May 9, 2025 • 36 mins
Want to know how to say thank you in Italian? Go beyond "grazie" and learn about the many different ways to express your appreciation in Italian language and culture. Plus we revisit tipping (again) with our friend Monica who gives you the Italian hospitality perspective.
Read the full episode show notes here > untolditaly.com/272
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The Untold Italy travel podcast is an independent production. Podcast Editing, Audio Production and Website Development by Mark Hatter. Production Assistance and Content Writing by the other Katie Clarke - yes there are two of us!
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Editorial Information
The Untold Italy travel podcast is an independent production. Podcast Editing, Audio Production and Website Development by Mark Hatter. Production Assistance and Content Writing by the other Katie Clarke
Read the full episode show notes here > untolditaly.com/272
NEW! - the Untold Italy app - DOWNLOAD FOR iOS • DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID
The app is FREE to download and check out our Milan guide and general travel content. Upgrade to PREMIUM for a one time fee to access Rome, Florence, Venice, Sorrento, Cinque Terre, Amalfi Coast, Capri, Ischia, Tuscany, Lake Como, Lake Garda, Veneto, Lombardy, Campania, Basilicata and Lazio with much more to come
Support the show
Join our mailing list and get our FREE Italy trip planning checklist - subscribe here | Join us on tour: Trip schedule | Discover our Trip Planning Services | Visit our online store | Follow: Instagram • Facebook • YouTube • Italy Travel Planning Community • Online travel assistant
The Untold Italy travel podcast is an independent production. Podcast Editing, Audio Production and Website Development by Mark Hatter. Production Assistance and Content Writing by the other Katie Clarke - yes there are two of us!
Support the show
- Subscribe to our mailing list and get our FREE Italy trip planning toolkit - subscribe here
- Need help with your trip? Check out our Trip Planning Services
- Join us on tour. Browse our Trip schedule
Editorial Information
The Untold Italy travel podcast is an independent production. Podcast Editing, Audio Production and Website Development by Mark Hatter. Production Assistance and Content Writing by the other Katie Clarke
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Gratio.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Most of us know that that means thank you in Italian,
but what are some ways that we can express thanks
when we're initially As we know, a little things goes
a long way. So I'm taking another lesson in Italian
to learn some useful phrases that can be used in
different scenarios, plus some etiquette lessons too. On episode two
hundred and seventy two of the Untold Italy.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Podcast, Tawatuti and Benvenuti tu one told Italy the travel
podcast to where you go to the towns and villages, mountains,
the lakes, hills and coastlines of Bela, Italia. Each week,
your host Katie Clark takes you on a journey in
(00:43):
a search of magical landscapes, history, culture, wine, gelato, and
of course a whole lot of pasta. If you're dreaming
of Italy and planning future adventures there, you've come to
the right place.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Chiao Amici wand your no friends Commas day. How are
you doing today? I hope you're very well and I'm
ready for another little Italian language and cultural lesson with
my lovely friend Monica from Sumazura Italy, a language coaching
service that I personally use. We wanted to make an
episode for you about how to express appreciation, and we'll
get started on that in a minute. But in fact,
(01:27):
there is no better time than now to say Grootzia
and thank you to all of you our listeners for tuning.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
In each and every week. We really appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
The first episode of the Untold Italy Podcast was published
over five years ago now, and many of you have
been with us from the very start.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
And it's incredible to think about that. Sometimes some of you.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I have met in person, which has been very special.
But we also appreciate all the notes, messages and reviews
that you send. There would be no Untold Italy Podcast
if we didn't have listeners. So graat Zimia and let's
start learning about all the ways that you can express
appreciation when you visit Italy. Bena to Monica, Welcome back
(02:09):
to the Untold Italy Podcast.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Chow Katie. It's such a nice feeling to be back here.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Yes, it's always great to chat with you.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I always learned something new and I have to admit
I do love your tourernese accent.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
It's beautiful. What's been happening in your world.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Lately so many years. Actually, I just decide to do
something crazy and move back to Italy, to my hometown
for three months. So I will have an Italian summer,
so June, July and August in Italy in Piemonte mostly,
but I will travel a bit and we will meet
(02:46):
you roam as well. So that's the first big one.
And the second one is I will soon move back
to Melbourne. So after our trip, we will come and
live in Melbourne again, actually in the morning too, of Peninsula,
which is south of Melbourne, in our beautiful little house
that has a very big gun then so our kids
(03:08):
can play there and our dogs as well. So I'm
very excited about my twenty twenties five.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I know, I know, I can't believe it's almost halfway through,
and you've got so many adventures planned. And we're going
to meet each other in person for the first time,
so that's going to be great.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
And then you're moving here amazing.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yeah, and then we can they call it a podcast together,
like you can come over or I can come over,
and then we'll be in the same room, which will
be nice.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
I just had a few good ideas.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Anyway, we'll keep them to ourselves so people can tune
in and hear them later in twenty twenty five when
you're over here. But Monica, for our listeners who haven't
met you yet, can you please remind everyone of your
background and what you do.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Well. My name is Monica Katsamani borna and I now
live in Perth where I have a too dogs, two
kids and a husband. I on a little school that
is dedicated on helping students to learn Italian via personalized
programs and lessons. So it's called Sumizura sumis Italy. Sumisura
(04:17):
in Italian means Taylor made. So what we do and
what we hope we are doing is like literally Taylor.
Every lesson on our student in a way that is
quite simple, becomes natural, an appointment that students really want
to like participate. Yes, I'm doing this from twenty eighteen,
(04:41):
so it's quite a long time now and I love
it and you are one of my students, so you
probably have to tell something about we love what you
do and.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
It's it's a lot of fun and we'll talk a
bit about it at the at the end. Because it's
a different approach. Everyone learns languages differently, there's all lots
of different ways you can learn, and you just need
to find the one that works for you. And Monica
has put together a really great program where it's very
interactive and it's got an appointment that I have to
make and I have to show up and I don't
(05:14):
like letting people down.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
So for me it works really really well.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
It's been like going to the gym, but it's leaving Italian. Yeah.
I always said that. For me, it's exactly the idea is,
if I don't have a personal plaianer, I just don't
go to the gym, even if I have everything set
up and I can watch video, YouTube or everything. It's
just like it's true, like these days there is so
much where you can learn by yourself, can do apps
(05:40):
and things. But in the same time, somehow it's good to, yeah,
have a sort of a program that help you out.
And this is what we try to do, and we
try to take a bit of distance from what is
the regular school setting where you actually follow a book
that is the same for everyone.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
I really like it.
Speaker 5 (06:00):
I feel like it's custom made to me, like Sumiza.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
I always have to explain that Sumiza, it's what does
it mean, because on my Instagram account, for instance, it's
so people sometimes call me Sue because they think Sue
is my name and Musa maybe this surname. I have
this name for so long now and I don't want
to change it. In the same time, if you don't
(06:27):
know the language, you probably don't get it straight away.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Now, you know, after saying you're a thousand grats here
for the day, it can get a little bit overdone,
can't it. So when you suggested that we teach our
listeners some different ways to express appreciation in Italian, I
just thought that was such a great idea.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
So shall we dive into that?
