Italian words and interesting idioms added to our learners' list

 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)

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

Please follow my blogs on travel, dress, poetry, and share links to your favourite posts

Greenlandic Coffee

 Greenlandic coffee

Contains 

coffee

Solid Cream

plus

Grand Marnier

Kahlua

Whiskey

the solid cream represents the icebergs.

the flame represents the northern lights.

You can see it being made and the recipe on youTube.

I came across it when researching the Danish language for the Toastmasters International speakers' training organization, the group meeting being the LILT, an acronym short for Languages for interest, learning and travel, every Sunday night.

Useful Websites

LILT facebook page

You tube on kahlua

Greenland on Wikitravel

Wikivoyage

Wikipedia

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Translate an Albanian Restaurant Menu - what is krem?

You might guess that Krem is cream. And mixe is mixed. Have a look at these words and see which you can guess or remember easily. 

 Albanian - English

bizele - peas

brokoli - broccoli

byrek - pie

dhe - and

koke - head

krem - cream

me - with

mish -meat

mixe - mixed

pule - chicken

sallate - salad

spec - pepper

speca - peppers

spinag - spinach

supe - soup

tave - casserole

te - the

English - Albania

and - dhe

casserole - tave

head - koke

meat - mish

mixed - mixe

peas - bizele

pepper - spec

peppers speca

pie - byrek

the - te

Useful Websites

What to buy in Andorra - shopping and eating tips

My family phoned from Andorra and told me: 

 .We are at the ski resort of El Pas de la Casa, skiing"'

  We just stopped for lunch."'

Food In Andorra Ski Resorts

"So I thought I'd phone. It is a typical ski resort. Everything is pizza, meat, cheese and bread. The restaurants also have fish and vegetables. They like octopus in Andorra, which is odd, as it's landlocked.

"For dessert, there's crepes, very French. With chocolate or cream, or both! 

"But nobody is fat. You are in the mountains. Outdoors. You are walking up and down. Or skiing. So everyone is fit and healthy. 

 "El Pas de la Casa is only one mile from the French border, but everything (to do with crossing the border) has shut down because of Covid (in December 2021). 

"Alcohol and tobacco are cheap. It is like England used to be ten or twenty years ago. Everything you eat and drink and smoke is unhealthy, but nobody is bothered. You can buy a pack of 1,000 cigarettes, which is enough for a year. To encourage you they stick a bottle of vodka on the side.

"We are staying in a three star hotel because over Christmas and New Year everything is expensive, but despite that it's all booked up. Pricey and full. So we picked a cheap 3 star hotel, which is well located. For Christmas and New Year we have had to eat early at 6.30 (pm).

"I went skiing. 

"While I'm skiing, she (my wife) goes shopping, looking after the baby - which is a full time job, looking for a restaurant for dinner, and eating crepes.

"Crepes are served with a layer of hot chocolate and then cream. Everything has four inches of cream.

"The first two days we stayed in the capital. 

Since I was going skiing, my wife went to the big spa for a treat. We bought her a waterproof cover for her camera. 

"It was busy, queues everywhere, to get from one zone area to the next. She tried the haman.  

"We stayed in the Panorama hotel which is a way, away, a few miles from the ski resorts. The hotel is half way up the mountain, overlooking the city It is 15 storeys high. The reception is in the middle, on what they call zero level. You go up seven floors to the rooftop pool, which is indoors. Then you go down to minus five, to street level."  

Useful Websites

https://visitandorra.com/en/visitor-information/andorra-s-tourism-offices/tourist-office-of-andorra-la-vella/

About the Author Angela Lansbury

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Books by Angela Lansbury
How to be the best man. (Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Wedding Speeches and Toasts.(Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Unforgettable British Weekends.
Poetry Workshop Workbook.
The Tailor and the Spy. (Lulu.)
Larry The Talking Labrador. (Lulu.)
Writing Poetry for fun.

Quick Quotations

Who Said What When

 

Learning Spanish from Household Products - 20 words for you to recognize

 I looked at a tube of metal polish and learned some new words in Spanish.

