Practice Makes Perfect: Italian Conversation

By Marcel Danesi

Practice the art of conversation in Italian!

Want to strike up a conversation with a native Italian speaker but are nervous that you're not ready? Practice Makes Perfect: Italian Conversation helps you overcome that obstacle, and--before you know it--you'll be speaking comfortably in your new language.

Inside you will find realistic conversational situations, from meeting people to talking about sports to discussing current events to just having fun. With these engaging dialogues as a starting point, each unit is packed with helpful instructions on correct grammar and word usage--in addition to lots of conversation-ready phrases that will be indispensable as your fluency increases.

Of course you'll get plenty of practice, practice, practice using your new conversational skills. Each dialogue is followed by a variety of exercises that not only give you the opportunity to put new concepts into action but also encourage you to construct personalized conversations. These lessons will reassure even the most hesitant speakers that they too can achieve a confident--and spontaneous--speaking style.

Practice Makes Perfect: Italian Conversation will help you

• Talk more like a native speaker and expand your vocabulary
• Master everyday Italian expressions through numerous realistic examples
• Reinforce your new conversational skills through extensive exercises

Before you know it, you'll be confidently speaking Italian with your Italian-speaking friends--or you'll be ready to make new ones!

• Language: English
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education
• Release date: Aug 10, 2012
• ISBN: 9780071770903

Book preview

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Contents

Preface

Pronunciation guide

1    Making contact

Hellos and good-byes

Introductions

Assistance

2    Numbers, time, dates

Numbers

Time

Dates

3    Getting information

Information

Directions

On the phone and mobile devices

4    People

Describing and flirting

Character

Family relationships

5    Jobs and homes

Jobs

Job interviews

Homes

6    Daily life

At the supermarket

Shopping

Banking

7    Weather, seasons, and holidays

Weather

Seasons

Holidays

8    Leisure time

Sports

Going out

Restaurants

9    Traveling

Trains and buses

Accommodations

At the airport

10  This and that

Driving

Being emotional

Reporting and gossiping

Overall review

Glossary

Answer key

Preface

This book has one aim—to teach you how to converse in Italian and thus to get by in everyday situations. The emphasis is on how language is used in communication, not on the mechanics of the language in isolation, although there is plenty of that as well.

The book can be used by beginners, since nothing is taken for granted, or by those who have already been studying the language but would like to improve their conversation skills.

The book is made up of ten chapters. Each chapter revolves around a specific communication function and is subdivided into three themes. Each theme is constructed as follows:

Two dialogues illustrate typical conversations related to the theme. English glosses are provided to enhance comprehension. This conversational material will help you to grasp how typical conversations are carried out in Italian. There are 60 dialogues in total, and reading these dialogues will enhance your conversation skills.

Each dialogue is followed by a summary of the new vocabulary that it contains and a Memory section that allows you to check if you have learned important new words and structures.

A Language Notes section explains and expands upon the grammatical and communicative material that the dialogue introduces.

At the end of each thematic section there is an exercise section. This contains two types of activities—one that allows you to practice the new language forms and one that allows you to try out your conversation skills. There are thirty exercise sections in total, giving you ample practice!

A glossary of all the words and expressions used is provided at the end as well as an answer key to all exercises. Finally, there is an overall review section that allows you to test how much you have learned.

Here is a list of all abbreviations used in the book:

-a = corresponding feminine ending

ess. = conjugated with essere in compound tenses

f. = feminine

fam. = familiar, informal

inv. = invariable

isc = conjugated with isc in present tenses

m. = masculine

pl. = plural

pol. = polite, formal

sing. = singular

Pronunciation guide

Following are basic guidelines for pronouncing Italian words. Use these as you work your way through the book. Whenever a word that is difficult to pronounce comes up, its pronunciation will be given to you in parentheses.

Vowels

The Italian vowels are a, e, i, o, u. They are pronounced as follows:

When i and u come before or after another vowel (in the same syllable), they are pronounced instead as follows:

Single consonants

Italian has both single and double consonants. Single consonants are pronounced as follows:

Double consonants

Double consonants are not pronounced as such in English, even though there are double letters in the language. The Italian double consonants last approximately twice as long as corresponding single ones and are pronounced with more intensity. They occur between vowels or between a vowel and l or r.

Spelling peculiarities

Generally, there is a one-to-one correspondence between a sound and the letter (or letters) used to represent it. The main exceptions are as follows:

Words with a stressed final vowel are written with an accent mark on the vowel. The mark is usually grave. But in some, especially those ending in -ché, the acute accent mark may be used.

The letter h is used only in several present indicative tense forms of the verb avere to have. It is always silent.

As in English, capital letters are used at the beginning of sentences and to write proper nouns (names of people, countries, etc.). However, there are differences: the pronoun io (I), titles, months of the year, days of the week, and adjectives and nouns referring to languages and nationalities are not capitalized.

On the other hand, the polite pronoun Lei (you), and other corresponding polite forms, are capitalized.

1

Making contact

Knowing how to make contact and to take leave of people is a vital conversational skill, as is knowing how to introduce people to each other and to ask for assistance. These are the topics of Italian conversation covered in this chapter.

Hellos and good-byes

Dialogo

Here’s how two people, a man (uomo) and a woman (donna), might greet and take leave of each other formally: