Spanish and Italian - which is which?

 Many words are almost the same in English, Spanish and Italian. This makes it easy to translate back into English, but harder to remember the foreign words. In Wikipedia you can find lists of words. You can also look at Wikipedia in another language and note mentally or write or type a copy of words which are the same as English.

English - Spanish - Italian (reminders)

and - y - e (The Spanish is y, like the y sound in mañana)

cost - costo - AI found me this from Collins dictionary 

"cost" is costo or coste in Spanish, and costo in Italian. Both languages use these terms to represent expense or price. Common related phrases include "¿Cuánto cuesta?" (Spanish) and "Quanto costa?" (Italian) for "How much does it cost? 

One thing I kept muddling was which word ended in o and which in a in quanto costa. Then I remembered that they are different, different endings. oh no what a cost ah. quanto costa.

explore - explora

shop - |Spanish tienda (where you tender money to buy) - Italian negozio (where you negotiate or bargain)

market in English is mercado in Spanish, mercato in Italian.

Yes - si - yes in both Italian and Spanish. But having an accent on the i makes a difference, meaning YES! Without the accent, in Spanish si means if. 

supermarket in English is supermercado in Spanish, supermercato in Italian

Useful Websites For Translations to and from Italian and Spanish

duolingo

duolingo.com

translation

google

facebook

wikipedia

Wikipedia en español

Wikipedia in italiano

https://italian.joyoflanguages.com/podcast/Si-in-Italian

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How to learn both Spanish and Italian on Duolingo

 I learned Italian on Duolingo, the online language learning system, which has a large number of languages for those with English as a first language. Then I started learning Spanish. 

I looked at my notebook which had pages of Italian and pages of Spanish. I thought, a pity I don't have the Spanish and Italian side by side. I ought to go back to Italian and revive it.

I thought about Spanish speakers learning Italian. They can do it on Duolingo. Then I thought, why don't I learn either Italian for Spanish speakers, or Spanish for Italian speakers. 

I decided to learn Italian for Spanish speakers.

I found several useful things.

Words which are identical

Spanish - Italian - English

o - o - or

Words which are the same except for the accent

te te - tea

Spanish té

Italian tè 

If you are familiar with any Italian coffee shop chain, such as Caffè Nero, you will be able to see that the accent on the letter e is sloping backwards, the opposite of the French word for café.

Useful Websites

duolingo.com

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Learning Italian when you speak Spanish - and vice versa

 I learned Italian last year. This year I am learning Spanish.

Today I decided to speed up both languages by learning Italian for Spanish speakers. That way I learn one language whilst reviving the other. I also am less likely to confuse them because each time I can see the word in both languages.

Spanish - Italian  

Spanish - English

correcto - correct

Useful trilingual books

If you go to a bookshop, look for multi-language books.

I like to buy books with large clear print.

Some books print one of the languages in another colour, paler, which is hard to read if you don't have good lighting and study late at night at home.

The more languages you have in a book, sometimes the smaller the print.

Books aimed at children tend to have larger print.

A book with very large print might have fewer words.

Useful Website For Learning Spanish & Italian

Duolingo.com

Are you learning French, Spanish, Italian or Portuguese? If and that are easy and hard to remember in these languages

French -If -Si?

 I learned French at school. The English word if, in French is si. 

That, as in I know that (not that one over there) is que. After a verb, que or that is an adverb. That when pointing to something can be a pronoun, or determiner.

French & Spanish Links

French and Spanish are nearby languages, physically as well as metaphorically. Think of the southern border of France being next to Spain. When it comes to learning Spanish, the same words are used for if and that, si for if, que for that (after a verb such as know that).

Italian - Se and Che

However, when learning Italian on Duolingo I kept making mistakes. I kept typing si for if. But the Italian for if is se. The Italian for that is not que but che. It sounds the same, but is written differently. I am now trying to remember the right word using the words of the hit song che sera sera, whatever will be will be.

Italian and Portuguese

I thought I would check on two similar languages, Italian and Portugese. It turns out that in both the constructions, using if or that, French and Spanish are a pair. The other two romance languages, Italian and Portugese, are different, but paired with each other.

