English US » Italian | 59 [fifty-nine] | At the post office

59 [cinquantanove] Alle poste

Where is the nearest post office?	Dov’è la posta più vicina?
Is the post office far from here?	È lontana la posta?
Where is the nearest mail box?	Dov’è la prossima buca delle lettere?
I need a couple of stamps.	Mi occorrono alcuni francobolli.
For a card and a letter.	Per una cartolina ed una lettera.
How much is the postage to America?	Quanto costa un francobollo per l’America?
How heavy is the package?	Quanto pesa questo pacco?
Can I send it by air mail?	Posso spedirlo per posta aerea?
How long will it take to get there?	Quanto ci mette ad arrivare?
Where can I make a call?	Dove posso telefonare?
Where is the nearest telephone booth?	Dov’è la prossima cabina telefonica?
Do you have calling cards?	Ha carte telefoniche?
Do you have a telephone directory?	Ha un elenco telefonico?
Do you know the area code for Austria?	Sa il prefisso per l’Austria?
One moment, I’ll look it up.	Un momento che guardo.
The line is always busy.	La linea è sempre occupata.
Which number did you dial?	Che numero ha fatto?
You have to dial a zero first!	Deve fare prima lo zero!

The native language is always the most important language

Our native language is the first language we learn. This happens automatically, so we don't notice it. Most people only have one native language. All other languages are studied as foreign languages. Of course there are also people who grow up with multiple languages. However, they typically speak these languages with differing levels of fluency. Often, the languages are also used differently. One language is used at work, for example. The other is used at home. How well we speak a language is dependent on multiple factors. When we learn it as small children, we typically learn it very well. Our speech center works most effectively in these years of life. How often we speak a language is also important. The more often we use it, the better we speak it. But researchers believe a person can never speak two languages equally well. One language is always the more important language. Experiments seem to confirm this hypothesis. Various people were tested in one study. Half of the test subjects spoke two languages fluently. Chinese was the native language and English the second. The other half of the subjects only spoke English as their native language. The test subjects had to solve simple tasks in English. While doing so, the activity of their brains was measured. And differences appeared in the brains of the test subjects! In the multilingual individuals, one region of the brain was especially active. The monolingual individuals, on the other hand, showed no activity in this region. Both groups solved the tasks equally fast and well. Despite this, the Chinese still translated everything into their native language…