Lettera dal pullman

Hello everybody, welcome to Podcast Italiano. This is Davide and this is an episode for beginners. I’m going to read to you a letter in Italian. I’m going to read it slow at first and then at normal speed. I’m also going to ask you some questions. If you want, you can answer the questions on the episode’s page at podcastialiano.com, where you will also find the whole transcription and translation into English. I’ll try to correct your mistakes. It can be a helpful writing exercise.  Buon ascolto!

Caro ascoltatore o ascoltatrice,
Dear listener (male) or listener (female)

In questo momento mi trovo sul pullman*. Sai che cosa vuol dire “pullman”? In italiano c’è anche la parola autobus. Autobus e pullman sono sinonimi, vogliono dire la stessa cosa.
Right now I am (I find myself on) on a bus. Do you know what “pullman” means? In Italian we also have the word “autobus”. “Autobus” and “pullman” are synonyms, they mean the same thing. (bus)

In questo momento sto andando in Polonia. In Europa è diventato abbastanza comune negli ultimi tempi viaggiare in autobus. Dato che vivo in Ungheria posso andare in molti paesi con il pullman. Qui in Europa ci sono tanti stati piccoli molto vicini l’uno all’altro. Tu viaggi spesso sul pullman?
Right now I am going to Poland. In Europe it has become quite common in recent times to travel by bus. Since I live in Hungary I can travel (go) to many countries by bus (with the bus). Here in Europe there are lots of little states very close to one another. Do you often travel by bus?

Mi piace abbastanza viaggiare sull’autobus, ma ho un problema grande: non riesco quasi mai a dormire. Questo è un problema perché spesso faccio viaggi di notte per risparmiare.
I kind of like traveling on buses (on the bus), but I have a big problem: I can hardly sleep (I can almost never sleep). This is a problem because I often travel by night to save [money].

Di notte di solito i viaggi costano meno. Però dato che sono una persona alta non riesco quasi mai ad essere comodo e a dormire. A volte ho fatto viaggi di 15 ore senza dormire nemmeno un minuto! Tu hai mai fatto viaggi così lunghi? Dove sei andato/a?
By night trips cost less. But since I am a tall person I can almost never be comfortable and sleep. Sometimes I took (made) 15-hour trips without sleeping even a minute! Have you ever taken trips this long? Where did you go?

Perlomeno con i telefoni, tablet*, e-book reader*, podcast*, ecc. c’è sempre qualcosa da fare. Tu come passi il tempo durante i viaggi lunghi?
At least with phones, tablets, e-book readers, podcasts, and so one, there’s always something to do. How do you pass the time during trips this long?

*Foreign words in the plural usually lose the plural “s”.

In pullman a volte si vedono strane cose. Una volta ero seduto all’ultima fila di posti e nel corridoio era sdraiata una ragazza in un sacco a pelo che dormiva. Non avevo mai visto nessuno fare così… tu hai mai visto cose strane in pullman?
Davide

On buses (on the bus) sometimes strange things can be seen. Once I was sitting in the last row of seats and a girl in a sleeping bag was lying in the corridor sleeping. I had never seen anybody do that (do so)… have you ever seen strange things on buses?
Davide

This is it for today, thank you for listening. I recommend you come back to this episode and listen to it many times. That way you’ll memorize the structures and the vocabulary much faster. I also have a small request. If you can, go to the page of Podcast Italiano on Apple Podcasts and leave a review. That will hopefully help other people find the podcast.
Grazie di cuore! A presto! Ciao.