Friday, May 22, 2020

Italian Words Used in Fashion and Design

Picture it: You walk into a boutique shoe shop on the main corso in Viterbo, Italy, looking to buy some shoes to match an outfit later that evening. La commessa (the saleswoman) greets you with a salve! and points to the merchandise arranged around her store.   Pairs of shoes sit on illuminated shelves, shoes with heels so tall, you couldn’t imagine wearing them without twisting an ankle on the cobblestone streets that line the center of the city. Each visit to a  un negozio (a store) to find a sweater, a pair of jeans, or a new top becomes an opportunity to acquire new, specific vocabulary for the items themselves and all the various colors, sizes, and materials they come in.   Below, find a list of common vocabulary and phrases that can be used when shopping in Italy or just talking about clothes. Accessories (Gli Accessori) Belt -  la cinturaBowtie - il papillonCap -  il berretto/il cappellinoGloves -  i guantiHat -  il cappelloPurse - la borsaSocks -  i  calziniSunglasses  - gli occhiali da soleTie -  la cravattaWatch - l’orologio Clothing (L’Abbigliamento / Il Vestiario) Blouse -  la camicetta/la blusaBra -  il reggisenoCoat -  il cappottoDress - il vestitoJeans - i jeansLingerie - la biancheria intimaPants -  i pantaloniRaincoat -  limpermeabileScarf -  la sciarpaShirt -  la camiciaSkirt -  la gonnaSweater -  il pullover/il golfSweatshirt - la felpaSweatsuit - la tutaSuit - il completoTuxedo - lo smokingUnderwear -  le mutandeVest -  il panciottoWindbreaker -  la giacca a vento Shoes (Le Scarpe) Flip-flops - le infraditoHigh heels - le scarpe col taccoHiking boots - le scarpe da trekkingRainboots - i stivali di gomma/stivali da pioggia Vocabulary Descriptions Cotton - il cotoneLeather - il cuoioLinen - il linoPolyester - il poliestereSilk - la setaWool - la lanaLoose - largoTight - strettoStriped - a righe/strisce Phrases Cerco una felpa a righe.I’m looking for a striped sweatshirt. Tip: Notice that in Italian there is no preposition used after the verb cercare (to look for). The â€Å"for† is implied within the verb. Sono/Porto/Indosso una taglia†¦(media).I’m a medium.Vuole provarlo?Do you want to try it on?Vorrei provare questi, dove sono i camerini?I’d like to try these on, where are the fitting rooms? Tip: In the phrase above, â€Å"lo† would be used if the item were singular and masculine, like il vestito (the dress). However, if it were singular and feminine, like la sciarpa (the scarf), it would be â€Å"Vuole provarla†? While it’s important to make everything agree, don’t stress if you can’t remember the gender of the object you have. You’ll be safe with using the pronoun â€Å"lo†. È comodo.It’s comfortable.Il vestito à ¨ troppo stretto, avete una taglia pià ¹ grande?The dress is too tight, do you have a larger size?Questi (stivali) sono scomodi.These (boots) are uncomfortable.Preferisco il rosa.I prefer pink. (As a color) Notice the differences in meanings below. Preferisco la rosa.I prefer the rose (flower).La preferisco rosa.I prefer  it (something feminine like: la gonna, la sciarpa, la maglietta...etc)  in pink.Lo preferisco rosa.I prefer  it (something masculine like: il golf, il pantalone, il papillon...etc)  in pink.

Saturday, May 9, 2020

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarche

All Quiet on the Western Front is a fictional war novel written by Erich Maria Remarque which follows the main character Paul Baumer, a German solider in World War I. Paul, the nineteen year old protagonist, narrates the novel as he and his classmates fight on the German and French front. The young men volunteer to join the German army after being persuaded by the nationalist words of their teacher, Kantorek. After only fighting for two weeks, eighty men remain in the company of the once one hundred and fifty men. Paul, Kropp, and Muller then go to visit Kemmerich, a friend of theirs from school, in the hospital. He was wounded in combat resulting in the amputating of his leg. Seeing that Kemmerich is going to die and no longer needs the new boots that he has, Muller asks to have them but Kemmerich refuses. When Paul later goes back to the hospital, Kemmerich dies and Paul takes his boots to Muller. Because of the large number of soldiers who are dying, new recruits are sent to join the company. Paul is given seventeen days of leave in which he visits his family. When he returns home, he feels out of place and is not comfortable sharing his awful combat experiences with others. His mother is sick and dying of cancer as his father is struggling to pay for her care. Paul also finds out that Kantorek, his teacher from school, was forced to become a German soldier. This pleases Paul because Kantorek now has to actually experience the tragic events of the war firsthand like the

