September 16, 2025 • 26 mins
Learn to navigate through a foreign country while understanding how Italian communication works as a traveler.
Ever found yourself in a foreign country, struggling to communicate the most basic needs? That feeling of helplessness disappears when you learn even a handful of phrases in the local language. In this enlightening episode, we welcome language expert David Durham, who transforms our understanding of Italian travel communication with practical, easy-to-learn phrases that will elevate your next Italian adventure.
David begins with a touching personal story about Italian hospitality that sets the tone for why learning the language matters. When he and his wife missed a bus in the Italian countryside, a stranger not only gave them a ride but invited them to dinner—a perfect illustration of the warmth travelers can experience when they engage authentically with locals.
Beyond the typical tourist phrases, David dives into cultural nuances that make all the difference. He explains the crucial distinction between formal and familiar address (when to use "scusi" versus "scusa"), teaches us that ordering "un latte" will get you plain milk instead of coffee, and reveals that many Italian food words we know are actually plural forms (the singular of "cannoli" is "cannolo"!). These insights don't just help you communicate—they demonstrate respect and cultural awareness.
From restaurant etiquette to asking for directions, each phrase comes with pronunciation guidance and cultural context. Whether you're learning how to politely order "un caffè" or discover the difference between "acqua naturale" and "acqua frizzante," you'll gain confidence to navigate Italy beyond the tourist traps. As David notes, making even a small effort to speak Italian helps break the unfortunate stereotype of the "loud American" that many Europeans have come to expect.
Ready to transform your travel experience? Listen now, practice these phrases, and discover how a little linguistic effort creates meaningful connections. Want more language learning resources? Visit David's website at daviddurham.org for tours and language courses that will take your travel experiences to the next level.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This transcript was automatically created and has
not be read or edited by ourteam.
Hi, I'm Alexa and I'm Rory, andtogether we are the ROAMies.
We are married.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
To each other.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Right?
, we are a touring musical duo.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
And our music has taken us to all kinds of places
all around the world and keepsus always on the go.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
So we hope you enjoy our stories and adventures while
running around working to keepall your plates spinning.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
And we hope, to facilitate your busy lifestyle
and feed your inner travel bug.
Hi everyone, hello, welcome toour latest episode.
So y'all, we are in our seriesof learning languages for travel
and we're really excited tohave with us for a first time.
(00:44):
Y'all are going to see himagain because he is a master
genius, yes, but y'all we have atrue polyglot on with us today.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
That word makes me want to clear my throat, or
something.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
I had a polyglot once but it was an infection, but I
was able to cough most of it out.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
We have with us David Durham, and thank you.
Welcome, david Durham.
We are very happy to have youwith us.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
My pleasure, and we've got Saturday.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Oh, my, okay, Because y'all, he's given us a preview.
We're going to Italy today.
We are going to learn phrasesthat you need to learn to get
around Italy and not be somebodyrude, but to know the language
know please, and thank you, yeah, yeah, where should we dive in
(01:39):
with?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
learning Italian for travel, david.
Well, first of all, well,thanks for having me.
It's a pleasure to be with you.
Piacere means pleasure, oh,okay, let me just give a little
bit of background.
The first time my wife and Iwent to Italy together, I had
been there before, but she hadnever been there.
This was celebrating our 10thanniversary, so 100 years ago.
(02:01):
But we were staying at a placekind of out in the country and
we had decided to go intoFlorence.
But we didn't want to take ourcar and mess with all that, and
so we were going to take the busthat only goes like once an
hour through the countryside,you know.
So we're at the bus stop and wewait, and we wait, and we wait.
We looked at the schedule.
We thought we were there whenthe bus would come and it didn't
(02:25):
, and so, for the first time inmy life, I stuck out my thumb.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
That's what you do if you want to ride right.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Well, let's say, that's what you did 30 years ago
and the first I think it wasthe first, maybe second car that
came by.
The guy picked us up and westarted chatting.
He was just so kind.
He ended up inviting us to hishouse for dinner that night and
(02:52):
we were not able to accept.
But it was just that gestureand that was our introduction to
Italian hospitality.
And couple that with the factthat Italians are so used to
tourists they're so used tovisitors, because everybody
wants to go there.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
It's beautiful, that's right, and the food and
all that.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
It's like at the top of everybody's bucket list,
right, yeah, just about.
And so they have a lot of gracefor foreigners.
But I will say and this goes toour American friends who are
listening, I know your audienceis not only Americans.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
But the majority is yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
But we have a reputation.
Yep, I can't, we can't deny it.
That's why we're doing thisseries, my friend, and so one of
the things that we do, my wifeand I have a company called
(03:58):
World to the Wise and we leadtours to ambassadors and we want
to break the stereotype of theloud and ignorant and
know-it-all American.
