Italenglish: because Italians love English

If you have ever visited Italy probably you noticed something: despite the fact Italians can't speak English, they absolutely love it. And this is why they decided to create something unique and almost exhilarating called Italianglish.

The Italenglish contains words that remind the English language and that Italians strongly believe to be English, but that don't exist in the English vocabulary or have a completely different meaning.

The first and most incredible example is relating to the Jogging. Yes, English speakers go jogging but Italians, when they won't to be sophisticated and feel international, go FOOTING. And no doubt every Italian will tell you he is absolutely sure it's an English word.  Isn't it? No??? Are you kidding me?

And despite the Italian language has a word for everything, women wear SLIPS (underpants) and BODIES ( bodysuits) while men love SPIDERS (cabriolets) and wear SMOKINGS (outfits).
We do the AUTOSTOP (hitch-hiking), we send MAILS (not e-mails), we start our career with a STAGE (internship) and we go to the cinema to watch a FILM (don't tell us you English people call it a movie, 'cause we can't believe it ...)

This means that when you talk with an Italian, it can happen that your interlocutor uses an English term but meaning something completely different from what you think or that he will use a term, sure you will understand it, when you won't have any idea of what he wants to communicate. 

Luckily for you there are English words that are now part of our vocabulary and that have the right meaning (and that we love to use instead of the Italian ones). 

So we hire managers, we participate to meetings,  we spend great week-ends, we attend to shows and we become fans, we love shopping and we are fashion, we are afraid of serial killers, we get worried for the budget, we use the computer, we are business oriented, we fight against competitors and sometimes we work part-time. We set targets, we organize the spending review, and we give feedbacks.

This will help you...if you're so lucky to find an interlocutor who can pronounce it correctly.
Obviously forget to hear these words at the plural form. We only use the singular one. Always!

Oh, the Italianglish actually made another miracle, helping creative people to invent some new words. So, if you hear that somebody "SCHEDULA un meeting" and "DELIVERA un report" it's exactly what he means: he is scheduling a meeting and delivering a report.

Confusing? Hopeless? Yes.

The solution? Use your imagination and learn Italian. That's the only thing that can save you from the Italianglish trap!

If you want t give a look to the Italian Slang we have a special section for you here!

Want to start learning Italian NOW? Click here!

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