So for me it is easier to learn French and then Spanish. Then Italian and Portuguese. Or if I learned French or Spanish first, just remember that Italian and Portugese are different.

I checked the two versions of Portuguese, used in Portugal in Europe, and Brazil in South America. They are a match with each other.

Yes - Si

Yes in French is si. Yes in Spanish is si. Yes in Portuguese is sim. Yes in italian is si.

I was using Translate google. 

To make it clear, here is a list

English - French - Spanish - Italian - Portuguese

if - si - si - se - se

that - que - que  - che - che

yes - oui/si (emphastic) - si - si - sim 

Useful Websites

Duolingo (to learn online, for free, French, Spanish, Italian and Brazilian Portugese)

Translate Google (to translate words, phrases and short paragraphs) French, Spanish, Italian, Portugese used in Portugal and Portuguese used in Brazil)

Please share with friends the links to useful posts on my blogs.

Italian words which are easy and difficult - easy quiz

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

Italian Restaurant Menu Translations

 I am learning Italian, on Duolingo, ready for a holiday next year. Therefore every Italian restaurant menu is a welcome challenge. So are all the multi-language lists of ingredients on chocolate bars, cakes, tins of olives and sardines, and packging from supermarkets.

Here's my most recent look at an Italian restaurant menu.

Antipasto - Starter 

Primo - first course

affumicato - smoked (like our English word fumes)

aglio - garlic

di - of

e - and

fiori - flowers

gamberi - prawns

Insalata - salad

insalata verde - green salad

forno - (in the) oven / baked

fritti - fried

melone - melon

prosciutto - Parma ham (ham from Parma)

salmone - salmon

spinaci - spinach

trota - trout

zucca - zuccini

Pasta

Spaghetti - notice ending in the letter i for plurals

Fettuccine - flat noodles

funghi - mushroooms (like the English word fungus)

porcini - wild mushrooms

vegetariana - vegetarian

Main Courses \

con - with

di - of

fegato - calves' liver

filetto - filet

fritti fried (like our word fritters)

grilia - from the grill/in the grill  - grilled

manzo - beef (think of meat

mare - sea

pepe - pepper (like texting, shorten the English word to get the Italian)

pesce - fish

risotto - rice dish

Wine

rosso - red

vino - wine

vino bianco - white wine

vino rosso - red wine

Payment

carta di credito - credit card

Useful Websites

Duolingo

duolingo.com

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Easy Italian words for your holiday, restaurant, opera, or entertainment

Italian flag.

I am enjoyig learning Italian. I am also proud of my progress. 

I am encouraged to learn new words every day on Duolingo. All this work is in preparation for a holiday to Italy in 2025. 

I am keeping lists of words which are almost the same or similar spelling and the same meaning. The technical term for thsee is cognates.

I also note on a second page those words which are completely different. On a third page I list, those which have similar spelling but confusingly have a totally different meaning.

Here are some of the easy ones, starting with the Italian on the left alphabetically, followed by the English on the left alphabetically. Note that the letter i is used for the masculine plural. A word ending in e is feminine, like the word feminine. A word ending in o is masucline singular, like Romeo.  

Italian - English

ambulanza - ambulance

amore - love (amorous)

banca - bank balcone - balcony

cattivo - evil (like catty)

differente - different

emozioni - emotions

errore - error / mistake

facile - easy

funghi - mushrooms

Germania - Germany

hotel - hotel (they also use albergo)

importante - important 

inizio - the start (like initiation and inital letter)

jk - these two letters are not used in Italian

livello - level

mappa - map melone - melon

naturale - natural

odio - I hate (like odious)

progetto - project

questione - question 

radio - radio

Spagna - Spain

telefono - telephone

universita - university (notice Italian has an accent on the a)

veloci - fast (like velocity) veranda - veranda villa - villa

vulcano - volcano Many words are used in music. Virtuoso.

wxy - these three letters are not used in Italian. But appear in borrowed words.

xilofono - xylophone. xenofobia -

zoo - zoo

Useful Websites

https://www.parlaitaliano.co.uk/50-italian-cognates-to-supercharge-your-learning/

https://www.quora.com/How-many-Italian-words-begin-with-Q

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Italian_origin

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Learn Italian Plurals - with help from the Medici family in Florence

 

I started an Italian course with Duolingo but had problems with plurals. I could follow that a word ending in o is masculine and a word ending in a was feminine. But the plural. It ends in i. I kept forgetting.

