Ligabue's Mondovisione: Which songs do you want to see?

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OUR NEW NAME AND ADDRESS IS VIA OPTIMAE! {www.viaoptimae.com}

Didattichiamo! will slowly be phased out, so read this post on our new site and subscribe by email to receive our latest updates.

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Ligabue's tenth album Mondovisione recently released in Italy.  Many have said it is the most "political" of all his albums but Ligabue sees it as expressing of his sentiments— something he has tried to do in all of his albums.

"This is not a political album, because even songs about being pissed off are sentimental songs"

The album has been met with positive reviews and described as da ascoltare (worth listening to)— I personally can't wait to buy the mp3 version when it becomes available through a US site (so far, I could only find an imported CD available through amazon.com) but I've been enjoying listening online in the meantime:

(Having problems with the embedded player?  Listen on grooveshark.com)

I learned a lot of Italian by listening to Italian songs in general and Ligabue's music in particular.  Going over the song titles and lyrics, there were several that peaked my interest and that I think would be interesting to discuss their meaning and translation.

Explore the song titles and their rough English translations by playing this little timed matching game:

Hint: Game displays 8 of the 14 song titles at a time, so play more than once to see them all, and improve your time! You can also "View this study set" to see them as flashcards or a list.

What do you think?  Let me know which songs interest you the most and we'll cover those first! You can use the "Ask your language questions!" form on the right to submit your vote.  [Note: 'Capo Spartivento' and 'Il suono, il brutto e il cattivo' are instrumental tracks]

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 I already covered the album's first single 'Il Sale della Terra'…in case you missed it: UPDATE: redirects you to the same post on the new site, VIA OPTIMAE

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Ligabue- Il Sale della Terra

"Il sale della terra" music video, testo in italiano and lyrics in English.

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I'm anxiously awaiting your input! 

In the meantime…

Buon ascolto!
Happy listening!

-Alex

More advanced readers may also enjoy:

Mondovisione – Luciano Ligabue: la recensione

A full, song-by-song review in Italian from lamusicarock.com.

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OUR NEW NAME AND ADDRESS IS VIA OPTIMAE! {www.viaoptimae.com}

Didattichiamo! will slowly be phased out, so read this post on our new site and subscribe by email to receive our latest updates.

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Gli aggettivi di nazionalità - The adjectives of nationality in Italian

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OUR NEW NAME AND ADDRESS IS VIA OPTIMAE! {www.viaoptimae.com}

Didattichiamo! will slowly be phased out, so read this post on our new site and subscribe by email to receive our latest updates.

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Aggettivi di nazionalità are the adjectives that specify which country a person or thing comes from.

In English the adjective of nationality for Italy is "Italian".

Giovanni comes from Italy.  He is Italian.

In Italian, the adjective of nationality for Italy (Italia) is "italiano."

Giovanni proviene dall'Italia.  È italiano.

Chances are, you've heard "italiano" before, but what about the adjectives of nationality for other countries… like Antigua and Barbuda? Kenya?  Sri Lanka?

In Italian, like in English, even if you don't know the exact adjective, you can still express this idea by using the following construction:

di (definite article)* + (paese)

of/from +  (country)

*When the preposition di (of/from) is combined with a definite article, either: il, la, l', i, le or gli they get joined together to create the articulated forms:  del, della, dell', dei, delle, degli. Whether you can simply use "di" or must use one of the articulated forms in this construction depends on the country/context.

Kasun? Lui è dello Sri Lanka.

Kasun? He's from Sri Lanka.

La squadra olimpica del Kenya è bravissima!

The olympic team from Kenya is great!

That construction works, but often it sounds better to have a single word— the appropriate adjective of nationality.  

Kasun?  Lui è singalese (anche "cingalese")

Kasun?  He's Sri Lankan.

La squadra olimpica keniota è bravissima!

The Kenyan olympic team is great!

The following is an almost complete list of the countries of the world (listed alphabetically in Italian) and their corresponding Aggettivo di nazionalità: 

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(available as a pdf on Google drive)

or

flip through the list here in Flashcard format:

Hint: you can also use the drop down menu on the bottom right hand side "Choose a Study Mode" to see the list in various learning modes and games.

There isn't always a corresponding adjective (in this case the aforementioned construction is the only option) and sometimes, more than one term is acceptable.  


Want more explanation and/or activities? Check out these sites:


Aggettivi di Nazionalità da One World Italiano
Esercizio- Aggettivi di Nazionalità da Impariamo Italiano

Mi chiamo Alex e sono americana (o statunitense!)... e tu?