Spanish - English

aplicar - apply

bronce - bronze

como - such as

crema - cream

cristal - crystal

de - of

del - of the

esta - this

excelente - excellent

excepto - except

fibrar de cristal

frotar - rub

instructionnes - instructions

las (feminine)/los - the (plural as in the US place name Los Angeles which means the angels)

metal - metal

Miracle - miracle

no - do not/don't

para - for

protege - protects

seco - dry

todo - all

un - a/an

y - and

English - Spanish

all - todo (plural todos)

a/an - un

and - y

apply - aplicar

cream - crema

crystal - cristal

dry - seco

excellent - excelente

except - excepto

for - para

instructions - instructionnes

of - de

of the - del 

metal - metal

Miracle - miracle

protects - protege

rub - frotar

such as - como

the - el, los, las (feminine plural)

this - esta

Useful Websites

duolingo.com

facebook polyglots group to ask questions and discuss

https://www.facebook.com/groups/polygotcommunity/

memrise.com

translate google

WORDS WRITTEN THE SAME IN BOTH LANGUAGES (Pronunciation and meaning could be different)

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English%E2%80%93Spanish_interlingual_homographs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-ing#-ing_words_in_other_languages

Angela Lansbury is VP PR of Braddell Heights Advanced club and Tampines Changkat Advanced club.

https://www.toastmasters.org/Find-a-Club/00009689-braddell-heights-advanced-club

https://www.facebook.com/tampineschangkatadvTMC/

Red hat to buy at Gardens By The Bay

No trouble finding the gift shops at Gardens by the Bay. One at the main entrance, two more. Hats in all colours, white, cream, brown, blue, red, silver. I liked this one which has a decorative flower and a removable red brim which buttons on.

Photo by and of Angela Lansbury in red hat at gardens By The Bay, Singapore.

Summer Strawberries and Foods In Season In London - mouli vegetables and fruit

VEGETABLES
I look for the new and surprising. In Tesco supermarket's reduced price area after 6 pm I saw a large long white vegetable, called mouli.

I asked an assistant, "What do I do with this?"
He replied, I thought unhelpfully, "You cook it."
Yes, I guessed that, but how do you cook it?

I got home and looked it up on the internet. First I kept finding a brand of kitchen machinery for chopping called a Mooli.   Then I found recipes. Wikipedia lists it under Daikon radish.

Mooli is a kind of horseradish. You could use it to spice up a soup such as a potato soup. But you can also eat it chopped into discs in salad. Pleasantly crunchy.

I didn't find it spicy at all.

Tesco also had a yogurt drink. (You could make your own lassi from a mixture or yogurt and milk, with added mango, or salt, or sugar.)

Then onto dessert.

FRUIT
Strawberries And Cream
Strawberries are in season in the supermarkets, small red strawberries with real summer strawberry flavour. Strawberries are traditionally eaten with pouring cream. Sometimes you get an offer to buy both together.

Perfect Pineapple
Summer fruits are superb value. In Tesco I saw pineapple for 80p, down from £1 and £1.10 earlier this year.

Summer Pudding
Our next trip to the supermarket will be searching for summer pudding.

Useful Websites
visitbritain.com

https://www.tesco.com/direct/moulinex-manual-grater/191-1850.prd?source=others
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daikon

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photogrpaher, author and speaker.

How do you say please in Portuguese - is it like Spanish and Italian?

Problem
How do you say please and thank you and coffee with cream in Portuguese? It is similar to Italian?

Answers
Portguese is similar to both Italian and Spanish. Portuguese has many words with the letter M.

English - Portuguese - - Italiano
black - preto - - nero
coffee - café - - caffè
cream - creme - - panne
double - duplo - - doppio
don't mention it - - na verdade / não menciona - prego
please - por favor - - por favore (Literally for favour. Remember the English phrase 'do me a favour'.)
thanks - obrigado - - grazie (Like the English phrase much obliged.)
with - com - - con

Italiano - Portugese  - inglês
Caffè - café - coffee
con - com - with
doppio - duplo - double
grazie - obrigado - thanks
nero - preto - black
Panne - creme - cream
por favore - por favor - please
prego - nao mesmo / não mencione - don't mention it

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of languages

Vital Words In An Italian Coffee Bar

Problem
How do you ask for a coffee in Italian in an Italian coffee bar?

English - Italian
black - nero
coffee - caffè
cream - panne
double - doppio
not at all / don't mention it - prego
please - per favore
thank you - grazie
with - con

Italian - English
caffè - coffee
con - with
doppio - double
grazie - thank you
nero - black
Panne - cream
prego - not at all / don't mention it

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and phtographer, author and speaker. Please bookmark and share links to your favourite posts.

Costa, Caffè Nero, Starbucks and Espresso Con Panne

Problem
Where can I get double espresso coffee with cream?