Today I solved the problem. It happened in a roundabout way. A chance surprise - there's a word for that, serendipity.

Learning Beginning with Benedict

My hop around the internet began with a search for the origin of the name Eggs Benedict. (I had written a post about breakfast eggs with smoked salmon at a kosher restaurant in London called SoYo.) 

Learning Following With Florence

From the wikipedia article I went onto Eggs Florentine, with spinach. So I then researched the origin of that, under the word Florentine in cooking.  Florentine means from the city of Florence, not a place I associate with spinach. Well, one does now. The traditional story, which is disputed, says that Eggs Forentine were supposedly introduced to the French court when Catherine de Medici of the Medici family in Florence arrived. One of her favourite, dishes, or a dish which was unusual to the locals, was called Florentine style. 

The meaning of Medici

Then I wondered about the meaning of Medici. The Medici famly were infamous. Rich, powerful. Murderous? What did their name mean?

Quite the opposite of murderous. Life-saving. Medici means doctors, the plural of medico which means a doctor. In modern English we might talk about a medic. (At least, an American would.)

Now I know that medici is plural of medico, whenever I want to think of the Italian plural, I can think of Medici. I also have the pronunciation. Emphasis in Italian of the last syllable but one.

If you have a chance to travel to Italy, you can visit the Medici palace in Florence. If you can't travel but are keen on learning Italian, you could practise every day with duolingo.

Useful Websites

duolingo.com

https://www.duolingo.com/enroll/it/en/Learn-Italian

http://www.palazzomediciriccardi.it/en/palace/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Medici

I hope this helps you. I have several more posts in this blog on learning languages.

Please save in bookmarks and send links of your favourite posts to your favourite friends and family.

Who likes Rossi, MotoGP and Formula One? Races in Malaysia, Singapore, Silverstone and Worldwide

Rossi on Ducati motobike, 2011, at Sepang race course in Malaysia.

I shall describe Moto GP, the events in Malaysia, and compare the costs of Silverstone circuit used for al types of racing in the UK, and Sepang (a town in Malaysia about five mile south of the circuit).

Problem
Rossi was at the Moto GP in Malaysia. What's Moto and what's GP? It's all a mystery to me, but I listen attentively, politely, as my family explain.

Answers
Moto GP Explained
Moto is short for a motorbike. Moto is also the Malaysian word for a motorbike.

(Malaysian, is what we call it in English. In a bookshop, asking for a dictionary, you need to ask for  Bahasa Malay, or Malay language. It's a lovely, easy language. When else might you use it? It's almost the same as Indonesian, if you want to learn a new language. As you drive through Malaysia, as I did - actually as a passenger, you can identify words on shops and signs. Learn it on Duolingo. I have posts on Malaysian.)

Back to the subject of Moto GP. For the uninitiated, British fan Trevor says:

"GP stands for Grand Prix. That's the big prize, the big race. It's a brand, holding many races in the season, the motorbike equivalent of Formula One which beloved of those who watch prototype cars, not production cars, produced or made for you and me to buy, but specifically built for the event, undergoing continuous development, within the regulations.

"If you want to see regular cars which you might buy being raced, consider the national and international Formula Ford. Those are for everybody racing the same Ford, but highly-tuned cars.

"The equivalent in the motorbike world is the (word) superbike, the sort of bike you might buy, but adjusted. You can't race a bike unless you have a BSB, which stands for British Superbike. The manufacturer, or rather the distributor, must sell a minimum of 500 bikes, so you can't make a one-off; it must be a generally available bike, a 'homologation'. The word comes from homo, meaning the same, many the same being sold.

"The bikes you or your family might buy, are unlike Rossi's bike, of which there are probably only three in the world. One with rain tyres and one spare. And each one costing a million pounds.

"It is a championship. It's not a knockout.  (Football is a knockout. So are Toastmasters International speaking contests.) Moto GP has no semi-finals, unlike football and toastmasters.

