Would anyone on this board who speaks fluent Italian be willing to translate an Italian web site for me? I am doing research on a possible relative who served with Prince Valerio Borghese’s “Sea Devils”, a Naval Unit also called the Decima Mas (Ecima?) Mas in WWII and I do not understand enough Italian to read the Italian web sites that I have found that mention his name. I would be very grateful for any help with this. Thanks.
Okay, I will look into this site. Thanks. I assume it is a translation site?
A translation engine engine actually.
I tried it. I think I still need an Italian translator. I’ll private message you the results of the translation.
Ciao Francesca,
Try Google translator
http://www.google.co.uk/language_tools?hl=en
Marek
P.S. Had wondered if you had an Italian background with name Francesca.
I have tried to learn Italian on several occasions. Still trying.
Hi Marek,
Somebody is now on the case, but I will also try the site you gave, thank you. Yes, I have a pretty mixed background, but mostly Northern Italian and Dutch. I speak a tiny amount of Spanish, but unfortunately, not Italian! My Great Grandmother spoke it and she taught it to my Grandmother. But my Grandmother didn’t use it enough to remember very much by the time we were born in the 70’s. If you go and look at the information I put up about Italian Americans in WWII, you will see that the Italian language was very unpopular during WWII. Italians were told not to speak the enemy’s language. I think that was part of the reason why it died out in my family within the first generation of Italian Americans. When I asked my Grandmother why she stopped speaking Italian, she didn’t give me much of an answer, so I can only guess.
Shame your family lost the language. Never too late to learn though.
Marek
This is very true. Do you speak any other languages besides English? Marek is also an unusual name. What are the origins of your name?
It’s common for languages to be lost after the 2nd generation. As a matter of fact, I don’t speak Spanish or German even though my grandparents spoke it.
The language everyone should know soon is Chinese:)
I think it’s a shame that language is lost, though. This was not the case at all in the town I grew up in, however. Every single one of my Mexican American friends spoke both Spanish and English fluently. Re: Chinese, I was watching the news last night. I agree, people should start paying more attention to the relations between China and the U.S, especially Gdub and company. Relations between us are not good right now. I can’t say more about it then what I learned on the news last night, so I hope ww2admin will add more.
Its the Polish equivalent of Mark. My parents came to the UK not longer after WWII.
My dad fought with the Polish 2nd Corps in Italy.
As a matter of fact he commanded a mixed company of Poles, Italians and Yugoslavs.
I can also speak Polish.
My two kids are learning Polish (2nd generation born in the UK)
Marek
I’ll private message you the results of the translation
Translation done my dear Francesca, look into your inbox.
I think it’s a shame that language is lost, though. This was not the case at all in the town I grew up in, however.
I think that is not so bad, specially when you try to integrate foreing people in a country, a single language is a good start.
Sometimes it’s the simple utility of a language that causes it to fall by the wayside. If I have to, I can speak Dutch, just not very well, although my hearing comprehension is excellent. Both my parents were fluent in Dutch, English and pretty much in German too. But Dutch is not a terribly useful language around the world which probably accounts for the fact that most Dutch people also speak pretty good English. Because I know enough Dutch to be dangerous, I have more than a passing acquaintance with German, but German is horrendously complex if you want to speak and write it correctly. I speak quite good French because I took a total immersion course in it for 6 weeks and then used it for 2 years after that and had a French girl friend, which really speeds up learning. Because I live where I do, I have a fair comprehension of Spanish, which, if you ask me, is the absolutely easiest language in the world to learn. It is spoken exactly as it is written and doesn’t seem to have any “silent” characters in it. (“He threw the ball through the window and I thought it landed in the trough.”)
The letter “H” is silent in spanish if that is placed in the begin of the word like in Hacha (axe)