So that's our reputation in anutshell, right?
So we want to break thatstereotype.
(04:19):
So that's just kind of apreface for everything that I
have to say.
As your guests say, yeah,that's great.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yeah, and I love that we are going to get to spend
time with you on future episodesas well, learning some other
languages because, like Rorysaid, you are, you know, the
master language.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
I won't say polyglot, because then you know, then
you'll have to do your wholething again.
We're not going to go throughthat.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
We first met David when we were trying to learn and
have our songs translated intoFrench, and we both were based
in Nashville for a while, bothfamilies, and so we had common
friends that connected us andblah, blah, blah.
And so here we are.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Let's just say we've known him for a few years.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Yes, so let's dive into Italian, david.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Okay.
So hello, buongiorno Now thatis sort of the master key, if
you like.
It's applicable to anyoneyou're speaking to as the most
polite way to say hello.
It also means good morning.
You also say it in theafternoon, until about
(05:28):
mid-afternoon, and then you saybuona sera, which means good
evening, but, like I said, wealready start saying it like
mid-afternoon, 3, 4 o'clock inthe afternoon, so buongiorno and
buona sera, three, four o'clockin the afternoon, so buongiorno
(05:48):
and buona sera.
If you are a traveler and youwant to ask where something is,
first of all you want to sayexcuse me.
And so here we need tounderstand and this will apply
to any language that you'regoing to ask me to help you with
in the future there is adifference between formal and
familiar.
Now, that is the case in otherlanguages as well.
(06:11):
My specialty is Europeanlanguages, although I've been
dabbling in Arabic a little bitlately.
You want to address someonethat you don't know who's a
stranger and is.
I would say don't know who's astranger and is, I would say
from a young adult on up, likefrom the age of 20s on up, you
want to address in the formal,if you're addressing a child or
(06:33):
a teenager or someone you know,then you use the informal, or
what we call the familiar, andso back to excuse me.
If you want to just go to astranger and say excuse me, you
say scusi, but if you areaddressing someone in the
familiar, you'll say scusa, andso that literally means excuse,
(06:59):
as it sounds like scusi, formal,scusa, scusi, formal, scusa,
familiar.
And if you want to say dove,that means where is Now?
Here's the thing If you startoff asking them a question in
(07:20):
Italian and your pronunciationis halfway decent, they're going
to answer you in Italian, andthen you're not going to
understand a word, most likely.
So if you're speaking tosomeone in the formal which we
will stick with we'll say scusi,scusi, scusi.
The next thing you want to ask,before you go any further, is
(07:43):
whether they speak English,because I'm also going to tell
you how to say I don't speakItalian.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Great.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Because you're the one that's visiting them in
their home right, Exactly rightyeah.
And so you say scusi, non parloitaliano, I don't speak Italian
.
Okay, non parlo italiano, nonparlo.
That's a P on the beginning,but it's not as explosive as the
(08:17):
English one Non parlo italiano.
And then you say do you speakEnglish?
Parla inglese, parla inglese.
And so if they say si, yes, Ispeak English, then you are good
(08:40):
to go If they say no, non parloinglese, then you put on your
big boy pants big girl pants andsay dove means where is.
So, if you're asking for themuseum, dove il museo?
(09:01):
If they don't speak English,then they're probably going to
give you sign language orwhatever.
So, however, you manage to getthe directions.
You want to thank you and youwant to say grazie.
Now there's this bigmisconception People think that
they know how to say thank youin Italian and they say grazie,
(09:24):
but it's not grazie.
There's an e on the end and soit's grazie.
That's G-R-A-Z-I-E, and if yousee Italian written, a Z is a T,
like a T-S sound GrazieGra-ci-e, grazie, grazie.
(09:49):
Now, if you want to enhanceyour thank you and say thank you
very much or thanks a lot, onevery common way to say that is
grazie mille, grazie mille,which literally means a thousand
thanks.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
I love that.
Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Grazie mille.
Now can we talk about orderingin a restaurant?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Yes, yeah, so you want to.
Can we first say where is therestaurant, and then you can,
and where is the toilet, andthen you can go to the
restaurant.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Then we can order.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Absolutely Good idea.
So where is the restaurant?
Dove il ristorante?
Dove il ristorante, dove ilristorante.
So a lot of Americans knowSpanish.
They see restaurante all thetime Restaurante, mexicano,
(10:53):
mexican restaurant.
So Italian is very similar, butit's not re, it's ri r-i
Ristorante Dove il ristorante.
And please is, per favore Againyou can hear it similar to
Spanish Instead of por favor,per favore, per favore.
