I finally finished the crossword coding – if you are learning Italian you might like it.

Anyway, I finished the programming (spent all day playing with it) and thought I would tell my sister to get some feedback and general approval.

“I don’t speak any Italian” she said, and then looking at the crossword produced said “but I know that the Italian for Rome is Roma”. 

“You can press ‘check’ to check your answer is correct” I said and added “or press ‘cheat’ if you don’t know the answer”.

She entered ‘Roma‘ and pressed check.

It didn’t work?!! Huh?

I felt like a right numpty.

I’d made a newbie programming error and hadn’t checked for capitals. In the programming world ‘roma’ and ‘Roma’ are considered to be different. How my testing hadn’t revealed this is beyond me …

Anyway, it is fixed. Until the next ‘bug’ is revealed. Watch this space.

Back in the real world, today I learnt about some of the differences between the meaning of sentir ‘‘to feel’ in English and Spanish.

Confusing isn’t the word. ‘Es confuso‘ or ‘estoy confundido‘. There are all sorts of examples of sentir at word reference, and they have all left me none the wiser.  There are so many possible uses that I can’t see the wood for the trees.

But what I did learn (by saying in incorrectly) is that you can not say (using sentir), the city felt (or feels) safe using the English construction.

So, I made up three rules  to guide me in most situations:

1. Sentir  is on only applicable to ‘feelings and emotions’.

2. If you are referring to how you feel, then sentir is used as reflexive. So ‘Me siento triste por no entender esto‘.

3. If your ‘feeling’ relates to someone else, then sentir is not reflexive. So, ‘Siento lástima por — ‘ when you are ‘feeling sorry’ for someone else.

I’ve also finally remembered the Polish word for tree ‘dzerwo‘. Happy days. Make haste slowly. Etc.

Learning languages can be frustrating.

Peace,

MF