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Yeah, of course.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I think everyone knows grazier and hopefully I've pronounced it
quite well, but I think pronouncing it can be a
little bit challenging for people.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
So I think is a matter of.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
You know, if you really want to express appreciation in
a very genuine way, it's a good idea to get
the pronunciation pretty correct because we sometimes hear people trying,
which is great, but we also want to make sure
we're actually getting the word right.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
Because I don't know what you might mean something different.
I don't know if you say wrong.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
And that's all. It's like the chance, you know. In
Italian sometimes, like in English, if you pronounce a mispronounce
a word. I always say the example about when I
ask my husband if we can change the sheet on
the bed, and you always love because I can't say
it well. So yeah, a similar in saying that if
(07:39):
you mispronounced grattia, people will understand. But what I always
say is to just try to spell it right so
people actually use it, even with me, you know, sometimes
they just write me an email and then just write
grautsy and some people misspell it. They put at chi
at the end, at see at the end grutchier. But
(08:00):
we need to remember that grazzia is spelled with that Z.
That's the most important thing. That Z in Italian is
pronounced more more like like a T s in English. Okay,
so that's the first thing I usually say, and concentrate
on that Z okay, and then pronounce very well the
last letter, which in English is a E but in
(08:23):
Italian is pronounced a very large A. Okay, do you
want to try it with me, just to do a
very good so grats? Yeah, okay. So at the start,
when you when you try to to say words I
always suggest like just cause law doesn't matter, like make
drug the world as much as you can, and train
(08:44):
your your tongue just to use it, and then more
you get confident with that word, and more you can
then say the word quickly. So I know you say
it well, but maybe it's a good exercise for a
learned listener. So if you can say with me grats yeah,
grutty very good. Yeah. So once you can say gratsyer nice,
(09:07):
you can stop here or you can maybe do some
something more, okay. In Italian we say thousand thanks, okay,
so thousand in Italian needs mill. Do you want to
try with me mill very good? So gratzier mil means
(09:28):
thank you very much, like many thanks, but we actually
say thanks thousand gal very good, so that's a little
pro Otherwise, you can say grattyer pear pair in Italiana
means four okay, So for instance, you could say gratsier
peer lachena, which is thanks for the dinner.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
Do you want to try grattier pear la chena.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Uh huh, or gratzy peir la visita. Visita is the visit,
So like if you if a tour guide take you
around and take you to visit rom for instance, or
a site. Then you can say gratia peer.
Speaker 5 (10:10):
Love visita, gratia peir love visita.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Yeah, very good and very easy to use.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
So I think you know, there's different ways we can
express gratitude, and I think thank you is like the
it's the straightforward way. But I was thinking when you
were just talking that if someone does something well and
you want to maybe praise them as well, then I
know a lot of people in Italian say brava or bravo,
you know, and that's a word that I really like
(10:39):
to use because it's an easy one to remember, I
think for me anyway, everyone, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
I think it's because when you go to theater here
often people say from the French bravo, so you applause
and then you say bravo. Important you already know, but
maybe not everyone knows the difference between brava and Bravo.
Do you know what's the difference between brav and bravo,
Katie or can you explain?
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I'll have a guy and one is for the feminine,
so brather and if if it's if you're saying it
a better woman, you say brother or a girl, and
if you're saying it a better man or boy, you
say bravo.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
To remember, is I always explain a rule like Mario
and Maria. Everyone knows that Maria is a girl and
Mario is a boy, so you think about the Maria
ends by ah, so it's brav and Mario and by all,
so it's bravo. Okay, so that's a that's a very
good one. So you could say bravo or brava in
(11:37):
situation like again theater or a show, so you plus
which is applauded or butter lemani to beat your hands,
let's say but tilemani, and then you say brava or bravo.
But you can't say the same word. For instance, if
you want to say it's good in taste similar we
(11:59):
have again two different ways to say based on if
you describe something that was good, that was feminine or
good and was masculine, do you remember how to say
it's good?
Speaker 4 (12:10):
One is simo.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Okay, perfect, that's it's very good. So you actually add
is simo at the end of bono. So if you
add is simo at the end of a world, that
becomes very In fact, you could have said as well,
very good in performance, so brava becomes bravi simo, brava bravia,
(12:36):
bonis simo okay, so that's good. We already learn other
two words bon and bonis simo. See that's for taste.
But if you want to say that something is beautiful,
like in look, we often say like, hi, beautiful, like
in English, how do you say beautiful ella?
Speaker 5 (12:56):
Perfect?
Speaker 1 (12:56):
So again we have bravo performance okay, buono taste Bela
in look okay, or if it's a boy, you will
say bello. So if you speak about Roman cities in
Italian or feminine, so you can say roma. If you
remember from another is that we actually record, it means
(13:19):
it is so roma bella or bella roma. You could
actually just say so we are describing a city, so
we can just say bela. But if you want to
say that the restaurant mascarine ill restaurante bello, so bravo
buono bello. Then there is another one, which is well,
(13:40):
when you say very well, I'm well, that's bene and
doesn't have two different things. So if you want to
say very good, very well, now, so for instance, the
dinner was very good, you can say malto malto very
orma as we say, but you can also say to
to bene for instance, all good, all well, okay, to
(14:05):
be gratzia. Even the waiter when when it comes to
the restaurant and it just comes to the table and
say to bee and you can answer, see to be
grats Yeah, okay, so it's everything good and everything.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Well, oh, that's really interesting because you know in Australia
we say all good quite a lot, don't we.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
I don't know that it's said necessarily in other English
speaking countries, So I wonder if that's come from Italian
migrants who knows, like.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Interesting, we can ask to comment maybe and then we
will know if someone actually using in their country that way. Yeah,
it is. It is quite tricky because, especially when you
learn the language, you can actually confuse a bit, like
between bravo, bon or bene. So it's just a matter
(14:52):
of like understand what is good for luke because in
English you just say good, good looking or good in
taste is all the same word when in Italian needs
different by what you are describing.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Yeah, and I think Italians are really expressive about expressing
that it's good, so they don't just say well, I
mean you can say it's good or bella or bella,
but they use extra words.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
I find a lot. You want to emphasize it, make it,
make it more. Yeah, exactly, it's very true. More more words,
and how we use the hands and how much we smile.
So there is all this topic about la bella just
to make a good appearance. So if you want to
make someone that is guessing your like taking you around
(15:43):
or is your the restaurant or the waiter, and you
want to really want to make them happy, you have
to feed their egg and to make sure that they
actually feel that they are doing a bella figura with you,
so they are actually having a good appearance on you.
If if you don't sort of smile, if you don't
make an effort, you can also do it in English,
(16:05):
doesn't matter, but it's it's so important for Italian to
have a good feedback if there is one. But if
you want to appreciate it's it's very important to use
your words, your your smile, your hands to make sure
that they do understand because people, just especially with tourists,
they do make a good effort. So it's nice to yeah,
(16:27):
do it back. For instance, when my mom travels, she
can stop saying okay, okay. So ke means what literally yeah.