(11:17):
And then so you find therestaurant, you sit down, they
seat you, you say grazie, yousay scusi, excuse me once again,
dove il bagno.
What Same as Spanish, yep.
Different spelling, differentspelling, same pronunciation.
(11:37):
So you'll see there's a lot ofsimilarity between Spanish and
Italian.
And if you enjoy, or at leasttolerate, grammar, you'll see
that Italian has a lot ofsimilarity with French as well.
And knowing both French andSpanish already, I started to
learn Italian and I thought thisis awesome because it's right
(11:58):
in the middle.
It's right in the middlebetween Spanish and French.
So, anyway, dove il bagno?
Where is the bathroom?
And so you're looking at ilmenu, the menu, and you say I
would like, and that is vorreiVorrei.
(12:22):
So, just like in Spanish,italian, has that rolled R?
If it's a double R?
Now, if you don't know spellingin Italian, you're not going to
know whether it's a double R,but just take my word for it
that you want to roll that R ifyou're able.
If you're not able, don't sweatit, they will understand you.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Vorrei, and just those two syllables mean.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
I would like Vorrei.
And then we've already saidplease.
So I would like lasagna, pleaseVorrei lasagne.
What it's not lasagna, pleaseVorrei lasagna.
What it's not lasagna?
No, because lasagna is actuallysingular Lasagna and they talk
(13:07):
about their pasta as plural.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Because they're plural noodles, more than one
noodle.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
More than one noodle.
And so vorrei lasagne, perfavore, that's right.
So here's a little sidebar thatI love.
You see, a lot of Italian wordsend in an I Spaghetti,
cannelloni or cannoli right?
Well, that I on the end is aplural suffix.
(13:36):
Well, that I on the end is aplural suffix, Huh.
And so when you say spaghetti,you're saying multiple noodles
of spaghetti.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Come on Okay, macaroni et cetera.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Macaroni, that's right, exactly Zucchini.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Wow Okay.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
That's plural, Broccoli plural.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
What that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
And so one thing I try to get people to remember
and it's like pulling teethbecause it's just hard for
people to remember is if youwant, you love cannoli, right,
you definitely want to taste thereal thing while you're there.
If you just want one, it's notun canolo, un cannoli, it's un
cannolo, due cannoli, un cannolo, due cannoli.
(14:28):
And then people come back andthey revert to their old ways
and say I'd like a cannoli, ofcourse.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Otherwise, the waiters in the US look at them
like what, why are you?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
That's not how you say it Right right, right right,
because even the people thatwork in the Italian restaurant
don't know?
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Oh, of course not.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
So, anyway, we've learned grazie.
Well, how do you say thank you?
There are a couple of ways, butthe most simple way, the one
that you will hear all the time,is prego, that's not a brand of
spaghetti sauce.
It means you're welcome and,interestingly enough, it
(15:11):
literally means I pray, and soit's.
You know, the together handsand all that is just this notion
of you're thanking me, but itgoes heavenward.
Now, they don't think thatconsciously.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
But prego can mean also please, as in let's say
you're in the restaurant and theserver comes and he'll say
Buongiorno, whatever, and thenhe's ready to take your order.
He'll say Prego.
And so you think, wait a minute, I didn't thank you, why are
you telling me you're welcome?
Well, it's also a way of sayingplease, like please, I'm
(15:51):
listening, so you'll hear pregoall the time.
But if someone thinks you pregois an appropriate way to say
you're welcome in any context,okay.
Now if you want to say I'msorry, we will use the same
(16:12):
expression as excuse me, andthat is scusi Okay, as excuse me
, and that is scusi Okay.
So if you drop something on thefloor and the server has to
pick it up for you, say scusi,no problem, speaking of no
problem, non c'è problema.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Non, c'è problema, that's a good one.
Yep Literally means there is noproblem.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
There is no problem.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
So we'll go back to.
I would like Vorrei un caffèper favore.
A coffee, un espresso perfavore.
Now, if you want a latte, whatwe call a latte, yeah yeah, the
(17:06):
word latte in Italian means milk.
So if you ask for un latte,you'll get a glass of milk.
Good to know so it's importantto say un caffè latte, okay.
Un caffè latte.
Okay, un café latte.
Right, un té.
Un té, a tea.
No need to learn how to say acup of tea, just a tea is
(17:29):
totally fine.
A black tea, un té nero.
Nero N-E-R-O means black.
I would like some water Vorreidell'acqua.
Acqua is water, acqua A-C-Q-U-A.
Acqua Dell'acqua means somewater.
(17:52):
You can say dell'acqua minerale, mineral water, dell'acqua
frale mineral water, dell'acquafrizzante sparkling water.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Okay, so mineral water would be the flat water,
and then you have tospecifically frizzante would be
the sparkling.
