La Bella Lingua - My Love Affair With Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language

Zusatztext “A praiseworthy feature of La Bella Lingua is the way Hales peppers her narrative with hundreds of Italian words! idioms! and figures of speech—all chosen with gusto and brio and clearly translated into English—to introduce readers to the sonic and semantic seraglio that is the Italian language. A separate chapter on ‘Irreverent Italian’ highlights la parolaccia ! the earthy lexicon of invective and jocular sensuality that contemporary Italians imbibe with their mother’s milk but foreign students of Italian rarely get to savor.” —Peter D’Epiro and Mary Desmond Pinkowish! authors of Sprezzatura: 50 Ways Italian Genius Shaped the World “Dianne Hales is just about pitch perfect as she weaves the engaging story of her innamoramento with Italian! hitting the high notes of Italian culture... a lovely! touching tribute to the many fine civilizing gifts that Italy has shared with the world. Any smart traveler to Italy would want to read La Bella Lingua . It’s not only readable and engaging but informative about things not easily found in guidebooks and common tourist materials.” —Julia Conaway Bondanella & Peter Bondanella! authors and editors of The Italian Renaissance Reader! Italian Cinema ! and the Cassell Dictionary of Italian Literature “An impassioned student! Dianne Hales takes us along on her delightful pilgrimage to the speaking heart of Italy. The rhythmic beat she comes to feel and love teaches her how to live! in beautiful and idiomatic Italian! ‘a language as rich in flavors and varieties as Italian cooking.’ The reading pilgrim’s reward is this delicious feast of a book! a strong mix of cultural and spoken treasure.” —Susan Cahill! author of Desiring Italy and The Smiles of Rome Informationen zum Autor Dianne Hales  is the author of  La Passione ;  La Bella Lingua , a  New York Times  bestseller;  Mona Lisa: A Life Discovered , translated into six languages; and more than forty trade and text books, including  Just Like a Woman,   Caring for the Mind  and thirty editions of a leading college health textbook,  An Invitation to Health . The President of Italy has awarded Dianne the highest recognition the government can bestow on a foreigner: honorary knighthood, with the title of  Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella della Solidarietà Italiana  (Knight of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity), for her contributions to promoting the Italian language. Klappentext A celebration of the language and culture of Italy, La Bella Lingua is the story of how a language shaped a nation, told against the backdrop of one woman's personal quest to speak fluent Italian. For anyone who has been to Italy, the fantasy of living the Italian life is powerfully seductive. But to truly become Italian, one must learn the language. This is how Dianne Hales began her journey. In La Bella Lingua, she brings the story of her decades-long experience with the "the world's most loved and lovable language" together with explorations of Italy' s history, literature, art, music, movies, lifestyle and food in a true opera amorosa - a labor of her love of Italy. Over the course of twenty-five years, she has studied Italian through Berlitz, books, CDs, podcasts, private tutorials and conversation groups, and, most importantly, time spent in Italy. In the process the Italian language became not just a passion and a pleasure, but a passport into Italy's storia and its very soul. She invites readers to join her as she traces the evolution of Italian in the zesty graffiti on the walls of Pompeii, in Dante's incandescent cantos and in Boccaccio's bawdy Decameron. She portrays how social graces remain woven into the fabric of Italian: even the chipper "ciao," which does double duty as "hi" and "bye," reflects centuries of bella figura. And she e...

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A praiseworthy feature of La Bella Lingua is the way Hales peppers her narrative with hundreds of Italian words, idioms, and figures of speech all chosen with gusto and brio and clearly translated into English to introduce readers to the sonic and semantic seraglio that is the Italian language. A separate chapter on Irreverent Italian highlights la parolaccia, the earthy lexicon of invective and jocular sensuality that contemporary Italians imbibe with their mother s milk but foreign students of Italian rarely get to savor. Peter D Epiro and Mary Desmond Pinkowish, authors of Sprezzatura: 50 Ways Italian Genius Shaped the World

Dianne Hales is just about pitch perfect as she weaves the engaging story of her innamoramento with Italian, hitting the high notes of Italian culture...
a lovely, touching tribute to the many fine civilizing gifts that Italy has shared with the world. Any smart traveler to Italy would want to read La Bella Lingua.
It s not only readable and engaging but informative about things not easily found in guidebooks and common tourist materials. Julia Conaway Bondanella & Peter Bondanella, authors and editors of The Italian Renaissance Reader, Italian Cinema, and the Cassell Dictionary of Italian Literature

An impassioned student, Dianne Hales takes us along on her delightful pilgrimage to the speaking heart of Italy. The rhythmic beat she comes to feel and love teaches her how to live, in beautiful and idiomatic Italian, a language as rich in flavors and varieties as Italian cooking. The reading pilgrim s reward is this delicious feast of a book, a strong mix of cultural and spoken treasure. Susan Cahill, author of Desiring Italy and The Smiles of Rome

Product details

• Authors: Dianne Hales
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 20.04.2010
• EAN: 9780767927703
• ISBN: 978-0-7679-2770-3
• No. of pages: 336
• Dimensions: 132 mm x 202 mm x 17 mm
• Subject: Travel > Travelogues, traveller's tales > World, Arctic, Antarctic