"If you fall ill, you just lose points. Rossi was riding and broke a leg in two places about two months ago. (I am writing in November 2017) and 'though fit, he missed one race, but three weeks later he was back, which is not uncommon. He lost those points, so he is now trailing Marquez. At 38, Rossi is 'old', in motorbike riding terms. He has done amazingly well, extraordinarily well.

"The winners and losers collect points, through the season, until the champion wins. The champion is currently Marquez, who has a 23 point lead. The guy who is second is another Spaniard. For Rossi to win at the end, in the last race he would have to win and Marquez would have to be further down,  twelfth in order not to win overall in the next race, and that's not very likely.

"The Spaniards have invested enormous amounts in training winners for these races.

Farewell Breakfast in Malaysia
The recent race was at Sepang, in KL Malaysia. Before driving or flying back south to Singapore, or Australia, or Europe, or the UK, or the USA, you could have breakfast at KL's airport hotel.

About Rossi
Valentino Rossi is Italian. According to Wikipedia, Rossi [ˈrossi] is an Italian surname, said to be the most common surname in Italy. Due to the diaspora, it is also very common in other countries such as the Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Switzerland, the United States and Uruguay. "Rossi" is the plural of Rosso (meaning red, in Italian), although it is argued the surname derives from another source.

That's really helpful in learning Italian. I have been learning Italian with Duolingo. At first I could not remember with o was masculine singular or plural, and whether i was singular or plural, male or female. No I just have to remember Valentino Rossi. One man called Valentino. Male singular ends in o. Many share the same surname Rossi. Or the name means redhead, many red hairs, Rossi is plural.

How do you get to see Rossi and his supporters?

See ROSSI or his bike Close-up
The stand which had completely sold out early was the Rossi stand, which was full of Rossi supporters, the sea of fans wearing Rossi outfits making a sea of yellow.

The Rossi stand is the best place to watch the race. On the turn, to make it safer, the riders have in recent years been slowed down by a bank creating a camber (road slope).

The main central grandstand gives a view in both directions, although less close to either of the adjacent turns. The circuit has many left and right turns. Look online in advance to decide where you want to sit.

The more recently built or rebuilt circuits, such as Shanghai, Sepang, Bahrain and Qatar are an improved design which enables spectators to see more of the circuit, not just one or two turns. The best place to see more at Sepang, although you are further back, is standing up on the hillside. If you go on the first day, and sometimes the second day, there may be free seating specifically permitted, or unenforced seating, giving spectators a chance to try out different viewpoints. On the final day when seats are both sold and occupied, the officials will be checking tickets carefully, so by then you need to have decided and bought seats in the stand where you want to be on the last day at Sepang and other circuits.

My family went, again, as usual, to the recent race in Malaysia. At the end of the day, about six o'clock, after the race is over, Rossi is so popular that people queue up (the Americans say line up) just to see his bike. You don't have to pay anything. You can go to the pit lane and walk past the bikes. Some of the team are there. The bikes are out but behind a barrier.

First, there's a safety briefing. Everybody was told not to run. But people still ran to be first up against the barrier to see the bikes and the team.

"The British rider, Cal Crutchlow, joked ruefully, 'You want to see Rossi, don't you!' "

Our Brit replied, encouragingly, with his English accent, "Good luck in your next race!"

Rossi is enormously popular, even though he can't win with his present points. The Malaysians want to see him. Supporters from Italy, his home country, made the trip from Europe especially to see him race.

The organizers must be glad to have him riding in the event, even though he has little chance of winning. 95,000 tickets were sold in Malaysia.

Next Trip - To Spain to Watch the last Moto GP!
The next and last race of the season is at Valencia, in Spain. It is down the coast from Barcelona (where you can see buildings by the famous architect if you want a two-centre holiday).

Comparing Prices
Malaysia lost its Formula One contract to Singapore, after events at both venues ran in parallel for a few years. "Singapore got more sponsorship, more money. It's all about money."

The last race in Formula one is Malaysia this year (or next). They got permission to be called Fi circuit. Will they be forced to rename it? This probably depends on what the contract said.

The Sepang circuit in Malaysia holds 24 hour events. There are many Asian series of car racing - and probably motor bikes races - and various classes of car racing.