Yeah, giusto, Giusto.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Giusto.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Giusto, giusto means correct, justo, justo, justo,
justo, justo means correct.
So quick question With the Imaking plural, and if you say
scusi, is it like also a bit ofa plural form there?
Speaker 3 (18:32):
That's an excellent, excellent question, rory, and
the answer is no, because that Ireferring to plural is for
nouns only.
Okay, all right, and the wordsthat qualify or describe that
noun?
Okay, but scusi is a verb fromthe verb scusare, to excuse, and
(18:55):
so it's according to whomyou're addressing.
Okay.
Now if I wanted to say to morethan one person, excuse me, I
would say scusate, so that getsinto verb conjugation, which I
think might be in the 2.0version of your podcast.
(19:16):
For sure.
So that was a great question,though, and I love the way you
think we definitely have similarbrain waves.
And I knew that about youalready.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Yeah, man no doubt, you too bro.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
So I don't understand .
Is non capisco, like you hearin mafia movies.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Right, capisce, sopranos are.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Yeah, capisce.
Well, capisce comes from the.
When I'm talking to you, it'sliterally capisci.
But a lot of people you knowhave how do we say?
Perverted it to just drop thatlast syllable Capisce.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
So it Capisci.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
So it's capisci, but the first person singular, the I
form, I don't understand iscapisco.
So if you want to say, yes, Iunderstand, si capisco, but I
don't understand non capisco,non capisco, non capisco, okay,
(20:20):
how about?
I'm lost?
Speaker 2 (20:24):
That could be good.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
That goes with the non capisco.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Sono perso.
Sono means I am Perso, lost,sono perso, and an appropriate
facial expression should go withthat.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
With the sign language.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
To evoke compassion Right.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Holding up your map on your Google map and being
confused.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Yeah, totally.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Scusi, sono perso.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Help.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
And so if you are lost, dove, where is la stazione
?
You can guess what that means.
Yeah, the station, the trainstation, Dove la stazione?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
All right, Can you slow that one down please?
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Uh-huh, dove la stazione.
So that's a Z in there again.
That TS sound T Stazione.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Do you mind just repeating slowly the good
morning and the good evening andkind of break those down for us
?
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Yeah, great idea.
So an appropriate greeting foranyone is buongiorno buon,
b-u-o-n, buon, not bon, but buongiorno.
And when you see that writtenit's a little surprise because
it's G-I-O-R-N-O but that G-Isays G, it's pronounced G, so
(22:04):
buongiorno.
And then when you get to aboutmid-afternoon, say 3, 4 o'clock
in the afternoon, we switch tobuona sera, which technically
means good evening.
Also we should mention goodnight, which is only when you're
leaving in the nighttime.
When you're saying goodbye atnight, it's buona notte, Buona
(22:29):
notte.
And can you slow?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
down the afternoon as well.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Buona sera.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Okay, thank you.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
That's spelled S-E-R-A.
A lot of people have a visualmemory and they want to know how
it's spelled.
Yes, and I also want to mentionhere ciao.
I haven't mentioned ciao yet.
So all the time we need tounderstand that ciao is both hi
and bye, and I said hi and nothello to emphasize the fact that
(22:59):
it's familiar.
So you won't say ciao to justanybody.
You will say ciao to peoplethat I think we could say that
you feel comfortable with, wherethere is some kind of rapport
that has been established.
Now is some kind of rapportthat has been established.
(23:21):
Now.
People that don't know that sayciao.
You know, visitors say ciaowhen leaving a restaurant or
whatever all the time and thepeople just go with it.
But the more polite way to saygoodbye is arrivederci.
We've all heard thatArrivederci, arrivederci, so
arrivederci means we see eachother, and so what you're saying
(23:43):
is until we see each otheragain.
That's great.
Arrivederci.
Ciao, of course, is a loteasier to remember, a lot easier
to remember, a lot easier topronounce.
So again, it means hi and bye,mostly informal, okay.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Before we say arrivederci, because we will see
you on future episodes.
Really quick, how can peoplefind you and your tours and
connect with you further?
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Yeah, so my website is daviddurhamorg, just my full
nameorg, and there are severaltabs.
One is for the tours and it'sjust says tours.
Just click on the tours tab andthat will take you to our
company called World to the WiseCute, a play on words with Word
(24:37):
to the Wise.
That will tell you all aboutour tours.
And then, if you click on thelanguage tab, you will see World
to the Wise Academy, where wehave self-study video-based
courses for both French andSpanish.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Awesome.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Yeah, man.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Well, you're a good person to learn from, so that's
a good resource.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Then there's a podcast tab as well, where we
talk about cultural connections.
Let's call it that way crossingcultural bridges.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Love it.
