Ruby2

Literally! Pre-decimalisation public toilets used to need 1d (1 old penny) in the slot on the front of the toilet door to open it! Now you probably need your Oyster card. 'I'm going for a swipe.' Will it catch on?

MarkRD

Just a tad ambiguous perhaps?

Palomar

Hi everyone! I'm trying to learn italian, and since i'm really into tv shows i was wondering about some italian shows, so i look up and find that italians are crazy about "Gomorra" (if you want to know more Gomorra – La Serie TV | Sky Atlantic ), it's about mafia and stuff like that. The big problem with Gomorra is that it's totally in Naples dialect, it's insane ! Does some one of you understand Naples dialect? Thanks

jonwel

Most Italians don't understand it either and at least the film was shown with Italian subtitles. Isn't that option provided for the series?

If you want to find out about the camorra and Neapolitan dialect, by all means persevere, but if your aim is to learn Italian I suggest you start with something more standard!

ononno

Yes, that's why I'm called 'o nonno (grandad). But I do speak a bit of Italian too.

Maybe1day

Neapolitan and Sicilian are not too bad with the odd word that catches me out, some of the very local Sicilian dialects are difficult, but the worst I have found in 30yrs in Italy were tight Ligurian and Sardinian dialects!!
To learn, watch the news and cartoons will give you that basic 500 word 'get by' vocabulary. Back in the 70s I was in Germany, I bought an 'Italian in 3 months' book and attempted to read Topolino, worked quite well but it took a little bit longer than 3 months to get me going well.
An Italian romantic connection also keeps the interest up too!

philat98

You can listen to the Naples accent every weekday night on Rai3 on "Un Posto al Sole".

ononno

Ah, but there you talking standard Italian with just a slight burr, not proper Neapolitan. For that you need local channels like Canale 21 or Televomero. Or Mario Merola films. :-)

philat98

Those boys in Franco Boschi's boxing gym have strong accents. Without subtitles I cannot understand a word.

Maybe1day

I lived and worked in Naples for 6 months, the first weeks were hilarious but you do get into it and there weren't too many misunderstandings by the end of my stay. Great place for tourists off the beaten track, you're the only tourist!

AgingHippy

Ciao, I've read all 96 pages of this thread and I just wanted to pop in and say hello to the contributors and thank you for the smiles and knowledge. (That took forever!).

I'll be stopping in and hopefully, not become a pest asking questions. I just wanted to let you know that there is someone crazy enough to read this thread, no matter how long it was. I've never done that before so you can imagine my interest was high. Thanks again for your contributions. I've learned a lot already. Ciao.

jonwel

I've just been back and re-read a lot of old posts and see that I made the same point (about the value of learning grammar) twice! Going senile, I expect. No, but probably the second time I knew I'd already posted it but thought it was in another thread / on another forum!

Pica

That word's going in the diary! When I turned up for the first time at my lovely dentist he took one look at my dishevelled person and sorted me at once. Grazie for the word.

PSG2014

Does anyone know what a Direct Debit payment is ?


PSG

Lorna at Vicenza

Addebito diretto.