Italianpod101.Com Learn Italian with FREE Podcasts

ItalianPod101.com Learn Italian with FREE Podcasts

Newbie Lesson First Impressions Can Last a Lifetime!

Formal Italian 2 Formal English 2 1 Informal Italian 2 Informal English 2 Vocabulary 2 Grammar Points 3 Cultural Insight 4 ItalianPod101.com Learn Italian with FREE Podcasts

Formal Italian

Laura Buon giorno. John Buon giorno. Piacere di conoscerLa. Mi chiamo John Smith. Laura Piacere di conoscerLa. Mi chiamo Laura Rossi.

Formal English

Laura Good afternoon. John Good afternoon. Pleased to meet you. My name is John Smith. Laura Pleased to meet you. My name is Laura Rossi.

Informal Italian

Laura Ciao. John Ciao. Piacere di conoscerti. Mi chiamo John. Laura Piacere di conoscerti. Mi chiamo Laura.

2 Informal English Laura Hi. John Hi. Pleased to meet you. My name is John. Laura Pleased to meet you. My name is Laura.

Vocabulary Italian English Class Ciao hello, hi, bye greeting expression Buon giorno Good morning, Good day, Good greeting expression afternoon Piacere di conoscerti. Pleased to meet you. greeting expression Mi chiamo... My name is... (lit. I call myself) phrase

Vocabulary Sample Sentences

Ciao, Laura. "Hello, Laura." Buon giorno, Luca. Good day, Luca. Piacere di conoscerti. Mi chiamo John. "Pleased to meet you. My name is John." Mi chiamo Peter. My name is Peter. Mi chiamo Luigi. My name is Luigi.

Grammar Points

The Focus of This Lesson is Italian Greetings Buon giorno. Ciao. "Good Afternoon. Hello."

Ciao is the easiest and most common Italian greeting people use to say "hello" or "goodbye." You should only use this greeting with people whom you are well acquainted with, such as friends or relatives. It is common to address foreigners entering into Italy with ciao. The reason for this is that it's a friendly and easy way to greet them. Sometimes owners of casual, modern shops may greet customers with ciao as a way to keep social distances at a minimum and make talking easier and faster, thus making you feel more comfortable.

On the other hand, you may use buon giorno (also written buongiorno) with anyone, even people met 3 for the first time. Literally, buon giorno means "good day," however, you may also interpret it to mean "good morning" or "good afternoon." As a rule of thumb you can use buon giorno only during daytime-from morning until evening-or from before daybreak to before dusk. If we want to express "good morning" clearly, we may use buon mattino, but this expression is very rare. As for "good afternoon," we sometimes use buon pomeriggio.

Piacere di conoscerti, as we have seen, directly translates as:

1. "pleased to meet you" 2. "how do you do?" 3. "nice to meet you"

Note the difference between conoscerti and conoscerLa. In informal situations, you use -ti, while the use of -la is preferred for formal situations. Both of these endings refer to the occasion of meeting one

person. When meeting more people you use piacere di conoscervi regardless of the situation. We will discuss more details of their usage in future lessons.

The Focus of This Lesson is Stating Your Name Mi chiamo John. "My name is John."

Instead of mi chiamo, literally, "I call myself," we may use io sono ("I am").

Note that in the informal dialogue, it was not necessary to state one's surname-just the name was enough.

Cultural Insight

Where Will You Find The Italian Language?

Italian is the official language of Italy and San Marino, one of the official languages of Switzerland, and it is the second official language used in the Vatican City.

Italian and its dialects are widely used by Italian immigrants and their descendants. For example, in the 4 United States you would most commonly find Italian speakers in four cities: Boston, Chicago, New York City, and Philadelphia. In Canada there are large Italian-speaking communities in Montreal and Toronto, and it is the second most commonly spoken language in Australia.

Throughout the world, Italian is the fifth most taught non-native language, after English, French, and German.