Well, we'll put links in theshow notes to all those three
tabs where people can connectwith you and we will see you
very soon on another languageand arrivederci, arrivederci
amici, see you later.
Friends, yes, ciao amici, ciaoamici we hope we've inspired you
(25:38):
this episode, so join us nexttime.
Please subscribe to rate andshare our podcast with your
friends or you know whomever?
And please like and follow uson Instagram, youtube and
Facebook.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
We are also on X and on all social platforms.
We are at TheRomies that'sT-H-E-R-O-A-M-I-E-S, and our
main hub is our website.
At wwwtheromies that'sT-H-E-R-O-A-M-I-E-S, and our
main hub is our website.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
At wwwtheromiescom, that's right, that's.
T-h-e-r-o-a-m-i-e-scom.
We'll be there until next time.
Yeah, thanks for listening, bye.
This transcript was automatically created and has
not be read or edited by ourteam.
Hi, I'm Alexa and I'm Rory, andtogether we are the ROAMies.
We are married.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
To each other.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Right?
, we are a touring musical duo.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
And our music has taken us to all kinds of places
all around the world and keepsus always on the go.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
So we hope you enjoy our stories and adventures while
running around working to keepall your plates spinning.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
And we hope, to facilitate your busy lifestyle
and feed your inner travel bug.
Hi everyone, hello, welcome toour latest episode.
So y'all, we are in our seriesof learning languages for travel
and we're really excited tohave with us for a first time.
(00:44):
Y'all are going to see himagain because he is a master
genius, yes, but y'all we have atrue polyglot on with us today.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
That word makes me want to clear my throat, or
something.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
I had a polyglot once but it was an infection, but I
was able to cough most of it out.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
We have with us David Durham, and thank you.
Welcome, david Durham.
We are very happy to have youwith us.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
My pleasure, and we've got Saturday.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Oh, my, okay, Because y'all, he's given us a preview.
We're going to Italy today.
We are going to learn phrasesthat you need to learn to get
around Italy and not be somebodyrude, but to know the language
know please, and thank you, yeah, yeah, where should we dive in
(01:39):
with?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
learning Italian for travel, david.
Well, first of all, well,thanks for having me.
It's a pleasure to be with you.
Piacere means pleasure, oh,okay, let me just give a little
bit of background.
The first time my wife and Iwent to Italy together, I had
been there before, but she hadnever been there.
This was celebrating our 10thanniversary, so 100 years ago.
(02:01):
But we were staying at a placekind of out in the country and
we had decided to go intoFlorence.
But we didn't want to take ourcar and mess with all that, and
so we were going to take the busthat only goes like once an
hour through the countryside,you know.
So we're at the bus stop and wewait, and we wait, and we wait.
We looked at the schedule.
We thought we were there whenthe bus would come and it didn't
(02:25):
, and so, for the first time inmy life, I stuck out my thumb.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
That's what you do if you want to ride right.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Well, let's say, that's what you did 30 years ago
and the first I think it wasthe first, maybe second car that
came by.
The guy picked us up and westarted chatting.
He was just so kind.
He ended up inviting us to hishouse for dinner that night and
(02:52):
we were not able to accept.
But it was just that gestureand that was our introduction to
Italian hospitality.
And couple that with the factthat Italians are so used to
tourists they're so used tovisitors, because everybody
wants to go there.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
It's beautiful, that's right, and the food and
all that.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
It's like at the top of everybody's bucket list,
right, yeah, just about.
And so they have a lot of gracefor foreigners.
But I will say and this goes toour American friends who are
listening, I know your audienceis not only Americans.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
But the majority is yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
But we have a reputation.
Yep, I can't, we can't deny it.
That's why we're doing thisseries, my friend, and so one of
the things that we do, my wifeand I have a company called
(03:58):
World to the Wise and we leadtours to ambassadors and we want
to break the stereotype of theloud and ignorant and
know-it-all American.
So that's our reputation in anutshell, right?
So we want to break thatstereotype.
(04:19):
So that's just kind of apreface for everything that I
have to say.
As your guests say, yeah,that's great.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yeah, and I love that we are going to get to spend
time with you on future episodesas well, learning some other
languages because, like Rorysaid, you are, you know, the
master language.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
I won't say polyglot, because then you know, then
you'll have to do your wholething again.
We're not going to go throughthat.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
We first met David when we were trying to learn and
have our songs translated intoFrench, and we both were based
in Nashville for a while, bothfamilies, and so we had common
friends that connected us andblah, blah, blah.
And so here we are.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Let's just say we've known him for a few years.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Yes, so let's dive into Italian, david.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Okay.
So hello, buongiorno Now thatis sort of the master key, if
you like.