Answer
You can buy it at Caffè Nero, Costa, or Starbucks. But in our local areas of both Singapore and London, England, we found that only one listed Doppio Espresso Con Panne on the menu, the chalk board on the wall behind the counter.

Which one? Caffè Nero. 'The Italian Coffee Company' said their blue paper bag. The bag contained a muffin my family bought. It was raspberry and almond.

I objected, "That's highly calorific."

They smiled, "But you are only getting one third!"

First bite was good. My third didn't have a lot of raspberry, after the first bite. Where was the almond? The sliced almond flakes on top looked real enough.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of languages

Caffe Nero, Eton and Windsor, England, for coffee and cake

Problem
Where to get coffee and cake in Windsor and Eton?

Answer
We dashed along the pedestrian street where Windsor and Eton meet - very confusingly one side of the river is called Windsor, the other Eton, but the whole area is Windsor - I spent ages on the internet trying to work out which branch I had been in.

We opted for Caffe Nero because it's a big chain we know and other places looked like restaurants and we were' sure they would serve only coffee and cake.

We managed to spot chairs which suited us, as somebody was leaving, so I parked myself in the chair whilst my husband went to line up for the order. I had told him I wanted a cake and no coffee. It's awkward that you cannot see a menu at the table, because if one of you sits down first to bag a table, through tiredness, or so as not to clutter the queue, the one left sitting down can't see the menu and food choices, as there's a barrier between you and the cake counter window.

I found afterwards you can see their menu on line. I have now registered for their system, which you need to see details and opt in for the wifi. It takes several minutes, creating passwords, choosing your birthday from spinning numbers and so on.

So I grabbed my bag, leaving my husband's unguarded and rushed to the counter to point at what I wanted, whilst looking over my shoulder to be sure nobody pinched his stuff on their way to the staircase.

I made a quick decision of the mincemeat tart which looked smaller and cheaper than the larger carrot cake, which in retrospect would have been a better choice.

My husband ordered the same for himself and was quite happy with it, and also had a coffee with cream. We added some of the cream from the coffee to the tart, which was still too sweet. Now I'm a lover of sweets. I drink sweet wines. However, I felt the tart was like a jam tart, rather than a filling mince pie, poor value, not nutritious. (I prefer the almond slice at Costa which at least give you protein in the nuts.)

If I were to go back, I would have the cake. A larger cake, divided into two so I got half, would be better value and more sustaining than one of two little tarts.

Afterwards I wondered what you can do to choose cakes when you are sitting down. If the queue is short, you can run up to the counter, in relays, so as not to lose your seat.

Order First?

In Singapore when there are long queues and a shortage of seats signs often tell you to get your food and then find a table. Because you can find lots of tables occupied by people who don't have food, whilst people with food are standing with a tray and nowhere to put it.

Coffee First, Cake later?

Even if you both order coffee and sit down, and later go back for cake, the same dilemma applies. You have to leave the seat with your half drunk coffee and your bags and coat. You have to phone each other or shout.

Online Menu?

I thought, well, I should have logged in earlier and seen the online menu. However, the mincemeat tart was not on the online menu. 

Send A Photo?

The alternative is for the person in the line for the food to take a picture and send it back to the person who is sitting down. Assuming you both have working phones.

Restarantants With Display Menus - Please Copy!

The Japanese and Chinese restaurants are better organised. They have either huge pictures of the food in panels around the room or over the counter, or a menu on every table, like at a Wetherspoons pub, so you can sit and choose and discuss and then send one person with everybody's order.

Where is the Caffè Nero which I visited? I found two branches in the area. The other branch is in the Windsor station.

 Caffe Nero

42 Peascod Street

Windsor SL4 IDE

Tel:+44 1753 620092

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
See my other blog :
www.luxurytravelforless.co.uk

Food photos to show your waiter or server or restaurant manager.

Problem
How do you order food when you don't speak the language?

Answer
Show photos. (More in previous post.)

Bread.

Coffee. Coffee with decoration.

German marzipan centre stollen cake.

Chocolate cake with nuts and vanilla ice cream.

Bread with nuts and fruit to accompany coffee.

Plate and cutlery.

Champagne bottle, rosé wine, jug of water. 

Meat with mushrooms, sauté potatoes and green beans.

Toilet and washbasin with toilet paper and soap.

Fruit bowl: green apples, red apples, oranges, pear (right).

Cake with fruit - orange slices on top.

Cheesecake with fruit topping and jug of cream. Background chocolate cake.

