This is a continuation of our learn Italian by music video series with Toto Cutugno’s famous song called L’Italiano. We will be looking at the chorus of the song and looking at the expression “ne” in Italian which many people confuse as a negative word, however, it is used as a word of emphasis.
Here are the links to the previous videos if you missed them:
THIRD VIDEO LESSON – Toto Cutugono, L’Italiano below
Larry: Alright. Patti, you’re back up here, these four lines.
Patti: “Lasciatemi cantare, Con la chitarra in ma…in mano, Lasciate…lasciatemi cantare, Una canzone piano piano”.
Larry: Like this, Patti. Patti…
Patti: Yess.
Larry: “Lasciatemi cantare, lasciatemi cantare, lasciatemi cantare”.
Patti: “Lasciatemi…” ok!
Kathleen: “Lasciatemi cantare”.
Larry: Alright, let’s hear what he says!
(video plays)
Larry: Alright, so he’s saying: “Lasciatemi cantare, Con la chitarra in mano, Lasciatemi cantare, Una canzone piano piano”.
Patti: Ok. “Let me sing, With my guitar in hand”.
Larry: Yes.
Patti: “Let me sing, A softly…” what? I don’t know, I looked it up and it said “floor”. “Piano” is a different word.
Tony: It’s got different means.
Larry: Yes, “piano piano” means like “slowly”. “Let me sing a song slowly, softly, easily”. “Piano piano”. Like – you know – like “Speak it easy, nice and slowly”.
Patti: Ok!
Ann: Oh, my grandmother used to say that!
Larry: Alright, we’re up to Tony now and you’ve got to get a repeat, kind of a repeat.
Tony: “Lasciatemi cantare, Perché ne sono fiero, Sono un italiano, Un italiano vero”.
Larry: Let’s hear what he says.
(video plays)
Larry: Alright, so that first verse ends with “Lasciatemi cantare”.
Tony: Ok.
Larry: “Perché ne sono fiero, Sono un italiano, Un italiano vero”. So, “lasciatemi cantare” what does it mean?
Tony: “Let me sing”.
Larry: Yeah.
Tony: “Because I’m a fire”?
Larry: No, no, “perché ne sono fiero”, “proud”, “I’m proud”.
Patti: Ah yeah!
Ann: Oh, so like a fire, proud.
Tony: He’s saying “I’m not proud?”
Larry: No, he’s saying: “I am proud”.
Tony: And so what’s the n-e then? Isn’t that…?
Larry: It is not a negative in this case.
Lydia: Like more for emphasis I think.
Larry: It’s an emphasis, yeah, it’s an emphasis word.
Tony: Ah, ok! “I’m Italian, I’m a true Italian”.
Larry: This would be the negative, n-o-n, but n-e is an emphasis word. So you’re not doing that, you’re doing this: “Perché ne sono fiero”, “Because I’m proud”.
“Sono un italiano”, what does that mean?
Tony: “I am Italian, I’m a true Italian”.
Larry: “I’m a true Italian”, perfect, yes, that’s what that means.
Alright, let’s move on to these four. We’ve got Lydia!
Lydia: Ok. “Buongiorno Italia che non si spaventa, Con la crema di barba alla menta, Con un vestito ghessato sul blu, E la moviola domenica…la domenica in TV”.
Larry: Ok, let’s hear it.
(video plays)
Larry: Alright. So, he said: “Buongiorno Italia che non si spaventa”. What does that mean?
Lydia: It means: “Hello Italy who is not afraid”.
Larry: Correct!
Lydia: “Who has no fear”.
Larry: “Con la crema da barba alla menta”?
Lydia: “With the shave…with your shaving cream, your mint-flavored shaving cream”.
Larry: Yes. “Con un vestito gessato sul blu”. So remember the g-i, g sound.
Lydia: Gessato. And it’s a…”gessato” means sort of a suit that’s been altered by the tailor, I think. “A well-fitting suit in blue”?
Larry: Yes, like a blue striped suit.
Kathleen: Yes, “vestito” is “stripes”, yes?
Lydia: No, “vestito” means “suit”!
Kathleen: Oh, “gessato”?
Ann: “Vestito” is a suit.
Larry: Suit, but “gessato” like a blue, like a suit covered in blue.
Lydia: Yes, pinstriped.
Larry: Like a pinstripe.
Ann: So is that the same word like “gesso”? Like with painting?
Tony: It looks like it.
Ann: Yeah, doesn’t it?
Lydia: I think “gessato” means “chalky”, but I think…I’m not sure what “gessato” means in this context.
Larry: Yeah, I think like a blue pinstriped suit.
Ann: Oh, ok!
Patti: Where did you get the mint? Which word is “mint”? “Menta”?
Lydia: “Menta”.
Patti: Ok.
Lydia: “Crema da barba alla menta”, that means “flavored shaving cream”.
Patti: Ok.
Larry: “E la moviola la domenica in TV”?
Lydia: It can be a Moviola, like “a soap-opera on Sunday on TV”.
Ann: Oh my God! That is so hilarious!
Lydia: I know, I know, this is what they do in Italy!
Ann: “Like a Sunday soap-opera on television”.
Larry: And by the way that last word is tee-voo, the V is pronounced voo.
Lydia: Really? I did not know that! Like with blue.
Larry: Tee-voo.