It's applicable to anyoneyou're speaking to as the most
polite way to say hello.
It also means good morning.
You also say it in theafternoon, until about
(05:28):
mid-afternoon, and then you saybuona sera, which means good
evening, but, like I said, wealready start saying it like
mid-afternoon, 3, 4 o'clock inthe afternoon, so buongiorno and
buona sera, three, four o'clockin the afternoon, so buongiorno
(05:48):
and buona sera.
If you are a traveler and youwant to ask where something is,
first of all you want to sayexcuse me.
And so here we need tounderstand and this will apply
to any language that you'regoing to ask me to help you with
in the future there is adifference between formal and
familiar.
Now, that is the case in otherlanguages as well.
(06:11):
My specialty is Europeanlanguages, although I've been
dabbling in Arabic a little bitlately.
You want to address someonethat you don't know who's a
stranger and is.
I would say don't know who's astranger and is, I would say
from a young adult on up, likefrom the age of 20s on up, you
want to address in the formal,if you're addressing a child or
(06:33):
a teenager or someone you know,then you use the informal, or
what we call the familiar, andso back to excuse me.
If you want to just go to astranger and say excuse me, you
say scusi, but if you areaddressing someone in the
familiar, you'll say scusa, andso that literally means excuse,
(06:59):
as it sounds like scusi, formal,scusa, scusi, formal, scusa,
familiar.
And if you want to say dove,that means where is Now?
Here's the thing If you startoff asking them a question in
(07:20):
Italian and your pronunciationis halfway decent, they're going
to answer you in Italian, andthen you're not going to
understand a word, most likely.
So if you're speaking tosomeone in the formal which we
will stick with we'll say scusi,scusi, scusi.
The next thing you want to ask,before you go any further, is
(07:43):
whether they speak English,because I'm also going to tell
you how to say I don't speakItalian.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Great.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Because you're the one that's visiting them in
their home right, Exactly rightyeah.
And so you say scusi, non parloitaliano, I don't speak Italian
.
Okay, non parlo italiano, nonparlo.
That's a P on the beginning,but it's not as explosive as the
(08:17):
English one Non parlo italiano.
And then you say do you speakEnglish?
Parla inglese, parla inglese.
And so if they say si, yes, Ispeak English, then you are good
(08:40):
to go If they say no, non parloinglese, then you put on your
big boy pants big girl pants andsay dove means where is.
So, if you're asking for themuseum, dove il museo?
(09:01):
If they don't speak English,then they're probably going to
give you sign language orwhatever.
So, however, you manage to getthe directions.
You want to thank you and youwant to say grazie.
Now there's this bigmisconception People think that
they know how to say thank youin Italian and they say grazie,
(09:24):
but it's not grazie.
There's an e on the end and soit's grazie.
That's G-R-A-Z-I-E, and if yousee Italian written, a Z is a T,
like a T-S sound GrazieGra-ci-e, grazie, grazie.
(09:49):
Now, if you want to enhanceyour thank you and say thank you
very much or thanks a lot, onevery common way to say that is
grazie mille, grazie mille,which literally means a thousand
thanks.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
I love that.
Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Grazie mille.
Now can we talk about orderingin a restaurant?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Yes, yeah, so you want to.
Can we first say where is therestaurant, and then you can,
and where is the toilet, andthen you can go to the
restaurant.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Then we can order.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Absolutely Good idea.
So where is the restaurant?
Dove il ristorante?
Dove il ristorante, dove ilristorante.
So a lot of Americans knowSpanish.
They see restaurante all thetime Restaurante, mexicano,
(10:53):
mexican restaurant.
So Italian is very similar, butit's not re, it's ri r-i
Ristorante Dove il ristorante.
And please is, per favore Againyou can hear it similar to
Spanish Instead of por favor,per favore, per favore.
(11:17):
And then so you find therestaurant, you sit down, they
seat you, you say grazie, yousay scusi, excuse me once again,
dove il bagno.
What Same as Spanish, yep.
Different spelling, differentspelling, same pronunciation.
(11:37):
So you'll see there's a lot ofsimilarity between Spanish and
Italian.
And if you enjoy, or at leasttolerate, grammar, you'll see
that Italian has a lot ofsimilarity with French as well.
And knowing both French andSpanish already, I started to
learn Italian and I thought thisis awesome because it's right
(11:58):
in the middle.
It's right in the middlebetween Spanish and French.
So, anyway, dove il bagno?
Where is the bathroom?
And so you're looking at ilmenu, the menu, and you say I
would like, and that is vorreiVorrei.
(12:22):
So, just like in Spanish,italian, has that rolled R?
If it's a double R?
