Brianzöo for dummies - Lesson 1

[gothikmaus]

I've wanted to make a post like this for some time. It's no secret I'm quite a language freak. On top of that, I adore dialects. My parents speak dialect most of the time and you could probably say Milanese dialect is their native language, not Italian (they pretty much learned standard Italian in school). I mostly speak Italian, but for some expressions I use dialect too, either because I'm so used to hearing them, or because there's no Italian equivalent.

Most of my foreign LJ friends probably never even heard Milanese dialect, so here are a few popular proverbs/expressions. By the way, this isn't the "real" Milanese pronunciation, but the one spoken in the northern area of the province, so I should probably call it "Brianzöo", not Milanese. Also, I don't know if I wrote everything correctly, as we don't really have a standard written form. For example, we have ö and ü sounds, someone uses the French equivalent (oeu and ue?), but since I didn't study French, I'll just use German umlauts. :P

Brianzöo for dummies - Lesson 1

- "La boca l'è minga straca, se la sa no de vaca" - Very famous proverb, it literally means "The mouth isn't tired, if it doesn't taste like cow", meaning you should always end a meal with a bit of cheese.

- "Se la va, la g'ha i gamb" - One of my mother's favourites (she actually uses a half-dialect, half-Italian version of it), it literally means "If it goes, it's got legs"; that is, if no one finds out what you did, then good for you.

- "Vegn giù dal murun!" - "Come down from the mulberry!", meaning "Open up your eyes!", "Wake up!"

- "Scarliga merlüsc!" - "Slip, cod!" aka "Keep away from me!"

There are many more, I'll post some of my favourite ones if anybody is interested.

Comments

[urania-chan.livejournal.com]

Ah, that's so interesting! :D I love dialects!
I like the leg proverb! xD

I always try to convince people that standard German needs more expressions from Northern Hesse because there is a real lack of expressions, but nobody believes me! D:

[gothikmaus.livejournal.com]

My mother is always using the legs expression with me, usually when I forget to do something and she think I did it on purpose. :P

Well, dialects are always much richer than standard languages, that's a fact. For example, we have a lot of expressions that have something to do with agriculture, because that was what people used to do for a living in the past. But now some expressions are very rarely used, sometimes my parents come up with something I've never heard and they're like "What?! You don't know this?!" How can I know it if I've never even heard of it in my whole life?!

[polarforscherin.livejournal.com]

You remember the lecturer from Südtirol? He told us some weeks ago: "I worked in Milan some years ago and didn't understand a single word. I met a friend from Südtirol there and we both agreed that they speak a foreign language here." XD

[gothikmaus.livejournal.com]

Really? Because of the dialect? In Milan and Turin people don't talk that much in dialect, it would've been much worse if he'd gone to Bergamo, believe me! I could teach you something and you can show off with him if you want. ;)

Haha, once I was talking with some friends and one of them used the word "prestinaio" (baker), which isn't dialect, but it's a word that is apparently only used in Lombardy, because our friend from Bari just looked at us and said "Presti-what?!" XD

[polarforscherin.livejournal.com]

Well, must have been too much for the poor guys from Südtirol. :D

Dialects are so much fun. We visited our relatives in Braunschweig and nobody understood what was meant by "Gedöns" (irgendwelches Zeug) when I talked to my father and it wasn't easy to describe. XD

[gothikmaus.livejournal.com]

People from Südtirol usually have problems with Italian as well. ;) One of my best friends told me there was a guy from Südtirol in one of her classes at uni and he really found it difficult to follow all lessons in Italian.

I love dialects. I should speak mine more, but I'm lazy. Also, now I have 3 languages and 1 dialect playing around in my head and it gets confusing at times... :P

[polarforscherin.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't wonder, if he has problems with Italian. For my ears, he has a German accent when he speaks Italian. I can't really judge it, but it sounds like that. He always introduces himself like that: "Ich komme aus Südtirol und bin italienischer Staatsangehöriger." A really convincing Italian would sound different. I don't think, that they feel Italian. But that's no surprise, too. XD

Hmmm, it's difficult with dialects. Ruhrgebietsdialekt sounds funny to strangers. The cliché is that its speakers are a bit stupid. ;)

I remember the times, when I got French as third language, that was a real chaos. Today, it's easy, I almost forgot everything I ever knew of French. Even though the emperor doesn't like to hear that. XD

