Just been reading Corriere della sera online, as a way of learning a little more Italian. I can get the Google translation as well, so it's quite fun to compare what I think I understand with what it really is. Google translates literally, though, word for word, so sometimes the words don't make sense: I'm not sure how 'barista' becomes 'tom-tom' for example. But it is a painless way of learning new vocabulary. If my addiction to news can be harnessed to learn a new language, so much the better. I also have a set from the library "Perfect your Italian" which has interviews and conversations at real speed, which is very useful and stretches my knowledge. It is marketed for 'intermediate' speakers of Italian, but I think I may be safely classed as 'sub-intermediate' at the moment. The weird thing is that when I switch back to reading English, it takes a second to make sense again! There is just a little brain lag, where the brain has to renegotiate its mother-tongue.
And I got to hear Italian the other day at the local market. An Italian couple have started making and selling cheeses; while I was buying some an old guy came up and started talking to the proprietress in Italian. I don't quite know what he said, apart from the last word, 'sentiamo' which meant 'we listen'. Or perhaps 'we feel' or 'we think'. Not knowing the context, it's hard to say. But I could wish them 'Buon Natale'.
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