In general it means what, but used in this way
like for instance, cab one, what good entaste, but it
literally means it's like in English, would you translate it
like how good? Okay, yeah, cab one. And then she
(16:51):
goes around like we're driving and we're driving around streets
in Australia, and then she starts to say, oh, kebell,
kebell constantly, and you can repeat it so many times
because somehow more you repeat it more makes the stuff
that you're seeing beautiful. So yeah, k is another good
(17:12):
little word to add before those they call adjective, the
description words. So you can say even grande grande is big.
So if you enter like in s. Peter Basilica di
San Pietro, you actually will be like quite like impressed
about how big it is. So you can say just okay,
(17:35):
grand and it does it does make sense, So it
does make the feeling this using this ke if you
just want to say how that was so good, keep
one or no or a pasta. You'll really make people
happy if you if they hear you saying that.
Speaker 5 (17:56):
Okay, I've got to confess now.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
I've been going to live for decades and you just
explained something I think really fundamental about the Italian psyche,
which I you know, I notice people saying it, but
I didn't know why. And what you're saying is that
people like they're looking for that feedback. You know, they're
showing their appreciation to you if they're enjoying it too.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
It is really important. Imagine how much effort. Yeah, like
especially for job like in restaurant. It's a heavy job,
like I was a wait when I was studying, and
you just stand for many hours. The system is not
really set up like maybe in Australia, for instance, where
you do eight hours. If you're a waiter, maybe you
(18:39):
do eight hours and then you break for a bit
and then you start again and then you do other
six hours. It's a long time, long hours. So if
you have someone in front of you that just show appreciation,
you just feel better, like it just make your life
like you feel like you're doing something right. And we
care so much about this bela fig I always say
(19:01):
in Italy, for instance, if you want to have even
in business. So the first stuff you say is like
oh cabevis tito no, how beautiful dress. And then people
you're noticed straight away it's like oh really, and then
they change, they change attitude like from the start, so
(19:23):
it is very important. Oh I love it.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
This is so good because I think in Australia maybe,
and I don't know in other countries so much, but
I know here like you probably wouldn't say it unless
you really meant it, you know, you know, I'm not
sure people.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
Really mean it.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
But it's like, you know, you wouldn't think to lead
with those compliments. But now I know what I'm going
to be dropping compliments left right in senti.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
Because yeah, that's so good.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
I just wow, I love all these cultural differences. I'm
going to try it with my husband tonight and see.
Speaker 5 (19:56):
How that works.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
Being Italian of Italian background, and you never know.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Okay, you can start to say to him, that is,
you can say, oh ke Bell, look, you say, oh
you know how beautiful you are today? Maybe he will
just do the dishes and take out a rubbish without even.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
You to ask.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
So just started that. It's interesting. It's funny that you
say about Australia. I feeling in Australia that there is
something very fun and different. It's when you enter in
a shop and people ask them, Hi, how are you
doing or how is your day?
Speaker 6 (20:30):
You know?
Speaker 1 (20:31):
And then I remember the start I actually was answering.
I was like, oh, yeah, I'm good, how were you?
Speaker 6 (20:35):
Like? You know.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
But it's just a way to say in Australia, especially
if you're in the cash here and just paying, people
just say this sentence when actually in Italy if people
will ask, it is because they want to know. So yeah,
it's cultural wise, is it is? So when we enter,
for instance, in a shop, you probably instead of saying
(20:58):
how you doing or how are you today, you will
just say you speak about the weather like you can say, oh,
caldo again k is used a lot now Kaldo means hot?
How hot is today? You know? Or oh kiss, how
big sun like? Which is like a beautiful day you know?
Or a k pisraining? Kp your jaw? Or kornata what
(21:22):
a day?
Speaker 6 (21:23):
You know?
Speaker 1 (21:23):
A beautiful day. It can be actually negative as well,
if you say it's in a bad way like I
love it.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
You can learn all the words and then if you
don't know the context then it's not as as effective. Sometimes, okay,
you mentioned hand expressions as well. How how do we
use hands in Italian.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
To risk creditude? Pointing it's not a bad like and
my husband I always say, why you're always pointing things?
So pointing and showing what you like. No, it's good
because again when you don't know another language too much,
then will help you. And then yeah, I was just
(22:08):
saying there is for instance one or when it's something's
very good, you take your index and then you just
put it on your cheek and then you turn it
turn up and down, up and down like this, and
that means that was very good. So yeah, there are
little things that people say without even realizing. Yeah, using
(22:29):
using hands is it's fun. There are lots of video
YouTube that people maybe want to go and explore about Italian.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
The more expressive the hands, the more appreciation, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
And yeah, and then if it's something speak, it's just
offen your arm, hands march or like, so just using
your hands literally freely how you will think to use them,
that will will help your communication and show appreciation in general. Yeah,
shake hands good, like a good shake hand is important
(23:04):
and not like a soft one. People maybe like if
you have that really really good day with you know,
a private tour guide or whatever. You cannot even hug
at the end and all like two kisses and a hug.
It's it's nice. It depends how is the feeling between
you and the other person. Don't do it if you
feel it forced. But if you feel like, oh that
(23:25):
was so nice and I will miss you even if
it was just we met just a d for a day,
this is something we can do. Like, don't be scared
of give a double kiss or a good shake hand.
Speaker 5 (23:37):
If you're going to do the double kiss, though, which
cheek do you go for?
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Because I always get this wrong because I've got French
relatives and they do the other side.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
So my head got towards the left.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Okay, we can see each other. We're just cracky, and
I think that's nice. Italians are very affectionate, aren't they.
So the more that you're showing appreciation, the more you're
probably going to get back to. I think, what about
if some of you I really want to say thank
you for your help, how would we say that?
Speaker 1 (24:03):
The sentence is actually a bit longer, So maybe in
again in the show notes we can write that down.
But it's grati peer layoto, which is thanks for pair.
We use it before the help LAYOUTO, graper LAYOUTO. Or
you could say grazy peer if it was a visit
(24:24):
tour guy gra la visita or grat peer bella giornata
the beautiful day.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Hmm I like that one.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Ye, so Gray peer is thank you for and then
you can if you don't know, you can just translate
to what you need to say, thanks for but yeah Gray,
and then you add.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Now, I'm going to ask you this question because we
do have a lot of different cultures on this call,
and there's a lot of confusion. But I want to
hear it from you, someone who's Italian and who has
worked in the hospitality industry. A lot of people like
to show appreciation and three tipping or they think that
they might need to tip.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
How does it work in Italy? Okay? So I will
say it depends where you are. If you're in a
coffee shop and the coffee was great and the service
was nice quick, you really enjoy. If the bill was
five euro and seventy cents, yeah, just just put the
thirty cents in the jug that is in front of
(25:25):
you at the till that is enough. If you might
sit down. Let's say the cafe or a restaurant, and
you have a longer service, then you don't have to tip.
It's not mandatory. It's not like in America where you
have to. In Italy, yeah, there is no rules that
says that you have to do tip. If you sort
of think that the service was average normal, maybe you don't.
(25:48):
You also decide you can decide no, I'm not tipping.
It's fine, I'll just pay whatever I need to pay.
