cheesecake. But with a slight touch of sweetness.
It came with a mustard sauce. Not quite honey mustard. But near.
Everybody loved it.
I visited Guernsey for the first time when my son, now adult, was small. Friends who lived in Guensey and family who visited it on holiday recently have told me of its advantages, for families, especially with the very young or very old.
First, a reminder of where it is.
Of the southern coast of England in the Channel Islands. Not quite as far as coastal France. The ey at the end of the names Jersey and Guernsey means island.
Advantages Of A Holiday In Guernsey
Easy to travel there. One flight, without changes, to and from London City Airports, duration only one hour.
Low tax
No stopping at Customs because it's part of the UK sort of. Just walk through.
Fresh Food
Local food include yellow butter from the local cows. You have probably heard f Jersey cows. The Jersey and Guernsey cows are not the same. Guernsey cows are larger and paler and how different milk fat content. The Yellow colour comes from carotene, found in carrots, which is a source of vitamin A, more yellow colour and a different flavour.
English Culture With A Touch of Fun French
Victor Hugo lived here and wrote Les Mierables. You can visit his house which is a museum.
Jerseys and Guernseys
Jersey is a type of cloth weave which originated in Jersey. Guernsey also has a fabric. More details when you visit the Folk museum.
Travel & Tourism Info
The Guenrnsey National Trust website has a short video of Fermain Tower.
Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Trust_of_Guernsey
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Guernsey
https://www.londoncityairport.com/flight-info/destinations
https://www.betterwithdairy.com/blog/name-cow-6-great-dairy-breeds#:~:text=Guernsey
Please share links to your favourite posts.
My husband claimed to have managed a week in Italy with just half a dozen basic words. Here are some common ones.
arrivederci - goodbye
buon giorno - good morning
ciao - hello
grazie - thanks
per favore - please
non - no/not/don't
prego - not at all / you're welcome
si - SÌ- yes
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English - Italian
goodbye - arrivederci
good morning - buon giorno
hello - ciao
no - no
Please - per favore
thanks - grazie
yes - sÌ (with a downward accent on the i)
Useful Websites
Wikivoyage Italian phrasebook
Duolingo
Italian - English
ancora - still
caldo - hot
carne - meat
che succede - what's going on
cosa ti piace - what would you like?
era - there was
hai raggione - you're right (literally you have reason)
ho capito - I understand
ho deciso - I have decided
ieri - yesterday
io sono vegetariano - I am vegetarian
in ritardo - late
na mappa - a map
mi dispiace - I'm sorry
non ho visto - I did not see
numero di telefono - phone number
oggi - today
orribile - horrible
posso avere il tuo - can I have yours?
problemi - problems
secondo me - it seems to me / in my opinion
una bottiglia di vino - a bottle of wine
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English - Italian
a bottle of wine - una bottiglia di vino
a map - una mappa
can I have yours - posso avere tuo
I did not see - non ho visto
I have decided - ho deciso
horrible - orribile
hot - caldo
I am vegetarian - io sono vegetariano
I'm sorry - mi dispiace
I understand - ho capito
it seems to me / in my opinion - secondo me
late - in ritardo
meat - carne
phone number - numero di telefono
problems - problemi
still - ancora
today - oggi
there was - era
what's going on - che succede
what would you like - cosa ti piace?
yesterday - ieri (like the French hier)
you're right - hai raggione
Flag of Italy.
The three colours of the Italian flag, green white and orange, are used in a starter in restaurants, called the tricolore meaning the three colours. Green could be vegeble or salad. White could be cheese. Red could be tomato.
Italian - English
a noi non piace
anatra - duck
bianco - white
carote - carrots
dieta - diet
dopo - after
e - and
ecco - see / look / here you are (giving or showing something)
felici - happy
frutti - fruit
frutti
funghi - mushroom(s) (think of fungus. In English we say mushroom omelette, but you receive more than one mushroom. The Italian uses the plural, ending in i).
