An Italian Would Never Say That
Italian Usage Error #6: Thinking In English, Speaking in Italian
Ask an American to name the colors of il tricolore italiano (the Italian tricolor flag) and they'd probably respond: rosso, bianco, e verde (red, white, and green). That would be comparable to referring to the U.S. flag as: "blue, white, and red"—technically correct, but grating to most natives' ears. In fact, Italians invariably refer to their national flag as: verde, bianco, e rosso— the order, from left-to-right, in which the colors appear.
A seemingly trivial difference, but a certain linguistic dead giveaway.
The phrase: "red, white, and blue" is ingrained in Americans' linguistic DNA. It's used in marketing, movies, poems, and songs. So it's probably unavoidable to use the same formula "red, white, and [color]" for the Italian flag. These types of errors might not be egregious, but they instantly brand the speaker as a non-native.
Italian Usage Error #7: Dining in the Prison Cafeteria
Read any cooking magazine during the spring and summer, when the weather turns warm and families eat outside on terraces, decks, and porches, and there is sure to be an article about dining "al fresco." There are even restaurants throughout the United States named Al Fresco (or worse, Alfresco). On your next trip to Italy, though, when you arrive at that highly-recommended trattoria in Siena for lunch and have to decide between dining indoors versus outside on the terrace overlooking Piazza del Campo, the hostess will probably snicker if you ask to dine "al fresco." That's because, strictly speaking, the term means "in the cooler"—similar to the English slang term that means to be in jail or prison.
Instead, use the term "all'aperto" or "all'aria aperta" or even "fuori."
Other terms that English speakers tend to misuse include "il Bel Paese" when referring to Italy (it's the name of a popular Italian cheese, though). It's analogous to a native New Yorker referring to New York City as The Big Apple. They almost never utter it. Another term, commonly found in English textbooks or travelogues when referring to the Italian language, is "la bella lingua." Native Italians never use that phrase when referring to their native tongue.
Italian Usage Error #8: Neigh? Nay? No, Ne
The Italian pronoun ne is the most overlooked part of speech, probably because it can be omitted in English (but not in Italian—and old linguistic habits die hard). Get used to whinnying like a horse, and you'll sound more like a native Italian.
Italian Usage Error #9: The Early Bird Catches Fishes
Like humor, proverbs are difficult to learn in a foreign language. Oftentimes they are idiomatic, and typically reflect the culture (a preponderance of proverbs in Italian are agrarian or nautical in nature given the country's background). For example, consider the sentiment: The early bird catches the worm. The popular Italian proverb that conveys the same sentiment is: Chi dorme non piglia pesci (Who sleeps doesn't catch fishes). So transliterating from English might lead to perplexed looks.
Linguistic experts point out that "proverbiando, s'impara"—that is, by speaking and parsing out proverbs one learns about the language and about the tradition and mores of a culture.
Italian Usage Error #10: Linguistic Training Wheels
Io parlo, tu parli, lei parla...Want to immediately identify yourself as a non-native Italian speaker, even if you can conjugate verbi pronominali (pronominal verbs) in your sleep? Persist in using subject pronouns as a linguistic crutch even after learning how to conjugate Italian verbs.
Unlike in English, the use of the subject pronouns (io, tu, lui, noi, voi, loro) with the conjugated verb forms is not necessary (and considered redundant unless used for emphasis), since the verb endings identify the mood, tense, person, number, and, in some cases, gender.
Ask an American to name the colors of il tricolore italiano (the Italian tricolor flag) and they'd probably respond: rosso, bianco, e verde (red, white, and green). That would be comparable to referring to the U.S. flag as: "blue, white, and red"—technically correct, but grating to most natives' ears. In fact, Italians invariably refer to their national flag as: verde, bianco, e rosso— the order, from left-to-right, in which the colors appear.
A seemingly trivial difference, but a certain linguistic dead giveaway.
The phrase: "red, white, and blue" is ingrained in Americans' linguistic DNA. It's used in marketing, movies, poems, and songs. So it's probably unavoidable to use the same formula "red, white, and [color]" for the Italian flag. These types of errors might not be egregious, but they instantly brand the speaker as a non-native.
Italian Usage Error #7: Dining in the Prison Cafeteria
Read any cooking magazine during the spring and summer, when the weather turns warm and families eat outside on terraces, decks, and porches, and there is sure to be an article about dining "al fresco." There are even restaurants throughout the United States named Al Fresco (or worse, Alfresco). On your next trip to Italy, though, when you arrive at that highly-recommended trattoria in Siena for lunch and have to decide between dining indoors versus outside on the terrace overlooking Piazza del Campo, the hostess will probably snicker if you ask to dine "al fresco." That's because, strictly speaking, the term means "in the cooler"—similar to the English slang term that means to be in jail or prison.
Instead, use the term "all'aperto" or "all'aria aperta" or even "fuori."
Other terms that English speakers tend to misuse include "il Bel Paese" when referring to Italy (it's the name of a popular Italian cheese, though). It's analogous to a native New Yorker referring to New York City as The Big Apple. They almost never utter it. Another term, commonly found in English textbooks or travelogues when referring to the Italian language, is "la bella lingua." Native Italians never use that phrase when referring to their native tongue.
Italian Usage Error #8: Neigh? Nay? No, Ne
The Italian pronoun ne is the most overlooked part of speech, probably because it can be omitted in English (but not in Italian—and old linguistic habits die hard). Get used to whinnying like a horse, and you'll sound more like a native Italian.
Italian Usage Error #9: The Early Bird Catches Fishes
Like humor, proverbs are difficult to learn in a foreign language. Oftentimes they are idiomatic, and typically reflect the culture (a preponderance of proverbs in Italian are agrarian or nautical in nature given the country's background). For example, consider the sentiment: The early bird catches the worm. The popular Italian proverb that conveys the same sentiment is: Chi dorme non piglia pesci (Who sleeps doesn't catch fishes). So transliterating from English might lead to perplexed looks.
Linguistic experts point out that "proverbiando, s'impara"—that is, by speaking and parsing out proverbs one learns about the language and about the tradition and mores of a culture.
Italian Usage Error #10: Linguistic Training Wheels
Io parlo, tu parli, lei parla...Want to immediately identify yourself as a non-native Italian speaker, even if you can conjugate verbi pronominali (pronominal verbs) in your sleep? Persist in using subject pronouns as a linguistic crutch even after learning how to conjugate Italian verbs.
Unlike in English, the use of the subject pronouns (io, tu, lui, noi, voi, loro) with the conjugated verb forms is not necessary (and considered redundant unless used for emphasis), since the verb endings identify the mood, tense, person, number, and, in some cases, gender.