# First words in foreign languages you learned from opera



## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Inspired by mamascarlatti's post in Verdi DVDs thread:



> It struck me how bonkers a lot of opera plots are when I realised that the only two words I can reliably recognise in Russian are "love" and "second" (as in "Will you be my second in this duel").


Is it that bad? Let's all go back in memory to times when we still were getting used to languages we don't speak too well but which we know from operas.

Mine would be:

Italian:

1) "pensieri (thoughts)" - it felt into my ears while I was listening to Recondita Armonia over and over again and then I recognized it in aria from Norma, it wasn't hard to work out what it means

2) "donna (woman)" - it would be hard not to learn this word. I never listened to Rigoletto  but there are plenty of donnas in Puccini (dialogue between Rudolfo and Marcello in Boheme comes to mind, and the act I of Manon Lescaut with Donna Non Vidi Mai)

3) Mille (milion), serpi (serpents), divorami (devour), il, petto (chest) - these words make one sentence in Traviata and Domingo was so kewl with them in Zefirelli's movie that I had to write down the whole sentence and learn it. Now I use it daily. Someone tells me bad news and I shout MILLE SERPI... DIVORANMI IL PETTO!, grab my frock coat and leave to duel with barone.

German:

1) "Wehe! (Woe!)" - probably Wagner's all-time favourite word.

2) "Schmerz (grief, ache)" - another Wagner's favourite, or is it just that 99% of characters in his operas suffer from große schmerzen im herzen?

I suppose I would learn diffrent, more obvious words but I already knew basics of German.

I don't think I learned any French word from opera  and I'm a bit into French actually. Perhaps it's because I don't listen to much of French operas.

Btw, try to learn ANY word in Hungarian by ear after one listening to Bluebeard's Castle.


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre...


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

factotum (which oddly enough, dictionaries often translate as, well, "factotum" -- but I was unfamiliar with it in both italian and english).

Knowing French helps muddle through some Italian lyrics as a lot of Italian words are cognates (mano / main, dolce / doux, etc)


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

*To limit it to FIRST words...*

Italian: questa, quella, piuma, and of course maledizione- honorable mention to giubba.

French: knew about oiseaux rebelle before I knew about oiseau d'feu, if you know what I mean.

German- if I had to pick one, I'd say teure

Czech- pivcecko...(sp?)


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

When Renée Fleming does the song to the moon I 'dig my heels' (often used expression in the US nowadays) when she comes to "Řekni mi" ('Tell me') .................. Beer in Czech = pivo; small beer = pivecko. :cheers:


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## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

Figaro qua, Figaro là, 
Figaro qua, Figaro là, 
Figaro su, Figaro giù, 
Figaro su, Figaro giù ...


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Italian: Ohime


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

Since I was a pre-schooler at the time, the first phrases I learned from listening to operas came out rather mangled. Jaquino's "Ich komme schon!" (_Fidelio_) was rendered by Yours Truly as "commi-sone." My parents thought this was very cute until I quoted the "Psst! Figaro!" from the _Largo al Factotum _as "**** Figaro!"


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

'She is dead' in whatever language - that line seems to crop up more than any other from what I can remember.


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

I started picking up German words while doing listening assignments for my first music history class (19th century) and was amused even then by the words I heard often enough to remember. Listening to lieder and opera is a funny way to pick up bits of a language. 

Yes, weh and schmerz (like Aramis said), but also lieb, herz, leid, lied, tod, trauer, traum, and lindenbaum. Oh, Romanticism. 

(Some of those should probably be capitalized. German capitalization is weird.)


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

With any language, I'll usually start with the 'hi's and 'thank you's...of course, the 'goodmorning's and 'goodnights' but then somehow, I start drifting toward their dirty words...childish, I know...still, it is how it is...I Sveikata!


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

The first italian I learnt was from listening to relatives, all other languages I picked up from meeting people, normally the typical 'meet and greet' words as kv466 said. Studied Latin, Spanish, French, German, ancient Greek and Hebrew at school - a lot of the ancient languages used to study texts so not necessarily spoken.