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

International Trade and Trade Restrictions Free Essays

International Trade and Trade Restrictions International Trade and Trade Restrictions International trade increases the number of goods that domestic consumers can choose from, decreases the cost of those goods through increased competition, and allows domestic industries to ship their products abroad. While all of these seem beneficial, free trade is not widely accepted as completely beneficial to all parties and trade restrictions are applied. Trade restrictions can be in the form of tariffs, which are taxes on imports; quotas, which are limits on the quantity of a particular good that can be imported or exported; or other trade restrictions. We will write a custom essay sample on International Trade and Trade Restrictions or any similar topic only for you Order Now International trade efficiencies, trade restrictions, and the consequences of these restrictions will be discussed further. World trade offers many advantages to the trading countries: access to markets around the world, lower cost through economies of scale, the opportunity to utilize abundant resources, better access to information about markets and technology, improved quality honed by competitive pressure, and lower prices for consumers (McEachern, 2012, p. 733). Comparative advantage, specialization, and trade allow people to use their scarce resources most efficiently to satisfy their unlimited wants. Comparative Advantage is the ability to make something at a lower opportunity cost than other producers face (McEachern, 2012, p. 32). The ability to make a good at a lower opportunity cost gives that individual, firm, region, or country a comparative advantage. Even if a country has absolute advantage in all goods, they should specialize in producing the goods in which it has a comparative advantage. If each country specializes and trades according to the law of comparative advantage, everyone would benefit from greater consumption possibilities. McEachern provides three reasons for international specialization: countries having different resource endowments, greater economies of scale can be achieved when firms participate in international trade, and tastes differ from country to country (McEachern, 2013, p. 719-720). Every country has a comparative advantage in the production of some products. This means that the labor and capital resources available in the reason are more productive when focused towards a particular industry and thus are able to be produce that product better as a result. In the case of the textile industry, Pakistan enjoys a comparative advantage as it has many cotton fields, providing it direct access to the raw material for the industry. It further has been operating in that industry for a long time that has spawned a lot of trained workforce relating to that industry in the country. Therefore, law of comparative advantage dictates that it should produce textile materials. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations (WTO, 2012). Their goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business. The WTO and agreements such as NAFTA open up free trade, allowing goods to move freely and thereby aiding consumers in various countries in terms of prices and quality. It also spawns healthy competition in the local industries. Trade restrictions can lead to a breakdown in competition and can lead to adverse effects in the local and international market. Restrictions can benefit certain domestic producers that lobby their government for benefits. Congress tends to support the group that fights back, so trade restrictions often persist, despite the clear and widespread gains from freer trade. For example, U. S. growers of sugar cane have been protected from imports, which results in an increase in U. S. sugar prices. Higher prices hurt domestic consumers, but they are usually unaware. As McEachern states, â€Å"Consumers remain largely oblivious. † Who is responsible for trade ethics? Government might be the initial answer but all constituents involved should be aware and be transparent. An example is Nike, Inc. They provid a statement in understanding how to change the way an industry views its labor force. It does not happy by monitoring factories alone. Monitoring reveals the issues, issues that in turn are locked into a complex web of root causes. The ability to address these root causes should be shared by many, owned by no single constituent (Nike, Inc. , 2013, p. 1). One of their strategies is to transform working relationships with their contracted factories to incentivize change that will benefit workers. Are trade restrictions effective? Trade protection can foster inefficiencies. The immediate cost of such restrictions includes not only the welfare loss from higher domestic prices but also the cost of resources used by domestic producer groups to secure the favored protection (McEachern, 2012, p. 732). These costs may become permanent if the industry never realizes the economies of scale and never becomes competitive. Protecting one stage of production usually requires protecting downstream stages of production as well. The biggest problem with imposing trade restrictions are that other countries usually retaliate which shrinks the gains from trade. Some experts believe the costs of protecting the jobs of workers in vulnerable industries, which are ultimately borne by taxpayers or consumers, far exceed the potential cost of retraining and finding new jobs for those workers (Globalization 101, 202, para. 1). In addition, that it may not promote firms and industries to make necessary changes to challenge foreign competition and find efficiencies to which then would make them become even more dependent on government protection. As international trade has increased, conflicts over trade have also increased. Trade restrictions may continue to be very political in nature. The more companies like Nike and consumers start being more aware of ethical behavior around international trade, the more everyone will benefit. The U. S. government does take responsibility for workers who lose their jobs by international trade and have programs established to assist in training and support to re-employ those workers. As countries specialize and trade according to the law of comparative advantage, consumers should also benefit from efficient production and cheaper prices. The increase of technology may have an impact that will increase the speed at which international trade and efficiencies happen. References McEachern, W. A. (2012). Economics, 9e (9th ed). Mason, OH: South-Western. Globalization 101 (2013). The Levin Insitute. Consequences of trade restrictions. thttp://www. globalization101. org/consequences-of-trade-restrictions/ Nike, Inc. (2013). Responsibility. Targets and performance. http://www. nikeresponsibility. com/report/content/chapter/targets-and-performance#Labor World Trade Organization (2013). http://www. wto. org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/whatis_e. htm How to cite International Trade and Trade Restrictions, Essay examples