Burnt Midnight Oil
A little while back I was asked to prepare a short two day workshop on how to write a press release in English for the Media Relations master at the business school where I often find myself.
After burning copious amounts of that old midnight oil, I came up with such a course.
The first time this course was held was quite a nerve racking experience and I remember feeling much like an actor appearing on his first night. I really had no idea as to how my course would go down. Even though I was fairly sure that I had covered almost everything, and come up with a method that was thorough but, at the same time, quite straight forward. I had even come up with a way, I hoped, of getting the most out of a large group of people with widely differing levels of knowledge of English.
At the end of the day though, I had never really done anything as extensive as this. So how did the course go? Read more
I Segreti di Londra - Corrado Augias
Thanks to Man of Roma, who quoted a section from Italian journalist, writer and TV presenter Corrado Augias‘ book describing the English, I bought a copy of Augias’ book ‘I Segreti di Londra’ yesterday.
While I’ve yet to really dig in to this book; I’ve made it to page 26 so far; what I’ve read has been fascinating, primarily because the work describes certain places in London, and the English, as seen through the eyes of the author.
It is very interesting to see how my fellow countrymen are viewed by an Italian, and, in a way, I feel that it is only fair that I should be reading this tome, in view of the fact that much of the stuff I write about on this blog concerns an Englishman’s perception of Italians and life in Italy.
The book may also help me to understand further how Italians view their own country and culture, and this, in turn, should help me to balance my perception of Italy and its people.
Interestingly enough, for me anyway, the prologue to ‘I Segreti di Londra’ discusses how the English view the Italians. What emerges from this brief analysis is that although historically the English looked down their noses at the unruly Italians, many English people found Italy irresistible.
Some of the more adventurous visitors (John Bright) from the green and pleasant land actually discovered that Italians are really quite nice people if you take the time to get to know them.
I also know a few English people who have been in Italy for a number of years who would agree with Bright’s ‘discovery’, and one of those people is myself.
Anyway, although I’ve really only started, I’ve found everything fascinating so far, even if it is a little odd to see myself, so to speak, under the microscope. Odd, but instructive.
The last book I read on this subject was Beppe Severgnini’s “L’inglese”, but although it was amusing, I found its assessment of the English character to be a wee bit superficial and dated, although I should point out that the book was a send up of the English and not some attempt at psychological analysis. Augias’ book, on the other hand, is more up to date and seems to be attempting to get ‘up close and personal’ with the way we English are, and why.
After I’ve read some more, I’ll post here to see if the book meets my expectations, and manages to help me understand what I am, and why. Whatever, I do believe I will continue to enjoy my guided tour of London courtesy of Corrado Augias, who, incidentally is an ex-politician and MEP.
The book ‘I Segreti di Londra’ was a best seller in Italy, but I’ve yet to check whether it has been translated into English. If I discover that it has, and I continue to find it enthralling, I shall pop it in my shops.
Curious
I had a look at Blog from Italy’s world wide rankings according to Alexa’s ranking service today, and I noticed a few interesting things.
First, most of my visitors come from the other side of the Atlantic. This is no great surprise, seeing as the USA is probably the most connected nation on earth. But in a very close second place is Italy. Now that did surprise me, as did my blog’s ranking within Italy: 13707.
I have noticed, and am pleased, that quite a few more Italians have been dropping in and leaving comments recently, but I did not really think they would be that interested in my waffling on about their lovely country. Must have been wrong. Sometimes being wrong is not so bad after all!
The surprises though are not over, though. Quite a few Germans pop in here too, which is great, but again surprises me. I mean I’m sure there are more than a few good German blogs that talk about Italy out on the www.
However, the biggest surprise for me is that people from the Philippines and Singapore are visiting too. Again, I had no idea that people from these countries would find my blog even remotely interesting, but some must - so a big thanks for visiting to my readers from the Philippines and Singapore.
I have to admit that it is little discoveries like this that make blogging so fascinating for me.
Who ever you are, and where ever you are from, please feel free to drop in whenever you like. And thanks for doing so.
Alex - the chap that writes all this, er, stuff 
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