Or if it was if you think it was like
extremely overpriced, then yeah, you can also not tipping. Remember
one thing, even if it was overpriced. So even if
you go in a very nice restaurant, you have to
remember that the waiter will not actually earn much money.
(26:10):
And also they will do lots of hours and they
must all the time like students. And if you receive
a very good service, it's always good to just leave
a tip to the waiter. So I always say, just
have some cash in it and then give it directly
to the person. Or if it's all the restaurant, then
(26:32):
you can put on them whatever you pay. But if
you really appreciate one person, then yeah, just give a
tip to the person's and the amount of money is
really based on how you feel. Back when I was
the waiters, I usually got like five ten yeuro. But
when I work in very high level restaurant sometimes the
(26:55):
people were tipping quite a lot and we were really happy.
And I think when you receive a tip and you
keep receiving tips, you again you know you're doing a
great job and you're actually motivated to do even more.
People will be more keen to that kind of job
because they know that somehow you can round up your
(27:17):
salary with tips. So yeah, I always say, yeah, really
think about what kind of service you receive and if
you really enjoy Yeah, why not if you can, why
not living a tip? Even if I'manda Toy, Yeah, okay,
thank you.
Speaker 5 (27:36):
And what about if we go into someone's house and
we want to bring something up.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
We always also get a lot of questions on our
Facebook group about you know, what should we bring? And
I find it really interesting and I was saying to
Monica before when we're coming from Australia, there's it's really
cool because we've got all that animals are so cute.
If you're going to visit kids and things, you can
bring like a small soft toy koala or a plush
(28:00):
or something like that, and people love that love and
love even we have that clip on once.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
I don't know, see no exactly.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
I think what's good about that is it's super local
and it's hyper local, so it's not something that's really generic.
Like they really love something that's related to where you
live and about your country or your town or something
like that.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Yeah, correct, Yeah, it's nice. I mean if it's the
last minute things you can always you know, buy flowers
or whatever you'll do when you even when you are
in your country. But if you can bring something from
like where you live, I think people really really appreciate
exactly local things that I think my favorite thing when
(28:42):
I go and visit my friends now whether they are
kids or not, I just bring books. If they adult,
I take photobooks of where I live that are beautiful
photobooks of Australia with There is one book it's called
Places where We Swim and there are all these beautiful
photos of Australian beaches and yeah, it's very nice and
(29:02):
same for the kids, you know, like you have the
Australian animals and so that is something I think people
really appreciate. If they are into wine, just bring a
good bottle of wine from where you're from. That could
be another option or local specialty like let's say again
in Australia, maybe macademia or yeah, it depends where you
(29:23):
are from, something very local of your area. It is
really appreciate and it's good to go again with something
in your hand because most of the time when you
go and visit some Italian, even if they offer already dinner,
they might give you stuff to drink home anyway, So
if you don't, if you're right with nothing in your hands,
(29:44):
then you will feel a bit like guilty. The other
way is sending something. Yeah, my mom sometimes from Italy
sends something like to our Australian friend via post, and
that's something if you can't carry it too much, just yeah,
something to think about, even a beautiful card with yeah
the landscape. It's also also opened up conversations so you
(30:08):
can speak about your place, and especially if they Italian.
Unfortunately not all the Italian travels so much, so yeah,
it's good for them.
Speaker 5 (30:16):
I'm going to bring a photo book of spiders.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
Joking. Everyone thinks, oh we have so not really we don't.
I haven't seen a spider for years.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
I don't know what everyone's talking about anyway, Yeah, it is,
it is true. Like I don't know if you saw.
There was election in Australia just two days ago, and
it's super funny because every Italian newspaper published a photos
of Australian people going and vote in their swimmers. They
(30:50):
were in Bodai Beach and then everyone called me and says,
this is how you go and vote. Never really were
just few people that decided to make it fun and
got ideas. But this is like every newspaper in Italy
published this, So it's some stereotype. Can be quite a
(31:11):
bed like in every country, speaking about every country. So yeah,
if you want to promote your place, just choose. Well
what you're going to bring, Well.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
You told me you bought veggimie, so that's a very
local Australian thing. And every kid in Australia loves veggimie
because we grew up with it and it's what we have.
Speaker 4 (31:31):
It's like a sounds disgusting.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
It's a yeast based extract spread and if it's black
and the color is exactly like or almost like Natella,
So people actually when they decide to spread on top
of bread that they just put a thick layer and
think that this is going to be sweet and yeah
it's not like this. Yeah, it's a fair food is
(31:55):
like if your friends are in Italy, they really into
food and they want to experiment, even just something fun, ladies,
that could be good and just explain how to use
it and they might gonna like it, who knows.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
I think anything local is great.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
And if you're from America, I know people love you know,
getting the baseball caps and things like that, like so.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
That's a really great way to show appreciation. Yeah, or
basketball things and yeah, especially if they're kids, they just
love mbah.
Speaker 5 (32:26):
Yeah yeah, I think, oh I love this. I think
we all need to do a better job of showing appreciation.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
So I'm true appreciation to you and say, multipleny, this
has been a great but good really.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Another band I can say gras means thanks to you.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
I love it. But I do think my favorite word
is born is simil because you do get to say
that a lot just sounds well yeah, and the roles,
well there are nominee are in there. So I like
the way you say ask.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
I have goals about saying us where you do anyway, now, Marica,
for anyone that wants to stay in touch with you
and maybe get someone to one tuition with one of
your teachers, how can they do that?
Speaker 1 (33:12):
A'l suggest just to jump on my website and book
a meet and great directly with me is a free
chat that I'm happy to have with anyone. And yeah,
we can just chat about how we can customize and
we can learn some Italian or a lot of Italian
based on your goal and what's your feeling at the moment.
So that is a good starting point if you travel
(33:34):
to Italy soon. We have these courses called four Weeks
to Italy, so is an intensive course the last four
weeks and give you all these tips that you know
we were already spoke, a bit of what we already
spoke and a bit definitely more and again has our
one to one tuition including that feel generous as always
(33:58):
with you, Katie, so different cent of discount on the
four weeks to Italy course or on the first four
weeks of our program that is called Sumisura. But anyway,
if you feel like just to have a chat and
to see and discuss your goals.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Happy to hear from you, amazing. Well, this has been
a lot of fun. Okay, de vetimento, but I love
chatting with you, Monica, and I can't wait to see
you in Italy and I can't.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
Wait for you to move back to Melbourne so we
can hang out for more.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Oh yes, we'll be good. That will be very good.
So yeah, thanks again for having me here. I'll be
here always, so I'm always happy to speak with you.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Now, for all of you listening, I am doing lessons
with one of Monica's teachers, and it's a very creative
and hands on program with lots of practicing using real
life examples, which I think makes all the difference. I
was doing one lesson a week up until now, and
I've just switched over to doing too because I am
really very determined to get much much better before I
go over there in a few weeks. I have tried
(35:08):
lots of different methods and honestly dip in and out
of several including online platforms like the one that my
friend Michelle from Intrepid Italian offers to as I really
think you have to immerse your brain and try lots
of different things to make the language stick. There's no
one sized Fitzal, so just give it a go and
you'll be amazed at what you can achieve. If you
are interested in speaking with a teacher and getting some
(35:30):
direct Italian language coaching tailored to your needs, you can
find all Monica's details in our website show notes at
Untold Italy dot com forward slash two seven two for
episode two hundred and seventy two. We've also added in
the generous office she mentioned for our listeners, so you'll
have some additional motivation to get speaking Italian. Garazia and Kora.