But from picking up bits and bobs of language I can say some greetings in Welsh, Gaelic, Dutch, Polish, Danish, Swedish, Suomi, Arabic, Farsi, Mandarin, Japanese, Hrvatski, Russian, and loads of others - language is just like music to me, I just remember it; I'm bloody useless at faces and names though


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## crmoorhead (Apr 6, 2011)

Odd that this post appears just when I was contemplating starting my own list of Italian words from various operas. I studied Spanish to A-Level at school and Italian is very similar. Aside from the titles of the operas themselves (Il Trovatore, La Traviata), I couldn't tell you what the first new word was, but one of the first was definitely "figlio". I tend to sit down with the libretto in Italian (or whatever language) and the English side by side so that I can compare them. An interest in languages does help make opera a lot more interesting, IMO.


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## crmoorhead (Apr 6, 2011)

Bix said:


> But from picking up bits and bobs of language I can say some greetings in Welsh, Gaelic, Dutch, Polish, Danish, Swedish, Suomi, Arabic, Farsi, Mandarin, Japanese, Hrvatski, Russian, and loads of others - language is just like music to me, I just remember it; I'm bloody useless at faces and names though


I always try to learn how to thank someone in their language. Always good to be polite. 



> (Some of those should probably be capitalized. German capitalization is weird.)


In German, all nouns are capitalised. As far as I know. 



> Btw, try to learn ANY word in Hungarian by ear after one listening to Bluebeard's Castle.


I have an English version on CD, but did get a copy of it on DVD. I recognised the word for "thank you" in it, but that is the only Hungarian work I know.  Kosornom!


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Of the major operatic languages - Italian, German, French, English, Russian - I know three. German and Russian I don't. I believe I haven't picked up any Russian from listening to Russian opera. German, yes. I've picked up a word here and there, like Liebe, tote, Frau, Vater, Licht, Zauber, etc. Oh, and Hojotoho! Hojotoho! Heiaha! Heiaha!


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

elgars ghost said:


> 'She is dead' in whatever language - that line seems to crop up more than any other from what I can remember.


:lol: Sounds like opera. Dead women all over the place.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

So... in German can you just stick any words together you want to make new custom words?

Liebe + Tod (Love + Death) = Liebestod
Liebe + Nacht (Love + Night) = Liebesnacht (Night of love)
Gött + Dämmerung (God + Twilight) = Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods)
Rose + Kavalier (Rose + Knight) = Rosenkavalier (Knight of the Rose)

What a sweet language.


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

Couchie said:


> So... in German can you just stick any words together you want to make new custom words?
> 
> Liebe + Tod (Love + Death) = Liebestod
> Liebe + Nacht (Love + Night) = Liebesnacht (Night of love)
> ...


Right? And sometimes more than two words, to boot. I wish I had time to learn German. I know what I'm doing with my retirement.


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

Meaghan said:


> Right? And sometimes more than two words, to boot.


This isn't opera specific but they are fond of linking whole sentances together in Swedish, especially when it's the name of somthing e.g. 
*Nordöstersjökustartilleriflygspaningssimulatoranläggningsmaterielunderhållsuppföljningssystemdiskussionsinläggsförberedelsearbeten* 
(130 letters). It means "Northern Baltic Sea Coast Artillery Reconnaissance Flight Simulator Construction Equipment Maintenance Monitoring systems Talk Posts Preparation Works."


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Bix said:


> *Nordöstersjökustartilleriflygspaningssimulatoranläggningsmaterielunderhållsuppföljningssystemdiskussionsinläggsförberedelsearbeten*
> (130 letters). It means "Northern Baltic Sea Coast Artillery Reconnaissance Flight Simulator Construction Equipment Maintenance Monitoring Systems Talk Posts Preparation Works."


Now there's a good subject for an opera

Posts Preparation Worker (poet in his spare time & bit of a wimp): Jonas Kaufmann (tenor)

Flight Simulator Constructor (rescues kittens from trees & all round good egg): Dmitri Hvorostovsky (baritone)

Systems Monitor (lingerie model & prone to revealing assets): Anna Netrebko (soprano)

Equipment Maintenance (part time gymnast but prone to breaking legs): Joyce DiDonato (mezzo-soprano)

Artillery Reconnaissance Boss-man (chews girders as his day job - keep clear when he's angry): Rene Pape (basso)


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## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

I've learned too many Italian words to remember the first ones, but I guess they were from Tosca. When I first heard it I had no libretto in hand but I could follow it quite ok, and then it became better with each listening. Problem is, I listen to the De Sabata recording so many times now their voices and little mannerisms are in my head and when others deviate from it, I'm all like "not cooool". 