Pub lunch of baked potato in its jacket with butter, cheese, tomato, mushroom, peas. Napkin and fork.

All photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Teacher of English and other languages.

Coffee For Campers And Travellers

Problem
How do you make yourself a decent coffee when travelling, like the one you get from your pod machine at home?

Answer
You can buy a traveller's coffee maker with a built in cup and it takes a coffee capsule.

We knew it would work, because we already had an earlier model which takes ground coffee. You have to dampen it down, which is a bit of a palaver.

A member of my family was given the new version which takes capsules as a birthday present.

We tried it out and compared it with our at home machine. The difference is that the big machine makes more of a 'creme' on top. But the coffee underneath is the strength and brand you have at home if you take the capsules with you. We have caffeinated and decaffeinated capsules.

If your hotel or restaurant can't do a proper coffee decaffeinated, or you are camping, you can still have a decaff after dinner coffee. You will want your own supply of drinkable water, bottled water, plus milk and sugar if you take milk and sugar in your coffee.

If you are flying, you might have to buy your milk and water at the other end of the flight.

You might also buy coffee capsules abroad.

About the Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to my posts.

Skiing At The Snow Centre, Hemel Hempstead

You can go skiing on an indoor snow slope at Hemel Hempstead. We went on a Sunday afternoon and paid about £30 for an hour's skiing including hire of the ski equipment. We booked a two hour session.

Getting There
If you are driving, watch out of the infamous Hemel Hempstead Roundabout where the traffic seems to be sent in the wrong direction, when you would expect it to go clockwise.

Signs
Sign warn that to use the ski slope you must be able to use the Poma. How does it work? It's a round seat which travels up the slop on a kind of stretch spring.

Getting On The Poma
The first tricky part is getting on the Poma at the bottom of the slope. Wait in the queue. If you are chatting to friends, don't turn your back on the Poma. Be ready to go. You grab hold of the vertical bar, which stretches, and pull it towards you. Place the circular seat between your legs. Grip the vertical bar, and hold on tight as it pulls off.

Secondly, as you travel up the slope, hold onto your ski poles and don't drop them. Be sure not to lean sideways as you hold the vertical bar in one hand and your ski poles in the other hand. Don't fall off!

If anybody else falls off or gets tangled up, the system will jolt to a halt suddenly.

Thirdly, finally, getting off at the top of the slope. Ask somebody who has done it before to help you understand.

Non-skiers can watch from the observation balcony or stay inside in the warm in the eating area by the big windows. If you are observing and plan to wave or take photos, note the colour of your family's of friends' colour of hats and jackets and trousers.

I had a lunch of a baked potato in its jacket with tuna. This involves a 15 minute wait. If you are taking a lesson or have a one or two hour session booked, you may prefer to grab a sandwich.

After skiing we had coffee and muffins. the muffins look the same but come in more than one flavour. We had one lemon and popped muffin between two people, and one chocolate and fruit. Both delicious. The hot chocolate with cream or marshmallow on the top was large and had great cream which we shared around on the other coffees and the food.

If you are looking for a souvenir to buy, there's a blue tote bag.
The Snow Centre
St Albans Hill,
Hemel Hempstead
HP3 9NH
Phone: 0344 770 7227.

www.thesnowcentre.com

Other indoor ski centres are at Milton Keynes and elsewhere in the the UK.
Photos by Angela Lansbury, travel writer, photographer, author and speaker.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

One of Britain's Great Desserts, Eton Mess at Swanwick Writers' Summer School

Eton Mess is a desert made of white meringue, red summer fruit and double whipped cream. The fruit can be raspberries or strawberries. We had a huge platter of it but it was so more-ish that several people who had said they had had enough still had some more.

Eton Mess. Not much left over. Photo by Angela Lansbury

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and editor, author and speaker.

Aloe Vera - 'allo 'allo? What's this? At Expo in Singapore

I stopped by the stand of First Canned Food of Thailand. Assorted notes of various colours were there for tasting. Hm? What to try? I could not resist trying aloe vera. We hear so much about it. It was colourless. And, I must admit, almost tasteless. What did I expect? I supposed I had passed several stands offering finer and spices.

Aloe vera, now I know, is subtle and soothing.

The stand also has coconut juice, coconut nectar, coconut sugar and coconut cream. What a lot you can get from coconut.

Mangosteen, tamarind, raw material, juice, concentrated juice - hibiscus.

See my later post about aloe vera.

www.fcftw.com.tw

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.