English US » Italian | 55 [fifty-five] | Working

55 [cinquantacinque] Lavorare

What do you do for a living?	Che lavoro fa?
My husband is a doctor.	Mio marito è medico.
I work as a nurse part-time.	Lavoro come infermiera part-time.
We will soon receive our pension.	Presto andremo in pensione.
But taxes are high.	Ma le tasse sono alte.
And health insurance is expensive.	E l’assicurazione (contro le malattie) è costosa.
What would you like to become some day?	Cosa vorresti fare?
I would like to become an engineer.	Io vorrei diventare ingegnere.
I want to go to college.	Io voglio studiare all’università.
I am an intern.	Io sono praticante.
I do not earn much.	Non guadagno molto.
I am doing an internship abroad.	Faccio un tirocinio all’estero.
That is my boss.	Questo è il mio capo.
I have nice colleagues.	Ho dei colleghi gentili / simpatici.
We always go to the cafeteria at noon.	A mezzogiorno andiamo sempre in mensa.
I am looking for a job.	Cerco un (posto di) lavoro.
I have already been unemployed for a year.	Sono disoccupato da un anno ormai.
There are too many unemployed people in this country.	In questo paese ci sono troppi disoccupati.

Long words, short words

The length of a word is dependent upon its informative content. This has been shown by an American study. Researchers evaluated words from ten European languages. This was achieved with the help of a computer. The computer analyzed various words with a program. In the process, it used a formula to calculate the informative content. The results were clear. The shorter a word is, the less information it conveys. Interestingly, we use short words more often than long words. The reason for this could lie in the efficiency of speech. When we speak, we concentrate on the most important thing. Therefore, words without much information mustn't be too long. This guarantees we don't spend too much time on unimportant things. The correlation between length and content has another advantage. It ensures that the informative content always remains the same. That is to say, we always say the same amount in a certain period of time. For example, we can use a few long words. But we can also use many short words. It doesn't matter what we decide: The informative content remains the same. As a result, our speech has a consistent rhythm. This makes it easier for listeners to follow us. If the amount of information were always varied, it would be difficult. Our listeners couldn't adapt well to our speech. Comprehension would thus be made difficult. He who wants the best chance of being understood should use short words. Since short words are better comprehended than long ones. Therefore, the principle goes: Keep It Short and Simple! In short: KISS!