Some Italian words I definitely learned from operas: scellerato, maledizione, figlio/figlia, fratello/sorella, padre/madre, Dio/Dei/Numi, cielo, amore, onore, morta/muore/morir, mio/mia, voi/vostro, traditore, chiostro, andiamo, vieni, uccidere, gelosia, marito, moglie, sposo/sposa, paura, altare, fazzoletto, re, regina, conte/contessa, principe/principessa, gelo, fuoco, schiavo/schiava, nero, bianco, oro, nome, sangue.


I knew German before opera, but I learned "Wonne", "Not", "Minne", "Segel", "Meineid", "Herd", "Speer" and the like from Wagner.

I learned the word "pretty" from West Side Story - back then I didn't know English.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

sospiro said:


> Now there's a good subject for an opera
> 
> Posts Preparation Worker (poet in his spare time & bit of a wimp): Jonas Kaufmann (tenor)
> 
> ...


That is beautiful Annie :lol:. Can't wait for the DVD.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

I speak French and Italian and a little German so it's really my Russian that's growing. I like it so much that I think I might try to learn a little - it won't be completely wasted because we have 10,000 Russians living in NZ and a few of them go through my classes. But I think the pronunciation is going to be hard - that dark "l" and it looks as though there are two "sh" phonemes and I can't really hear the difference between them (like Koreans can't tell the difference between our "p" and "f" although it's bleeding obvious to us).


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

sospiro said:


> Now there's a good subject for an opera
> 
> Posts Preparation Worker (poet in his spare time & bit of a wimp): Jonas Kaufmann (tenor)
> 
> ...


Perhaps when we have run out of all listings of operas from 0001 - 1000, we can start to produce our own TC librettos.....


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

First words in a foreign language learnt from opera? Can't recall for sure. But I think it was very likely to be:-

(1) Nozze
(2) Zauberflöte
(3) Empio, dirò, tu sei from this very performance


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## Operafocus (Jul 17, 2011)

When I was about 12 I saw Pavarotti do a recording "Vesti la Giubba", wearing a white costume, and was completely mesmerized. Mother then explained to me that "Pagliacco" meant "clown" and said clown was sad because his wife and friend had betrayed him. I'm seeing my first live performance of "Pagliacci" in August and can't wait. It's been a long wait


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

Operafocus said:


> When I was about 12 I saw Pavarotti do a recording "Vesti la Giubba", wearing a white costume, and was completely mesmerized. Mother then explained to me that "Pagliacco" meant "clown" and said clown was sad because his wife and friend had betrayed him. I'm seeing my first live performance of "Pagliacci" in August and can't wait. It's been a long wait


Hope the performance goes well and welcome to the forum.


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## BalloinMaschera (Apr 4, 2011)

Cinque... dieci.... venti... trenta... trentasei...quarantatre


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Operafocus said:


> When I was about 12 I saw Pavarotti do a recording "Vesti la Giubba", wearing a white costume, and was completely mesmerized. Mother then explained to me that "Pagliacco" meant "clown" and said clown was sad because his wife and friend had betrayed him. I'm seeing my first live performance of "Pagliacci" in August and can't wait. It's been a long wait


Really now. You're going to all of the opera performances I want to go to! I take it's the Cav-Pag at Fredriksten with Birgitte Christensen and Thor-Inge Falch (he has a hilarious vibrato, by the way)?


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

BalloinMaschera said:


> Cinque... dieci.... venti... trenta... trentasei...quarantatre


ding, ding............dong, dong


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## Operafocus (Jul 17, 2011)

Bix said:


> Hope the performance goes well and welcome to the forum.


Thank you 



Aksel said:


> Really now. You're going to all of the opera performances I want to go to! I take it's the Cav-Pag at Fredriksten with Birgitte Christensen and Thor-Inge Falch (he has a hilarious vibrato, by the way)?