(35:51):
Thanks again to all our wonderful listeners for your ongoing
support of Untold Italy. I really do hope you enjoyed
today's show, and if you did, then it would be
amaze if you gave us a rating or review in
your favorite podcast app, and that way we can reach
more Italy travel lovers just like you. Next week on
Untold Italy, we're heading up north to south to role
for a delicious look at the food culture there.
Speaker 5 (36:13):
But until then, it's.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
Chow for now.
Speaker 6 (36:17):
The Untold Italy podcast is an independent production podcast editing,
audio production and website development by Mark Hatter Production assistance
and content writing by the other kJ Clark. Yes, there
are two of us. For more information about untold Italy,
please visit untold Italy dot com.
Gratio.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Most of us know that that means thank you in Italian,
but what are some ways that we can express thanks
when we're initially As we know, a little things goes
a long way. So I'm taking another lesson in Italian
to learn some useful phrases that can be used in
different scenarios, plus some etiquette lessons too. On episode two
hundred and seventy two of the Untold Italy.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Podcast, Tawatuti and Benvenuti tu one told Italy the travel
podcast to where you go to the towns and villages, mountains,
the lakes, hills and coastlines of Bela, Italia. Each week,
your host Katie Clark takes you on a journey in
(00:43):
a search of magical landscapes, history, culture, wine, gelato, and
of course a whole lot of pasta. If you're dreaming
of Italy and planning future adventures there, you've come to
the right place.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Chiao Amici wand your no friends Commas day. How are
you doing today? I hope you're very well and I'm
ready for another little Italian language and cultural lesson with
my lovely friend Monica from Sumazura Italy, a language coaching
service that I personally use. We wanted to make an
episode for you about how to express appreciation, and we'll
get started on that in a minute. But in fact,
(01:27):
there is no better time than now to say Grootzia
and thank you to all of you our listeners for tuning.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
In each and every week. We really appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
The first episode of the Untold Italy Podcast was published
over five years ago now, and many of you have
been with us from the very start.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
And it's incredible to think about that. Sometimes some of you.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I have met in person, which has been very special.
But we also appreciate all the notes, messages and reviews
that you send. There would be no Untold Italy Podcast
if we didn't have listeners. So graat Zimia and let's
start learning about all the ways that you can express
appreciation when you visit Italy. Bena to Monica, Welcome back
(02:09):
to the Untold Italy Podcast.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Chow Katie. It's such a nice feeling to be back here.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Yes, it's always great to chat with you.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I always learned something new and I have to admit
I do love your tourernese accent.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
It's beautiful. What's been happening in your world.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Lately so many years. Actually, I just decide to do
something crazy and move back to Italy, to my hometown
for three months. So I will have an Italian summer,
so June, July and August in Italy in Piemonte mostly,
but I will travel a bit and we will meet
(02:46):
you roam as well. So that's the first big one.
And the second one is I will soon move back
to Melbourne. So after our trip, we will come and
live in Melbourne again, actually in the morning too, of Peninsula,
which is south of Melbourne, in our beautiful little house
that has a very big gun then so our kids
(03:08):
can play there and our dogs as well. So I'm
very excited about my twenty twenties five.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I know, I know, I can't believe it's almost halfway through,
and you've got so many adventures planned. And we're going
to meet each other in person for the first time,
so that's going to be great.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
And then you're moving here amazing.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yeah, and then we can they call it a podcast together,
like you can come over or I can come over,
and then we'll be in the same room, which will
be nice.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
I just had a few good ideas.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Anyway, we'll keep them to ourselves so people can tune
in and hear them later in twenty twenty five when
you're over here. But Monica, for our listeners who haven't
met you yet, can you please remind everyone of your
background and what you do.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Well. My name is Monica Katsamani borna and I now
live in Perth where I have a too dogs, two
kids and a husband. I on a little school that
is dedicated on helping students to learn Italian via personalized
programs and lessons. So it's called Sumizura sumis Italy. Sumisura
(04:17):
in Italian means Taylor made. So what we do and
what we hope we are doing is like literally Taylor.
Every lesson on our student in a way that is
quite simple, becomes natural, an appointment that students really want
to like participate. Yes, I'm doing this from twenty eighteen,
(04:41):
so it's quite a long time now and I love
it and you are one of my students, so you
probably have to tell something about we love what you
do and.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
It's it's a lot of fun and we'll talk a
bit about it at the at the end. Because it's
a different approach. Everyone learns languages differently, there's all lots
of different ways you can learn, and you just need
to find the one that works for you. And Monica
has put together a really great program where it's very
interactive and it's got an appointment that I have to
make and I have to show up and I don't
(05:14):
like letting people down.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
So for me it works really really well.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
It's been like going to the gym, but it's leaving Italian. Yeah.
I always said that. For me, it's exactly the idea is,
if I don't have a personal plaianer, I just don't
go to the gym, even if I have everything set
up and I can watch video, YouTube or everything. It's
just like it's true, like these days there is so
much where you can learn by yourself, can do apps
(05:40):
and things. But in the same time, somehow it's good to, yeah,
have a sort of a program that help you out.
And this is what we try to do, and we
try to take a bit of distance from what is
the regular school setting where you actually follow a book
that is the same for everyone.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
I really like it.
Speaker 5 (06:00):
I feel like it's custom made to me, like Sumiza.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
I always have to explain that Sumiza, it's what does
it mean, because on my Instagram account, for instance, it's
so people sometimes call me Sue because they think Sue
is my name and Musa maybe this surname. I have
this name for so long now and I don't want
to change it. In the same time, if you don't
(06:27):
know the language, you probably don't get it straight away.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Now, you know, after saying you're a thousand grats here
for the day, it can get a little bit overdone,
can't it. So when you suggested that we teach our
listeners some different ways to express appreciation in Italian, I
just thought that was such a great idea.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
So shall we dive into that?
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Yeah, of course.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I think everyone knows grazier and hopefully I've pronounced it
quite well, but I think pronouncing it can be a
little bit challenging for people.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
So I think is a matter of.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
You know, if you really want to express appreciation in
a very genuine way, it's a good idea to get
the pronunciation pretty correct because we sometimes hear people trying,
which is great, but we also want to make sure
we're actually getting the word right.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
Because I don't know what you might mean something different.
I don't know if you say wrong.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
And that's all. It's like the chance, you know. In
Italian sometimes, like in English, if you pronounce a mispronounce
a word. I always say the example about when I
ask my husband if we can change the sheet on
the bed, and you always love because I can't say
it well. So yeah, a similar in saying that if
(07:39):
you mispronounced grattia, people will understand. But what I always
say is to just try to spell it right so
people actually use it, even with me, you know, sometimes
they just write me an email and then just write
grautsy and some people misspell it. They put at chi
at the end, at see at the end grutchier. But
(08:00):
we need to remember that grazzia is spelled with that Z.
