The butcher expertly sliced and wrapped four thin cutlets from a chicken breast for a customer. I indicated by pointing that I wanted a chicken breast, too. The butcher asked, by making a karate chop gesture, if I wanted it sliced as well. "Si," I replied. "Si" quickly became my favorite word to say in Italian. I said it several more times while purchasing vegetables, and again later while shopping in a small grocery store for spices and paper goods.
When I couldn't find the salt, I looked the word for it up in my pocket phrase book. "Sale" seemed easy now that I had gained confidence with "si." I said to the store clerk, "sale?". The clerk smiled and shook her head, "no." Now I put two words together and made a longer sentence, "No sale?". "No," she insisted, speaking in a shorter sentence than mine.
Later in a different grocery store, I tried the new word again. "Sale?", I said to the young man behind the cash register. "Si," he said, and took me to the salad dressing. Feeling that I had learned the word for salt incorrectly, I said, "No, uh, salt?". "Oh, sale, si!", he replied, and brought me to the elusive sale.
9 comments:
I love packaging so the photograph of the salt box is wonderful. Thank you for sharing these slice-of-life observations - I'm looking foward to more!
Hi, Scott. I like your account of gaining conversational proficiency in Italian one word at a time. I also like the photos, particularly the packaging and the price signs at the market. Do you know the writings of Daniil Kharms, probably a kindred spirit?
Mi piace molto il tuo blog. É buono leggere y vedere del tuo viaggio a Firenze.
Language learning advice - just get some vocab and phrases down, and start pasting them together. You'll be a pro in no time!
Claire
Kali spera! Sorry, you're in Florence, not Athens.....and may i ask, how did your chicken taste?
What kind of wine did you pair with it? Have a great stay, I look forward to reading more!
Not a "word" about the gelato? Thanks for keeping me in the loop. Guess no book group for a while.
Kathy
O B A M A
Ciao Scott!
I am so glad to find you in Florence. I have enjoyed reading your postings and living vicariously through your experiences. Have you been to the main "mercato" already? If you haven't, make sure you do. It is much fun and they have the best sandwiches-for an inexpensive lunch. For gelato, Il festival del Gelato and Vivoli are great. Have one for me!
Enjoying your blog, Scott. In order to increase your Italian vocabulary, may I suggest Feb 4's New Yorker article: Letter from Italy "Beppe's Inferno, A comedian's war on crooked politics" p 24 -- Carol
Si was one of my favorite words when I was in Rome! I would just pick up all these "survival words" (Si, mi scusi, grazie, and per favore and buongiorno) on the first day and with my "words" and a big smile I survived pretty well!
Lauren P.
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