The 20 or 25 fastest riders in the world have all come up through the ranks of races which you can watch at other times of the year.

The European And Other Prices
Singapore is dearer than Malaysia, very popular. The Formula one races go through the city with stands built along the route and road closures.

In Malaysia the Friday practice runs are free to watch. The riders are just getting used to the circuit, if it's their first time, or the circuit had been changed since the last major race, or even in the last month. Friday is less popular because people are at work. I suppose attracting people on the Friday is also a loss leader, and will tempt them to stay on for the rest of the event.

On Saturday it's the qualifier. After that the group is divided into two, the ten fastest riders and the ten slowest riders.

But all is not lost, at least not by everybody. In the next event, Saturday afternoon, the top two are promoted to join the top ten, so 12 compete.

But only ten go forward to the last race on Sunday.

The more expensive seats are down on the grandstand by the track. There's more than one grandstand. My family just turned up to buy tickets at the venue on Friday, and seats had already been sold on line, so some of the grandstands were already full.

The venue still had some seats at the back of the less popular grandstands.
The price was about 220 ringgit, the equivalent of about £35. You can pay more for exclusive areas and private events.
The seating stands all have different names. One is named after Rossi.
Standing room up on the hill costs only about £3-5. The ticket is for the three days, in effect two days plus the first day, the Friday, which is free.

Prices in Singapore and the UK are higher, about the same price as a theatre or opera ticket.

Compare that with the price of a ticket to watch a race at Silverstone in England. It cost about £70-75.

Meals are also cheaper in Malaysia, you could pay about £2-3 for a basic dish, although you pay a lot more for a whole steamed g a r o u p a. (Spaces inserted to thwart spell checker which prefers the more common word group.)

Check prices on the Moto GP website.

Useful Websites
You can watch a video replay of the race in Malaysia on www.motogp.com
MotoGP standings

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_MotoGP_season
Books To Buy
You can buy Valentino Rossi's Biography, What if I had never tried it? from Amazon, for yourself or as a Christmas or birthday present or just a gift for somebody else.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/

You can book tickets for next year in Malaysia online. Etickets without lanyard and ear plugs. Earlybird prices until March. Check for up to date prices and conditions:
https://www.bookmoto.com/mt-malaysia/tickets.htm?gclid=Cj0KCQjwp_DPBRCZARIsAGOZYBThSsn5XtyBFuTQLk_MNm0dr8UAwvpHPkyAb_rg6jIVgNsnhT02AeAaAkw6EALw_wcB

Travel tips
Singapore Tourist Board
visitsingacompore.com
Singapore Airlines
singaporeair.com

Event
Formula One (night)
Gardens By The Bay (day, plants, trees and giant waterfall)
Night Safari (night, animals)

Malaysia
Tourist Board
Sepang
Malaysia Airline
Twin towers and museum about its construction

Spain
Tourist Board
Barcelona
G a u d i cathedral and buildings

Italy
Tourist Board
www.italiantouristboard.co.uk
www.alitalia.com
Where to visit: Roma (Colosseum and catacombs); Florence (art gallery and bridge); Milan (La Scala opera house for opera; Football Museum opened 2017); Perugia in Umbria for cliffside Etruscan gateway and underground tunnels.

USA
Virgin Airlines (wonderful airport lounge New York and airline socks in jolly red);
www.virginatlantic.com
Harley Davidson Museum, Milwaukee, WI, USA (90 miles north of the city of Chicago, in the state of Wisconsin)
www.h-dmuseum.com
Events for Armed Forces Day Celebration May; Bike Night Thursday nights May-September; Custom bike show on Labor Day Weekend; Veterans Day Appreciation, November. (See next post.)

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.
Please share your favourite posts. See later post on Rossi and Italy.

Italian words used and misused in English

Problem
How to learn Italian fast from words you already know?
How to avoid ordering the wrong thing in an Italian restaurant?

Answers
Most English speaking people already know the Italian words al fresco, piano and latte. Here are some longer lists.

Italian words you already use:

Italian words you might misuse
Al fresco - in English we use this phrase to mean outdoors.
Latte - in English we say latte short for a long coffee with lots of milk. In Italian if you ask for Latte you get a glass of milk.