Now, if you don't know spellingin Italian, you're not going to
know whether it's a double R,but just take my word for it
that you want to roll that R ifyou're able.
If you're not able, don't sweatit, they will understand you.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Vorrei, and just those two syllables mean.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
I would like Vorrei.
And then we've already saidplease.
So I would like lasagna, pleaseVorrei lasagne.
What it's not lasagna, pleaseVorrei lasagna.
What it's not lasagna?
No, because lasagna is actuallysingular Lasagna and they talk
(13:07):
about their pasta as plural.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Because they're plural noodles, more than one
noodle.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
More than one noodle.
And so vorrei lasagne, perfavore, that's right.
So here's a little sidebar thatI love.
You see, a lot of Italian wordsend in an I Spaghetti,
cannelloni or cannoli right?
Well, that I on the end is aplural suffix.
(13:36):
Well, that I on the end is aplural suffix, Huh.
And so when you say spaghetti,you're saying multiple noodles
of spaghetti.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Come on Okay, macaroni et cetera.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Macaroni, that's right, exactly Zucchini.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Wow Okay.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
That's plural, Broccoli plural.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
What that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
And so one thing I try to get people to remember
and it's like pulling teethbecause it's just hard for
people to remember is if youwant, you love cannoli, right,
you definitely want to taste thereal thing while you're there.
If you just want one, it's notun canolo, un cannoli, it's un
cannolo, due cannoli, un cannolo, due cannoli.
(14:28):
And then people come back andthey revert to their old ways
and say I'd like a cannoli, ofcourse.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Otherwise, the waiters in the US look at them
like what, why are you?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
That's not how you say it Right right, right right,
because even the people thatwork in the Italian restaurant
don't know?
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Oh, of course not.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
So, anyway, we've learned grazie.
Well, how do you say thank you?
There are a couple of ways, butthe most simple way, the one
that you will hear all the time,is prego, that's not a brand of
spaghetti sauce.
It means you're welcome and,interestingly enough, it
(15:11):
literally means I pray, and soit's.
You know, the together handsand all that is just this notion
of you're thanking me, but itgoes heavenward.
Now, they don't think thatconsciously.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
But prego can mean also please, as in let's say
you're in the restaurant and theserver comes and he'll say
Buongiorno, whatever, and thenhe's ready to take your order.
He'll say Prego.
And so you think, wait a minute, I didn't thank you, why are
you telling me you're welcome?
Well, it's also a way of sayingplease, like please, I'm
(15:51):
listening, so you'll hear pregoall the time.
But if someone thinks you pregois an appropriate way to say
you're welcome in any context,okay.
Now if you want to say I'msorry, we will use the same
(16:12):
expression as excuse me, andthat is scusi Okay, as excuse me
, and that is scusi Okay.
So if you drop something on thefloor and the server has to
pick it up for you, say scusi,no problem, speaking of no
problem, non c'è problema.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Non, c'è problema, that's a good one.
Yep Literally means there is noproblem.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
There is no problem.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
So we'll go back to.
I would like Vorrei un caffèper favore.
A coffee, un espresso perfavore.
Now, if you want a latte, whatwe call a latte, yeah yeah, the
(17:06):
word latte in Italian means milk.
So if you ask for un latte,you'll get a glass of milk.
Good to know so it's importantto say un caffè latte, okay.
Un caffè latte.
Okay, un café latte.
Right, un té.
Un té, a tea.
No need to learn how to say acup of tea, just a tea is
(17:29):
totally fine.
A black tea, un té nero.
Nero N-E-R-O means black.
I would like some water Vorreidell'acqua.
Acqua is water, acqua A-C-Q-U-A.
Acqua Dell'acqua means somewater.
(17:52):
You can say dell'acqua minerale, mineral water, dell'acqua
frale mineral water, dell'acquafrizzante sparkling water.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Okay, so mineral water would be the flat water,
and then you have tospecifically frizzante would be
the sparkling.
Yeah, giusto, Giusto.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Giusto.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Giusto, giusto means correct, justo, justo, justo,
justo, justo means correct.
So quick question With the Imaking plural, and if you say
scusi, is it like also a bit ofa plural form there?
Speaker 3 (18:32):
That's an excellent, excellent question, rory, and
the answer is no, because that Ireferring to plural is for
nouns only.
Okay, all right, and the wordsthat qualify or describe that
noun?
Okay, but scusi is a verb fromthe verb scusare, to excuse, and
(18:55):
so it's according to whomyou're addressing.
Okay.
Now if I wanted to say to morethan one person, excuse me, I
would say scusate, so that getsinto verb conjugation, which I
think might be in the 2.0version of your podcast.
(19:16):
For sure.
So that was a great question,though, and I love the way you
think we definitely have similarbrain waves.
