To make some small improvement in our Italian skills, we go to a monthly conversation group. Each month, the organizer emails a reminder, and this last time she asked us to let her know if we'll be coming.
I can read Italian books and newspapers with so-so comprehension, but I have trouble coming up with the simplest everyday phrases, especially if they are not in the present tense. So, I called on the friendly, knowledgable folks at Google Translate.
"We will be there" -> "Ci saremo"
That's OK, but do I want to make a statement of certainty?
"We plan to be there" -> "Pensiamo di esserci"
But that seems to me to mean "we're thinking of being there", implying we haven't made up our minds yet.
"We hope to be there" -> "Speriamo di esserci"
Naw! Hope is not as certain as plan. I guess I'll go with "Ci saremo" and hope that our plans work out:)
Interestingly, Google translated "Pensiamo di esserci" to "We plan to be". My goodness, we plan to be lots of places for many years to come!
Oh yeah! Since May 1 is Labor Day all over Europe, I asked Google to translate "labor day" into Italian. It gave, I kid you not, "Labor day", and pronounced it "lahbor die". However, if I put in "festa dei lavoratori" it gives "labor day".
Ciao!