Yep, that's the one! Thor-Inge Falch... I've heard him on several occasions, and it's not just the vibrato I find... interesting. In addition to the howling-hound-vibrato, he's a bit of a shouter, really. Not a very sophisticated sound, to be honest, but it has the potential of being a very good spinto voice - but I think it would require some a little tweaking. In my humble opinion, that is


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Operafocus said:


> Yep, that's the one! Thor-Inge Falch... I've heard him on several occasions, and it's not just the vibrato I find... interesting. In addition to the howling-hound-vibrato, he's a bit of a shouter, really. Not a very sophisticated sound, to be honest, but it has the potential of being a very good spinto voice - but I think it would require some a little tweaking. In my humble opinion, that is


I heard him in a semi-staged, abridged Carmen (in Nynorsk!) last year (he sang Don José with Ingebjørg Kosmo (who, incidentally is my favourite Carmen) with Christian Lindberg conducting), and I was struck by how his vibrato is so wide you could almost walk through it. It's at least a diminished fourth wide.

Judging from this, he's more of a Spieltenor, which I do think would suit (not having heard him sing anything more than that Don José and Passepartout in Around the World in 80 Days that aired on TV a while back) him better than the leading tenor roles. His Monostatos should be rather excellent.


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## Operafocus (Jul 17, 2011)

Aksel said:


> Judging from this, he's more of a Spieltenor, which I do think would suit (not having heard him sing anything more than that Don José and Passepartout in Around the World in 80 Days that aired on TV a while back) him better than the leading tenor roles. His Monostatos should be rather excellent.


I've heard him do a role and a live gig. The role was Boles (or "Bawls" as we ended up calling it... cause that's what he did. Bawling his head off) in Peter Grimes, and then solo stuff like Nessie which sounded... interesting. He can do a top, like many other tenors. For instance, the guy who did the title role in Peter Grimes could have Jussi Björling factors in his voice, and sometimes does, but how he usually produces the sound now all is focused on the top half - with nothing to speak of in the middle or bottom. He can do a high C for ever, and very very well too, but even tenors need more than just a high C


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## SerbenthumInDerMusik (Nov 9, 2012)

Well, every perfect Wagnerite must have very early on picked out the following phrase (in 2 different operas in 2 different contexts).

Tristan und Isolde Akt II
(ISOLDE) Lausch, Geliebter! (TRISTAN) _Lass mich sterben_!

Parsifal Akt II
(AMFORTAS) Lebe, leb' und _lass mich sterben_!

But then again, maybe it's just me who picked it out.


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## hautboi (Oct 29, 2012)

principessa morta or something, Turandot's cool epithet. or mille e tre for Don Giovanni's Spanish conquests


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## Manok (Aug 29, 2011)

I still don't know anything, beyond peoples names in most of them. I listen for the musicality, and the enjoyment, I agree with the person who said most opera plots are bonkers, though sometimes it lends to the enjoyment when you know what is going on. Don't think I'd have appreciated Lohengrin without knowing the plot.


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## tyroneslothrop (Sep 5, 2012)

My first foreign word from operas was already in the title:

_Nibelung_ - race of dwarves


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## korenbloem (Nov 5, 2012)

I can really relate to this. Mostly when i listen to opera, i listen to it for the musicality of it. But sometimes i like to get deeply in to the libberto and score.

On the other hand: understanding and knowing about the lyrics and music helps to apprechiate the music and gives an more profound meaning of it. Yet I for me it is not an requerement, Good music is always good music, even when i don't understand one word of it.


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## korenbloem (Nov 5, 2012)

@ Manok

I can really relate to that. Mostly when i listen to opera, i listen to it for the musicality. But there are times when i like to get deeply in to the libberto and score.

On the other hand: understanding and knowing about the lyrics and music helps to apprechiate the music and gives an more profound meaning of it. Yet I for me it is not an requerement, Good music is always good music, even when i don't understand one word of it.


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## tyroneslothrop (Sep 5, 2012)

korenbloem said:


> @ Manok
> 
> I can really relate to that. Mostly when i listen to opera, i listen to it for the musicality. But there are times when i like to get deeply in to the libberto and score.
> 
> On the other hand: understanding and knowing about the lyrics and music helps to apprechiate the music and gives an more profound meaning of it. Yet I for me it is not an requerement, *Good music is always good music, even when i don't understand one word of it.*


It's obvious that one can appreciate opera as simply music--Xavier said something similar here not long ago. However, it is indisputable that opera is *musical theater*, and so if you neither watch it performed nor understand the words, then it is just impossible to catch the theatricality of opera--in actuality, you are missing a large chunk of what opera is all about.