That's the most important thing. That Z in Italian is
pronounced more more like like a T s in English. Okay,
so that's the first thing I usually say, and concentrate
on that Z okay, and then pronounce very well the
last letter, which in English is a E but in
(08:23):
Italian is pronounced a very large A. Okay, do you
want to try it with me, just to do a
very good so grats? Yeah, okay. So at the start,
when you when you try to to say words I
always suggest like just cause law doesn't matter, like make
drug the world as much as you can, and train
(08:44):
your your tongue just to use it, and then more
you get confident with that word, and more you can
then say the word quickly. So I know you say
it well, but maybe it's a good exercise for a
learned listener. So if you can say with me grats yeah,
grutty very good. Yeah. So once you can say gratsyer nice,
(09:07):
you can stop here or you can maybe do some
something more, okay. In Italian we say thousand thanks, okay,
so thousand in Italian needs mill. Do you want to
try with me mill very good? So gratzier mil means
(09:28):
thank you very much, like many thanks, but we actually
say thanks thousand gal very good, so that's a little
pro Otherwise, you can say grattyer pear pair in Italiana
means four okay, So for instance, you could say gratsier
peer lachena, which is thanks for the dinner.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
Do you want to try grattier pear la chena.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Uh huh, or gratzy peir la visita. Visita is the visit,
So like if you if a tour guide take you
around and take you to visit rom for instance, or
a site. Then you can say gratia peer.
Speaker 5 (10:10):
Love visita, gratia peir love visita.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Yeah, very good and very easy to use.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
So I think you know, there's different ways we can
express gratitude, and I think thank you is like the
it's the straightforward way. But I was thinking when you
were just talking that if someone does something well and
you want to maybe praise them as well, then I
know a lot of people in Italian say brava or bravo,
you know, and that's a word that I really like
(10:39):
to use because it's an easy one to remember, I
think for me anyway, everyone, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
I think it's because when you go to theater here
often people say from the French bravo, so you applause
and then you say bravo. Important you already know, but
maybe not everyone knows the difference between brava and Bravo.
Do you know what's the difference between brav and bravo,
Katie or can you explain?
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I'll have a guy and one is for the feminine,
so brather and if if it's if you're saying it
a better woman, you say brother or a girl, and
if you're saying it a better man or boy, you
say bravo.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
To remember, is I always explain a rule like Mario
and Maria. Everyone knows that Maria is a girl and
Mario is a boy, so you think about the Maria
ends by ah, so it's brav and Mario and by all,
so it's bravo. Okay, so that's a that's a very
good one. So you could say bravo or brava in
(11:37):
situation like again theater or a show, so you plus
which is applauded or butter lemani to beat your hands,
let's say but tilemani, and then you say brava or bravo.
But you can't say the same word. For instance, if
you want to say it's good in taste similar we
(11:59):
have again two different ways to say based on if
you describe something that was good, that was feminine or
good and was masculine, do you remember how to say
it's good?
Speaker 4 (12:10):
One is simo.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Okay, perfect, that's it's very good. So you actually add
is simo at the end of bono. So if you
add is simo at the end of a world, that
becomes very In fact, you could have said as well,
very good in performance, so brava becomes bravi simo, brava bravia,
(12:36):
bonis simo okay, so that's good. We already learn other
two words bon and bonis simo. See that's for taste.
But if you want to say that something is beautiful,
like in look, we often say like, hi, beautiful, like
in English, how do you say beautiful ella?
Speaker 5 (12:56):
Perfect?
Speaker 1 (12:56):
So again we have bravo performance okay, buono taste Bela
in look okay, or if it's a boy, you will
say bello. So if you speak about Roman cities in
Italian or feminine, so you can say roma. If you
remember from another is that we actually record, it means
(13:19):
it is so roma bella or bella roma. You could
actually just say so we are describing a city, so
we can just say bela. But if you want to
say that the restaurant mascarine ill restaurante bello, so bravo
buono bello. Then there is another one, which is well,
(13:40):
when you say very well, I'm well, that's bene and
doesn't have two different things. So if you want to
say very good, very well, now, so for instance, the
dinner was very good, you can say malto malto very
orma as we say, but you can also say to
to bene for instance, all good, all well, okay, to
(14:05):
be gratzia. Even the waiter when when it comes to
the restaurant and it just comes to the table and
say to bee and you can answer, see to be
grats Yeah, okay, so it's everything good and everything.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Well, oh, that's really interesting because you know in Australia
we say all good quite a lot, don't we.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
I don't know that it's said necessarily in other English
speaking countries, So I wonder if that's come from Italian
migrants who knows, like.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Interesting, we can ask to comment maybe and then we
will know if someone actually using in their country that way. Yeah,
it is. It is quite tricky because, especially when you
learn the language, you can actually confuse a bit, like
between bravo, bon or bene. So it's just a matter
(14:52):
of like understand what is good for luke because in
English you just say good, good looking or good in
taste is all the same word when in Italian needs
different by what you are describing.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Yeah, and I think Italians are really expressive about expressing
that it's good, so they don't just say well, I
mean you can say it's good or bella or bella,
but they use extra words.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
I find a lot. You want to emphasize it, make it,
make it more. Yeah, exactly, it's very true. More more words,
and how we use the hands and how much we smile.
So there is all this topic about la bella just
to make a good appearance. So if you want to
make someone that is guessing your like taking you around
(15:43):
or is your the restaurant or the waiter, and you
want to really want to make them happy, you have
to feed their egg and to make sure that they
actually feel that they are doing a bella figura with you,
so they are actually having a good appearance on you.
If if you don't sort of smile, if you don't
make an effort, you can also do it in English,
(16:05):
doesn't matter, but it's it's so important for Italian to
have a good feedback if there is one. But if
you want to appreciate it's it's very important to use
your words, your your smile, your hands to make sure
that they do understand because people, just especially with tourists,
they do make a good effort. So it's nice to yeah,
(16:27):
do it back. For instance, when my mom travels, she
can stop saying okay, okay. So ke means what literally yeah.
In general it means what, but used in this way
like for instance, cab one, what good entaste, but it
literally means it's like in English, would you translate it
like how good? Okay, yeah, cab one. And then she
(16:51):
goes around like we're driving and we're driving around streets
in Australia, and then she starts to say, oh, kebell,
kebell constantly, and you can repeat it so many times
because somehow more you repeat it more makes the stuff
that you're seeing beautiful. So yeah, k is another good
(17:12):
little word to add before those they call adjective, the
description words. So you can say even grande grande is big.
So if you enter like in s. Peter Basilica di
San Pietro, you actually will be like quite like impressed
about how big it is. So you can say just okay,
(17:35):
grand and it does it does make sense, So it
does make the feeling this using this ke if you
just want to say how that was so good, keep
one or no or a pasta. You'll really make people
happy if you if they hear you saying that.
