Learning Italian: bruschetta takes on pizza

Published on 12 Jan 2010 by Alison

The Italian language is everywhere, especially in the world of cooking (where Italians believe that theirs is the best cuisine on earth), and with the new year come new dictionaries around the world. While some English words are adopted into the Italian language (try hearing “trendy” pronounced by Italians, for example), Italian words appear many times over in foreign language dictionaries.

The new Zanichelli German dictionary, for example, includes the traditional Italian vocab we’ve come to know, with words such as pizza, spaghetti, mozzarella, salame and mortadella. New Italian words for 2010, though, include rucola (rocket lettuce), gnocchi and bruschetta. Please remember that bruschetta is pronounced with a hard ‘c’ sound and not ’sh’.

Could it be that a simple Italian bread with tomatoes on the top is a rival to the fame of pizza? While some words were an obvious addition, including caffé and cappuccino, others were more left field. Like “latte macchiato” for example, which is actually known in the English speaking world as “caffé latte” (this should provide some confusion for coffee lovers in Italy). Others that were less obvious are “parmigiano” and the full term “aceto balsamico” or balsamic vinegar, which follow the new European Union DOP and IGT classification laws.

Photo | Flickr

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sdl1957
15 Jan 2010 - 14:26 - #1

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francamente, di tutte le parole Inglesi che gli Italiani potrebbero pronunciare maldestramente, trendy è la meno indicata da citare ironicamente, difatti la sua pronuncia non presente difficoltà alcuna… d’altronde, mi piacerebbe sentire la tua pronuncia in Italiano: sono certo che mi farei due risate. Davvero la tua battuta mi sembra una caduta di gusto in un articolo che altrimenti sarebbe stato apprezzabile.
sdl1957
15 Jan 2010 - 14:27 - #2

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p.s. ho dimenticato di firmarmi: Stefano da Torino