I recently had to look up "giraffe" in Italian. Turns out it is, simply, "giraffa."
There were few giraffes in Florence, where I lived for four years, and many giraffes in the bambino's brand-new life. If I'm going to keep talking to him in Italian, I need to be able to describe his (zoo-rific) surroundings. Animals, and especially giraffes, it seems, play a large role in my son's books, clothes, decorations and toys.
I'm not sure how this vocabulary will help him as he grows up in our nation's urban capital city, but I suppose we'll plan a trip to the zoo (simply, "lo zoo") when the weather cools down. Maybe we'll look through this picture dictionary of animal words before we go.
Click through for more baby-related vocabulary (diapers, crib, etc.)
Catching up on a quiet night. My favorite animal name in Italian has been pipistrello. I remember seeing it for the first time in a children's book store in Rome. It seemed a wonderfully ridiculous name. Somewhere in there was also a book with the sounds animals make. It struck me how we hear things differently.
ReplyDeleteI did pick up a few things. I now wonder where I've packed them.
Hope all is well,
-Krista