Speaker 5 (17:56):
Okay, I've got to confess now.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
I've been going to live for decades and you just
explained something I think really fundamental about the Italian psyche,
which I you know, I notice people saying it, but
I didn't know why. And what you're saying is that
people like they're looking for that feedback. You know, they're
showing their appreciation to you if they're enjoying it too.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
It is really important. Imagine how much effort. Yeah, like
especially for job like in restaurant. It's a heavy job,
like I was a wait when I was studying, and
you just stand for many hours. The system is not
really set up like maybe in Australia, for instance, where
you do eight hours. If you're a waiter, maybe you
(18:39):
do eight hours and then you break for a bit
and then you start again and then you do other
six hours. It's a long time, long hours. So if
you have someone in front of you that just show appreciation,
you just feel better, like it just make your life
like you feel like you're doing something right. And we
care so much about this bela fig I always say
(19:01):
in Italy, for instance, if you want to have even
in business. So the first stuff you say is like
oh cabevis tito no, how beautiful dress. And then people
you're noticed straight away it's like oh really, and then
they change, they change attitude like from the start, so
(19:23):
it is very important. Oh I love it.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
This is so good because I think in Australia maybe,
and I don't know in other countries so much, but
I know here like you probably wouldn't say it unless
you really meant it, you know, you know, I'm not
sure people.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
Really mean it.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
But it's like, you know, you wouldn't think to lead
with those compliments. But now I know what I'm going
to be dropping compliments left right in senti.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
Because yeah, that's so good.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
I just wow, I love all these cultural differences. I'm
going to try it with my husband tonight and see.
Speaker 5 (19:56):
How that works.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
Being Italian of Italian background, and you never know.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Okay, you can start to say to him, that is,
you can say, oh ke Bell, look, you say, oh
you know how beautiful you are today? Maybe he will
just do the dishes and take out a rubbish without even.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
You to ask.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
So just started that. It's interesting. It's funny that you
say about Australia. I feeling in Australia that there is
something very fun and different. It's when you enter in
a shop and people ask them, Hi, how are you
doing or how is your day?
Speaker 6 (20:30):
You know?
Speaker 1 (20:31):
And then I remember the start I actually was answering.
I was like, oh, yeah, I'm good, how were you?
Speaker 6 (20:35):
Like? You know.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
But it's just a way to say in Australia, especially
if you're in the cash here and just paying, people
just say this sentence when actually in Italy if people
will ask, it is because they want to know. So yeah,
it's cultural wise, is it is? So when we enter,
for instance, in a shop, you probably instead of saying
(20:58):
how you doing or how are you today, you will
just say you speak about the weather like you can say, oh,
caldo again k is used a lot now Kaldo means hot?
How hot is today? You know? Or oh kiss, how
big sun like? Which is like a beautiful day you know?
Or a k pisraining? Kp your jaw? Or kornata what
(21:22):
a day?
Speaker 6 (21:23):
You know?
Speaker 1 (21:23):
A beautiful day. It can be actually negative as well,
if you say it's in a bad way like I
love it.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
You can learn all the words and then if you
don't know the context then it's not as as effective. Sometimes, okay,
you mentioned hand expressions as well. How how do we
use hands in Italian.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
To risk creditude? Pointing it's not a bad like and
my husband I always say, why you're always pointing things?
So pointing and showing what you like. No, it's good
because again when you don't know another language too much,
then will help you. And then yeah, I was just
(22:08):
saying there is for instance one or when it's something's
very good, you take your index and then you just
put it on your cheek and then you turn it
turn up and down, up and down like this, and
that means that was very good. So yeah, there are
little things that people say without even realizing. Yeah, using
(22:29):
using hands is it's fun. There are lots of video
YouTube that people maybe want to go and explore about Italian.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
The more expressive the hands, the more appreciation, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
And yeah, and then if it's something speak, it's just
offen your arm, hands march or like, so just using
your hands literally freely how you will think to use them,
that will will help your communication and show appreciation in general. Yeah,
shake hands good, like a good shake hand is important
(23:04):
and not like a soft one. People maybe like if
you have that really really good day with you know,
a private tour guide or whatever. You cannot even hug
at the end and all like two kisses and a hug.
It's it's nice. It depends how is the feeling between
you and the other person. Don't do it if you
feel it forced. But if you feel like, oh that
(23:25):
was so nice and I will miss you even if
it was just we met just a d for a day,
this is something we can do. Like, don't be scared
of give a double kiss or a good shake hand.
Speaker 5 (23:37):
If you're going to do the double kiss, though, which
cheek do you go for?
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Because I always get this wrong because I've got French
relatives and they do the other side.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
So my head got towards the left.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Okay, we can see each other. We're just cracky, and
I think that's nice. Italians are very affectionate, aren't they.
So the more that you're showing appreciation, the more you're
probably going to get back to. I think, what about
if some of you I really want to say thank
you for your help, how would we say that?
Speaker 1 (24:03):
The sentence is actually a bit longer, So maybe in
again in the show notes we can write that down.
But it's grati peer layoto, which is thanks for pair.
We use it before the help LAYOUTO, graper LAYOUTO. Or
you could say grazy peer if it was a visit
(24:24):
tour guy gra la visita or grat peer bella giornata
the beautiful day.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Hmm I like that one.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Ye, so Gray peer is thank you for and then
you can if you don't know, you can just translate
to what you need to say, thanks for but yeah Gray,
and then you add.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Now, I'm going to ask you this question because we
do have a lot of different cultures on this call,
and there's a lot of confusion. But I want to
hear it from you, someone who's Italian and who has
worked in the hospitality industry. A lot of people like
to show appreciation and three tipping or they think that
they might need to tip.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
How does it work in Italy? Okay? So I will
say it depends where you are. If you're in a
coffee shop and the coffee was great and the service
was nice quick, you really enjoy. If the bill was
five euro and seventy cents, yeah, just just put the
thirty cents in the jug that is in front of
(25:25):
you at the till that is enough. If you might
sit down. Let's say the cafe or a restaurant, and
you have a longer service, then you don't have to tip.
It's not mandatory. It's not like in America where you
have to. In Italy, yeah, there is no rules that
says that you have to do tip. If you sort
of think that the service was average normal, maybe you don't.
(25:48):
You also decide you can decide no, I'm not tipping.
It's fine, I'll just pay whatever I need to pay.
Or if it was if you think it was like
extremely overpriced, then yeah, you can also not tipping. Remember
one thing, even if it was overpriced. So even if
you go in a very nice restaurant, you have to
remember that the waiter will not actually earn much money.
(26:10):
And also they will do lots of hours and they
must all the time like students. And if you receive
a very good service, it's always good to just leave
a tip to the waiter. So I always say, just
have some cash in it and then give it directly
to the person. Or if it's all the restaurant, then
(26:32):
you can put on them whatever you pay. But if
you really appreciate one person, then yeah, just give a
tip to the person's and the amount of money is
really based on how you feel. Back when I was
the waiters, I usually got like five ten yeuro. But
when I work in very high level restaurant sometimes the
(26:55):
people were tipping quite a lot and we were really happy.
And I think when you receive a tip and you
keep receiving tips, you again you know you're doing a
great job and you're actually motivated to do even more.
People will be more keen to that kind of job
because they know that somehow you can round up your
(27:17):
salary with tips. So yeah, I always say, yeah, really
think about what kind of service you receive and if
you really enjoy Yeah, why not if you can, why
not living a tip? Even if I'manda Toy, Yeah, okay,
thank you.