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## Yashin (Jul 22, 2011)

Straniero! Non tentar la fortuna!

From Turandot. The fabulous Dame Eva Turner belting it out


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## Dongiovanni (Jul 30, 2012)

I was taught German, English and French in school. Completely new for me was Italian. The first words I picked up were the itialian music terms when I started to play and study classical music. I had no idea at first they were italian, someone had to point that out to me. From opera the first word I learned was bravo  and the superlatives in italian. I think Italian is such a pretty language, I wish I was able to speak it, or at least to understand it. 

I do wonder if italians nowadays have any problems understanding nozze di Figaro libretto, after all it's more than 200 years old and it's also "poetic" text. I watch opera with subs and I notice that there is quite some difference in translation of the same text.


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## tyroneslothrop (Sep 5, 2012)

Dongiovanni said:


> From opera the first word I learned was *bravo*  and the superlatives in *italian*.


When I attended my first gala in Russia many years ago, there was a wonderful soprano. Needless to say, she got a standing ovation and the audience shouted "Bravo!" I thought to myself, Russians must be just mimicking behavior from the West, as everyone knows that the feminine declension of _bravo_ is _brava_! Well, as I was chagrinned to be told, everyone does not include me--it happens that in Russian, _bravo_ is a loanword from Italian, and as such, is not declined at all in Russian, so _bravo_ applies to women as well as men. So much for being a smarty pants! :lol:


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## Queen of the Nerds (Dec 22, 2014)

My first word I learned from opera was "donna".


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Violetta singing ; Flora, amici, la notte che resta :cheers:


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

I have a lot, I'll just put down a few, although I usually look up libretto so know translations for a lot

Caro - beloved
Donna - woman
Amor - love
Fanciulla - girl
Di - day
Passato - past
Preghiera - prayer
Babbino - father
Promessa - promiss
Perché - why


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## graziesignore (Mar 13, 2015)

Perduta!! My favorite Italian term. 

Ancor, which I always used to confuse with "cor" until I realized it was a somewhat cognate of French "encore"

insieme
ingrato
traditore


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Zuruck von Ring!!


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

tyroneslothrop said:


> My first foreign word from operas was already in the title:
> 
> _Nibelung_ - race of dwarves


That comes in handy in Germany travels.

_"Your Mutter ist eine Nibelung" _- me, dem deutschen Volke.


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## Tedski (Jul 8, 2015)

La Donna e mobile.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Non di scordar di me


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## gardibolt (May 22, 2015)

Tedski said:


> La Donna e mobile.


Same here. characters characters characters


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

This is fun ...

"Celeste Aida, forma divina"
- divina (but pronounced differently than in Italian) is a Slovak word for wild game meat . Very amusing for an 8 year old me.

My name, which I will keep secret for now, is actually an Italian word. My parents had to explain, that those arias are not about me


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

French: helas!
German: Schwert. It's about Wagner and psychoanalysis. Der holle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen. 
Italian: libiamo, una voce poco fa, gélido in ogni vene, bel raggio lusinghier, e tardi!, gerasti serpenti, vorrei punirte indegno, vorrei stropparte il cuor.
And even Russian. Some operas contain very archaic texts, for example, "Pusto sholomya okatisto" - The sloppy hill is empty - is totally different in modern Russian. 
Chech: jasny mesicek.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

I have forgotten about the "butterfly" - the English word learned from an Italian opera


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

sangue
e strano
esperanza


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

Aramis said:


> Btw, try to learn ANY word in Hungarian by ear after one listening to Bluebeard's Castle.


I think I have learned exactly one word from that one: "könyek" (sp?), tears.

Russian: Slava! (Boris Godunov)

No French, I am afraid, although I could imitate a bit of Carmen's habanera as a child phonetically, I struggle to parse words correctly in French even today. It's a language where one needs to know what is said to correctly divide that nasal soundstream into words...
When I heard the first famous choruses and arias as a kid it was also still comparably common (at least on such popular anthologies) to have them in translation (that are often very far from the text and silly)


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