Stories
My Misunderstanding In Milan
In Milan we ordered coffees in the outdoor pedestrian street near the cathedral, and got what we thought was the wrong orders. The same thing happened in the coffee bars in and near the La Scala opera house. Looking back, I wonder whether we had used the wrong terms, or whether we misunderstood when the waiter queried our order and we nodded.

My Misunderstanding In London
When I went to a show of Italian food and drink I was offered delicious sugared almonds. I asked what they were called in Italian. The seller told me they were called Confetti. I thought that she had misunderstood or made a mistake. Even when we looked at the translations on our phones I was puzzled and sceptical. Now I am convinced that I know the truth, having read sites explaining coming misunderstandings.

ALPHABETICAL LIST English-Italian
milk - latte

ALPHABETICAL LIST Italian-English
confetti - sugared almonds
latte - milk

Conclusion
That's great. With no effort I can ask for a glass of milk and sugared almonds. Latte and confetti.

Tips
An easy to read website with each idea illustrated by a visual:
http://www.thelocal.it/galleries/culture/10-italian-words-used-differently-in-english/9
http://www.wikihow.com/Say-Thank-You-in-Italian

Author
Angela Lansbury, teacher and tutor (workshops, home tutor and Skype, teaching English, languages, public speaking.
See other posts on Italian language and places in Italy including Umbria and an Italian restaurant in Singapore on this book on blogger.com, also other posts on language in blogger.com, and posts and profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, YoutTube, Twitter, Instagram. See my books on Amazon.com and Lulu.com I also do illustrations and write comic poems. If you meet me and buy a book from me, I will sign it and on request write a motivational message or rhyming couplet, perhaps incorporating your name. Please like, follow and share my posts.

Grazie mille.

Francis of Assisi in Assisi, Umbria, Italy

St. Francis of Assisi (1181/1182–1226)
The current pope is called Pope Francis. I have a trip planned to Italy so I have been looking up famous people and places associated with those people. Today I searched for Francis of Assisi and Assisi.

Assisi is about half an hour away from Perugia, the university town in Umbria where foreign students go to learn Italian. I am learning Italian online through a website called Duolingo. (If you don't know where Perugia is, it is in the mountainous backbone of central Italy in the region of Rome.)

Everybody knows of Francis of Assisi. I associate him with the animals in the manger portrayed in Catholic churches at Christmas time. According to Wikipedia:
Saint Francis of Assisi is credited with creating the first live nativity scene in 1223.

In Assisi you can visit churches associated with the saint's place and date of birth as well as his place and date of death. I found a company which specialises in tours of Francis of Assisi.

Birthplace


Birthplace of St Francis of Assisi, in Assisi. Photo in Wikipedia - author Tetrakys - oops I'm having trouble with seeing and spelling this word today so please refer back to Wikipedia.


His burial place is a huge basilica, which, like the word cathedral, means or implies an architectural style - a basilica being a grand building, having an oblong interior with columns, usually also a curved exterior, and, like a cathedral, being a church building granted a certain status.

The Name Francis
The name Francis means French and St Francis was given the name Francis by his father who was French. The French or Franks were probably called Francs meaning free people.

In earlier centuries famous people called Francis included Sir Francis Drake.

In modern times, in England we have had comedian Frankie Howard. In America, we have singer and actor Frank Sinatra.

In England Francis is a boy's name and the equivalent for a girl in Frances. How do you remember which spelling is for the boy and which is for the girl? I is for him and e is for her.

The name Francis is popular in Europe, especially in Catholic countries where people are given a saint's name for their birthday.

The American city of San Francisco (Spanish) is St Francis.

The name St Francis in English translates into other languages, eg San Francesco (Italian).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_(given_name)

http://www.stefanorometours.com/blog/2010/01/tour-of-assisi-the-fascinating-birthplace-of-st-francis/

http://www.cicerone.co.uk/product/detail.cfm/book/626/title/the-way-of-st-francis

More information from
umbriatourism.it
I'll add photos and more information on St Francis, Umbria, Italy and learning Italian in later posts.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Please follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter. Like my posts and share them. You can see me on YouTube and read about me and my books on Amazon.com and Lulu.com