[gothikmaus.livejournal.com]

Ha, he said "ich bin italienischer Staatsangehöriger", not "ich bin Italiener", that's the difference. And no, the ones who are German native speakers would much rather be Austrian than Italian. Historically it would make more sense, because the new borders were drawn after WWI merely for strategical reasons, without thinking that the people living there weren't really Italian. Tirol was literally cut in two and the ones living in the south ended up in Italy. Pech gehabt. :P

Also, I bet he has the typical Südtirol accent when he speaks Italian. Even with Carolina Kostner, who speaks a very good Italian, you can hear that she's making an effort and Italian isn't her native language.

[polarforscherin.livejournal.com]

Yes, I remember the details. And I think THEY remember even better. XD

Also, I bet he has the typical Südtirol accent when he speaks Italian. I think so, maybe I'm able to record some of it. But he doesn't speak Italian very often. ;)

[gothikmaus.livejournal.com]

I think some local politician wrote a request asking that Südtirol be part of Austria, but Austria said "No, thanks." Poor things... XD

Also, why was he speaking Italian in the first place?!

[polarforscherin.livejournal.com]

Haha, poor Südtiroler. XD

He spoke Italian when he told us about gossip (Sadly, I don't remember what he said, that was last year.) And when he told about a legend, Befana and Percht(?). Oh my, my brain is a mess. I should remember that better. ;)

[gothikmaus.livejournal.com]

Gossip? During lectures?! XD

Also, I know the Befana of course, but I've never heard of Perchta, I had to look it up on Wikipedia. I learned something new today as well, thank you. ;)

[polarforscherin.livejournal.com]

You haven't heard of Perchta? I thought it's well known in Italy. ;)

Gossip? During lectures?!

Sure, and he's the one who always shows short clips out of movies or pictures he took himself. His seminars are great, you learn very much and it's a lot of fun. :D

[gothikmaus.livejournal.com]

No, never heard of it before. Maybe it's known in Südtirol and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, but not in the area where I come from. :P

Well, that sounds interesting. Call me next time he organises a seminar. ;)

[polarforscherin.livejournal.com]

You can visit me and we go to see him next year. And I'll introduce you as a real Italian to him. XD

It's an Oswald von Wolkenstein seminar this time, so he's able to talk about his home every day. ;)

[gothikmaus.livejournal.com]

I am a total geek. I looked Oswald von Wolkenstein up on Wikipedia and, even if the Italian page is very, very short, I found out he was a member of the Order of the Dragon. That's all I need to know. XD

[polarforscherin.livejournal.com]

Streber!! XD

Yes, Oswald was a very interesting guy. The biography by Dieter Kühn "Ich Wolkenstein" is very good, if you want to know more. ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hB7Lt7a4eI
One of his songs, we listened to it in the seminar.

[gothikmaus.livejournal.com]

Come on, I couldn't ignore such an important detail! The Order of the Dragon, man! XD

[polarforscherin.livejournal.com]

And he was also member of the Order of the Cans. XD

[matitablu.livejournal.com]

Eh eh. Poco tempo fa ho sentito uno studioso che diceva, "non puoi usare il dialetto per parlare di Dio, ma lo puoi usare per parlare con Dio". Non so, mi è rimasto impresso e secondo me è molto calzante :) E lo dico io che alla fine ho sempre parlato in italiano, non si sa bene perché dato che qui il dialetto è ancora "prima lingua" per molti, anche più giovani di me.

Comunque il primo proverbio esiste anche in veneto, con una minima variante: "a pansa no xe straca fin che ła boca no sa da vaca" XD

[gothikmaus.livejournal.com]

A Milano invece è molto raro che i giovani parlino in dialetto. Cioè, man mano che ci si allontana dalla città e ci si inoltra in Brianza le cose cambiano, ma a Milano ormai sono rimasti solo i vecchietti sul tram che parlano in dialetto, tipo le scenette alla Aldo, Giovanni e Giacomo dei primi tempi.

E il commento sul parlare con Dio è geniale. Oddio, si può anche parlare di Dio in dialetto, ma di solito non sono belle cose... XD

[schwimmerin.livejournal.com]

Awesome! :D You know I love this stuff.

[gothikmaus.livejournal.com]

I'll try to post a few more then. :)