grazie - thank you (think of grateful)
ho bisogno di - I need
incidente - accident
insalata - salad
lei - she
lui vuole - he wants
mi scusi - excuse me
molto - much / very
molto gentili - very kind
nero - black
opzioni - options
pepe - pepper
pesce - fish
(il) petto - breast (eg of chicken, or chest in hospital)
pollo - chicken
prego - (in answer to grazie) you're welcome / not at all
rosso - red
salmone - salmon
segno - sign
(in) segreto - a secret
signore - sir
sono - I am
sono a dieta - I am on a diet
subito - straight away
troppo - too much
tonno - tuna
verde - green
vino - wine
vino bianco - white wine (For wine to drink, or white wine sauce on food. The adjective goes after the noun in Italian, as in casa mia meaning my house)
vitello - veal
vogliamo - we want
vuoi - do you want
English - Italian
accident - incidente
after - dopo
and - e
black - nero
carrots - carote
do you want - vuoi
duck - anatra
excuse me - mi scusi
fish - pesce
green - verde
he wants - lui vuole
I am - sono
I am on a diet - sono a dieta
I need (I have need of) - ho bisogno di
many - molto
mushroom(s) - funghi
options - opzionni
pepper - pepe
red - rosso
salad - insalata
salmon - salmone
she - lei
sign - segno
sir - signore
straight awa y/ immediately - subito
too much - troppo
tuna - tonno
thank you - grazie
veal - vitello
we want - vogliamo
white - bianco
white wine - vino bianco
wine - vino
You're welcome - prego
Useful Websites
Duolingo
Wikipedia - Italian language
Wiivoyage Italian phrasebook
Druze flag. Wikipedia.
A Druze restaurant has opened in New York. Interestingly, because it is vegetarian, it qualifies as kosher. Because the co-founder is Druze, not Jewish, he can open on Saturday.
Members of the Druze community are in New York Israel, Syria and Jordan and Venezuela. Notably they are in the Golan Heights.
They follow the Old and New testaments and the Koran as well as their own texts. They believe in reincarnation. And monogamy. They arry within their community.
Jethro's Tomb
Their venerated ancestor is Jethro, who was the father-in-law of biblical Moses. Jethro's tomb in Galilee in Israel is a place of pilgrimage for the Druze. The important calendar date is April.
London
The British Druze society in London has a page listing various food businesses including Nuts about Nuts.
Useful Websites
The Wikipedia article on the Druze includes lots of information on food.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/after-tragedy-supernova-festival-survivor-opens-israeli-druze-restaurant-in-nyc/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druze
https://british-druze.org.uk/services/
https://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/nuts-about-nuts-london
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Italian - English
apri - open (verbal instruction to open)
camminare - walking
(un) capello biondo - a blond hair
capelli corti - short hair (adjective after the noun in Italian, Spanish and French. i is plural as in spaghetti)
crema - cream
dopo - after
e - and (but means is with a downward accent or diacritic on top)
esercizio - exercise
facchia - face
forma - form
guidare - to drive (not to guide)
lavorare - to work (labour in UK, labor day in the USA)
lui vuole - he wants
(mi) lavo (le mani) - I wash (like lavatory, my hands, like manual, and manual labour)
me ne lavo le mani - I wash my hands of it
magari - maybe /perhaps
malattia - sickness / malady
orecchi - ears
ospedale - hospital (drop the h and note that the i changes to e, and a second e goes on the end)
motivo - reason (not motive)
(la) nostra - ours
ospedale - hospital
paura - fear (think of petrified)
(la) partita - the match (part of the contest)
la salute - health
sana - healthy (like sanatorium)
secondo lei - according to her
sickness - malattia
sono tutti orecchi - I am all ears (I am listening, keen to hear)
stai bene - it suits you / you look good
subito - immediately
(molto) stressante - (very) stressful
voti - grades (not votes, grades is US for what the British might call marks, exam results)
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English - Italian
according to her - secondo lei
and - e
(a) blond hair - (un) capello biondo
after - dopo
(I'm) all ears - sono tutti orecchi
cream - crema
(to) drive - guidare
ears - orecchi
exercise - esercizio
face - facchia
fear - paura
form (kind, type) - forma
grades - voti
is - e (with a down accent on top) - (it) is
health - la salute
healthy - sana (like sanatorium)
hospital - ospedale
immediately - subito
(the) match - la partita
maybe / perhaps - magari
open (verb, open, an instruction to the listener to open)
ours - la nostra (add la for it for possessives)
reason - motivo
short hair - capelli corti
(very) stressful - molto stressante
walking - camminare
(he) wants - (lui) vuole
I wash - lavo
I wash my hands
I wash my hands of it - m ne lavo le mani
(to) work - lavorare
you look good / it suits you - stai bene
Useful Websites
Duolingo
Duolingo.com
Translate Google
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