And I knew that about youalready.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Yeah, man no doubt, you too bro.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
So I don't understand .
Is non capisco, like you hearin mafia movies.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Right, capisce, sopranos are.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Yeah, capisce.
Well, capisce comes from the.
When I'm talking to you, it'sliterally capisci.
But a lot of people you knowhave how do we say?
Perverted it to just drop thatlast syllable Capisce.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
So it Capisci.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
So it's capisci, but the first person singular, the I
form, I don't understand iscapisco.
So if you want to say, yes, Iunderstand, si capisco, but I
don't understand non capisco,non capisco, non capisco, okay,
(20:20):
how about?
I'm lost?
Speaker 2 (20:24):
That could be good.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
That goes with the non capisco.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Sono perso.
Sono means I am Perso, lost,sono perso, and an appropriate
facial expression should go withthat.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
With the sign language.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
To evoke compassion Right.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Holding up your map on your Google map and being
confused.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Yeah, totally.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Scusi, sono perso.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Help.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
And so if you are lost, dove, where is la stazione
?
You can guess what that means.
Yeah, the station, the trainstation, Dove la stazione?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
All right, Can you slow that one down please?
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Uh-huh, dove la stazione.
So that's a Z in there again.
That TS sound T Stazione.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Do you mind just repeating slowly the good
morning and the good evening andkind of break those down for us
?
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Yeah, great idea.
So an appropriate greeting foranyone is buongiorno buon,
b-u-o-n, buon, not bon, but buongiorno.
And when you see that writtenit's a little surprise because
it's G-I-O-R-N-O but that G-Isays G, it's pronounced G, so
(22:04):
buongiorno.
And then when you get to aboutmid-afternoon, say 3, 4 o'clock
in the afternoon, we switch tobuona sera, which technically
means good evening.
Also we should mention goodnight, which is only when you're
leaving in the nighttime.
When you're saying goodbye atnight, it's buona notte, Buona
(22:29):
notte.
And can you slow?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
down the afternoon as well.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Buona sera.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Okay, thank you.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
That's spelled S-E-R-A.
A lot of people have a visualmemory and they want to know how
it's spelled.
Yes, and I also want to mentionhere ciao.
I haven't mentioned ciao yet.
So all the time we need tounderstand that ciao is both hi
and bye, and I said hi and nothello to emphasize the fact that
(22:59):
it's familiar.
So you won't say ciao to justanybody.
You will say ciao to peoplethat I think we could say that
you feel comfortable with, wherethere is some kind of rapport
that has been established.
Now is some kind of rapportthat has been established.
(23:21):
Now.
People that don't know that sayciao.
You know, visitors say ciaowhen leaving a restaurant or
whatever all the time and thepeople just go with it.
But the more polite way to saygoodbye is arrivederci.
We've all heard thatArrivederci, arrivederci, so
arrivederci means we see eachother, and so what you're saying
(23:43):
is until we see each otheragain.
That's great.
Arrivederci.
Ciao, of course, is a loteasier to remember, a lot easier
to remember, a lot easier topronounce.
So again, it means hi and bye,mostly informal, okay.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Before we say arrivederci, because we will see
you on future episodes.
Really quick, how can peoplefind you and your tours and
connect with you further?
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Yeah, so my website is daviddurhamorg, just my full
nameorg, and there are severaltabs.
One is for the tours and it'sjust says tours.
Just click on the tours tab andthat will take you to our
company called World to the WiseCute, a play on words with Word
(24:37):
to the Wise.
That will tell you all aboutour tours.
And then, if you click on thelanguage tab, you will see World
to the Wise Academy, where wehave self-study video-based
courses for both French andSpanish.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Awesome.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Yeah, man.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Well, you're a good person to learn from, so that's
a good resource.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Then there's a podcast tab as well, where we
talk about cultural connections.
Let's call it that way crossingcultural bridges.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Love it.
Well, we'll put links in theshow notes to all those three
tabs where people can connectwith you and we will see you
very soon on another languageand arrivederci, arrivederci
amici, see you later.
Friends, yes, ciao amici, ciaoamici we hope we've inspired you
(25:38):
this episode, so join us nexttime.
Please subscribe to rate andshare our podcast with your
friends or you know whomever?
And please like and follow uson Instagram, youtube and
Facebook.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
We are also on X and on all social platforms.
We are at TheRomies that'sT-H-E-R-O-A-M-I-E-S, and our
main hub is our website.
At wwwtheromies that'sT-H-E-R-O-A-M-I-E-S, and our
main hub is our website.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
At wwwtheromiescom, that's right, that's.
T-h-e-r-o-a-m-i-e-scom.
We'll be there until next time.
Yeah, thanks for listening, bye.
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