Speaker 5 (27:36):
And what about if we go into someone's house and
we want to bring something up.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
We always also get a lot of questions on our
Facebook group about you know, what should we bring? And
I find it really interesting and I was saying to
Monica before when we're coming from Australia, there's it's really
cool because we've got all that animals are so cute.
If you're going to visit kids and things, you can
bring like a small soft toy koala or a plush
(28:00):
or something like that, and people love that love and
love even we have that clip on once.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
I don't know, see no exactly.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
I think what's good about that is it's super local
and it's hyper local, so it's not something that's really generic.
Like they really love something that's related to where you
live and about your country or your town or something
like that.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Yeah, correct, Yeah, it's nice. I mean if it's the
last minute things you can always you know, buy flowers
or whatever you'll do when you even when you are
in your country. But if you can bring something from
like where you live, I think people really really appreciate
exactly local things that I think my favorite thing when
(28:42):
I go and visit my friends now whether they are
kids or not, I just bring books. If they adult,
I take photobooks of where I live that are beautiful
photobooks of Australia with There is one book it's called
Places where We Swim and there are all these beautiful
photos of Australian beaches and yeah, it's very nice and
(29:02):
same for the kids, you know, like you have the
Australian animals and so that is something I think people
really appreciate. If they are into wine, just bring a
good bottle of wine from where you're from. That could
be another option or local specialty like let's say again
in Australia, maybe macademia or yeah, it depends where you
(29:23):
are from, something very local of your area. It is
really appreciate and it's good to go again with something
in your hand because most of the time when you
go and visit some Italian, even if they offer already dinner,
they might give you stuff to drink home anyway, So
if you don't, if you're right with nothing in your hands,
(29:44):
then you will feel a bit like guilty. The other
way is sending something. Yeah, my mom sometimes from Italy
sends something like to our Australian friend via post, and
that's something if you can't carry it too much, just yeah,
something to think about, even a beautiful card with yeah
the landscape. It's also also opened up conversations so you
(30:08):
can speak about your place, and especially if they Italian.
Unfortunately not all the Italian travels so much, so yeah,
it's good for them.
Speaker 5 (30:16):
I'm going to bring a photo book of spiders.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
Joking. Everyone thinks, oh we have so not really we don't.
I haven't seen a spider for years.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
I don't know what everyone's talking about anyway, Yeah, it is,
it is true. Like I don't know if you saw.
There was election in Australia just two days ago, and
it's super funny because every Italian newspaper published a photos
of Australian people going and vote in their swimmers. They
(30:50):
were in Bodai Beach and then everyone called me and says,
this is how you go and vote. Never really were
just few people that decided to make it fun and
got ideas. But this is like every newspaper in Italy
published this, So it's some stereotype. Can be quite a
(31:11):
bed like in every country, speaking about every country. So yeah,
if you want to promote your place, just choose. Well
what you're going to bring, Well.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
You told me you bought veggimie, so that's a very
local Australian thing. And every kid in Australia loves veggimie
because we grew up with it and it's what we have.
Speaker 4 (31:31):
It's like a sounds disgusting.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
It's a yeast based extract spread and if it's black
and the color is exactly like or almost like Natella,
So people actually when they decide to spread on top
of bread that they just put a thick layer and
think that this is going to be sweet and yeah
it's not like this. Yeah, it's a fair food is
(31:55):
like if your friends are in Italy, they really into
food and they want to experiment, even just something fun, ladies,
that could be good and just explain how to use
it and they might gonna like it, who knows.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
I think anything local is great.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
And if you're from America, I know people love you know,
getting the baseball caps and things like that, like so.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
That's a really great way to show appreciation. Yeah, or
basketball things and yeah, especially if they're kids, they just
love mbah.
Speaker 5 (32:26):
Yeah yeah, I think, oh I love this. I think
we all need to do a better job of showing appreciation.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
So I'm true appreciation to you and say, multipleny, this
has been a great but good really.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Another band I can say gras means thanks to you.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
I love it. But I do think my favorite word
is born is simil because you do get to say
that a lot just sounds well yeah, and the roles,
well there are nominee are in there. So I like
the way you say ask.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
I have goals about saying us where you do anyway, now, Marica,
for anyone that wants to stay in touch with you
and maybe get someone to one tuition with one of
your teachers, how can they do that?
Speaker 1 (33:12):
A'l suggest just to jump on my website and book
a meet and great directly with me is a free
chat that I'm happy to have with anyone. And yeah,
we can just chat about how we can customize and
we can learn some Italian or a lot of Italian
based on your goal and what's your feeling at the moment.
So that is a good starting point if you travel
(33:34):
to Italy soon. We have these courses called four Weeks
to Italy, so is an intensive course the last four
weeks and give you all these tips that you know
we were already spoke, a bit of what we already
spoke and a bit definitely more and again has our
one to one tuition including that feel generous as always
(33:58):
with you, Katie, so different cent of discount on the
four weeks to Italy course or on the first four
weeks of our program that is called Sumisura. But anyway,
if you feel like just to have a chat and
to see and discuss your goals.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Happy to hear from you, amazing. Well, this has been
a lot of fun. Okay, de vetimento, but I love
chatting with you, Monica, and I can't wait to see
you in Italy and I can't.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
Wait for you to move back to Melbourne so we
can hang out for more.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Oh yes, we'll be good. That will be very good.
So yeah, thanks again for having me here. I'll be
here always, so I'm always happy to speak with you.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Now, for all of you listening, I am doing lessons
with one of Monica's teachers, and it's a very creative
and hands on program with lots of practicing using real
life examples, which I think makes all the difference. I
was doing one lesson a week up until now, and
I've just switched over to doing too because I am
really very determined to get much much better before I
go over there in a few weeks. I have tried
(35:08):
lots of different methods and honestly dip in and out
of several including online platforms like the one that my
friend Michelle from Intrepid Italian offers to as I really
think you have to immerse your brain and try lots
of different things to make the language stick. There's no
one sized Fitzal, so just give it a go and
you'll be amazed at what you can achieve. If you
are interested in speaking with a teacher and getting some
(35:30):
direct Italian language coaching tailored to your needs, you can
find all Monica's details in our website show notes at
Untold Italy dot com forward slash two seven two for
episode two hundred and seventy two. We've also added in
the generous office she mentioned for our listeners, so you'll
have some additional motivation to get speaking Italian. Garazia and Kora.
(35:51):
Thanks again to all our wonderful listeners for your ongoing
support of Untold Italy. I really do hope you enjoyed
today's show, and if you did, then it would be
amaze if you gave us a rating or review in
your favorite podcast app, and that way we can reach
more Italy travel lovers just like you. Next week on
Untold Italy, we're heading up north to south to role
for a delicious look at the food culture there.
Speaker 5 (36:13):
But until then, it's.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
Chow for now.
Speaker 6 (36:17):
The Untold Italy podcast is an independent production podcast editing,
audio production and website development by Mark Hatter Production assistance
and content writing by the other kJ Clark. Yes, there
are two of us. For more information about untold Italy,
please visit untold Italy dot com.
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