Learn Italian with Squid Game

The 2021 craze. To date it’s the most viewed Netflix series ever, and its popularity is anything but waning. Good chances are you’ve watched it already and liked it enough to anxiously wait for the second season, so how about combining business with pleasure… and learn Italian with Squid Game?

In this lesson, we’ll take a look at some concepts and words that are prominent in the series and we’ll see what their translations are in Italian along with many native Italian audio clips and example sentences.

Of course, there are spoilers ahead, so beware.

Let’s learn Italian with Squid Game!

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Learn Italian with Squid Game: Introductions

Let’s start from the title itself. How do you say squid in Italian?

A popular object from the series that people are trying to replicate in real life is the Squid Game business card (biglietto da visita). You know, the one with the three shapes on it.

Let’s keep to learn Italian with Squid Game.

Seong Gi-hun, the series’ protagonist, is handed this card as his life is falling apart (cadendo a pezzi). He’s poor (povero), he’s wretched, he lives in poverty (povertà).

And his mother is sick (malata).

On this business card, we can find a…

English	Italian
Circle	Cerchio
Triangle	Triangolo
Square	Quadrato

And a phone number too (numero di telefono) that Gi-hun ends up calling.

Before you continue to learn Italian with Squid Game, read this Trivia box. You will find another one later on with interesting information about the series.

Trivia
You know a funny but not so funny trivia fact about the phone number you can see on this business card? This number actually belongs to a South Korean woman who for this reason was harassed with thousands of calls.

Tempestare comes from tempesta, meaning storm.

Even if we don’t know the name of the man who played the Korean Ddakji game with Gi-hun at the subway station, we can tell that our man was slapped (schiaffeggiato) dozens of times before finally winning the game.

So, let’s continue to learn Italian with Squid Game and see what the Italian translation for slap is.

We have three choices.

Most commonly you will translate slap with schiaffo. If you want to go for a more informal language register, however, either choose ceffone or sberla.

It’s interesting to notice the difference in how Italian conveys the action of slapping someone.

The first translation is much more common than the other. More often than not, Italian will give a slap to someone, instead of slapping them directly.

Let’s continue to learn Italian with Squid Game. We’re about to enter the game itself. Are you ready?

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Learn Italian with Squid Game: Challenges

456 players compete for a staggering 28m prize contained within a transparent piggy bank (maialino salvadanaio) hanging from the ceiling of their dorm (dormitorio).

All the players are dressed in a dark turquoise uniform with their number sewn on top.

Who thought that we could find such interesting words as we learn Italian with Squid Game? Ottanio is a very particular color in Italian.

But let’s move on.

The players start chatting (chiacchierare) to each other and our protagonist has a nasty encounter with a bully (bullo).

The people supervising the players also wear uniforms. They wear black masks (maschere) and strong pink suits (divise di colore rosa acceso).

And then the first game’s on.

Let’s dive into the Squid Game challenges – don’t worry, it will be harmless! – and continue to learn Italian with Squid Game.

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Learn Italian with Squid Game: Red light, green light

The first game in the series is a gruesome version of Red light, green light.

The Italian name for this popular children’s game is actually un, due, tre, stella!. One, two, three, star!

In Squid Game, the “tagger” is a mechanical doll (bambola meccanica) with unsettling eyes (occhi inquietanti).

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Learn Italian with Squid Game: Dalgona (honeycomb toffee)

Honeycomb toffee is primarily made of sugar (zucchero), and Dalgona is a popular version of it in South Korea.

Although it’s still sold nowadays, Dalgona candy was a very popular street food (cibo di strada) in South Korea in the 70’s and 80’s and children would try to cut out the shapes that the vendor would stamp onto the candy.

Squid Game trivia
How Gi-hun wins the game (by licking the candy) is actually the way the director would win the game during his childhood.

Of course, the unluckiest shape to cut out here is…

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Learn Italian with Squid Game: Tug-of-war

Let’s continue to learn Italian with Squid Game. We are now at the third round.

The Italian translation for tug-of-war is tiro alla fune, where fune is rope.

For this game, the players competing in Squid Game divide up in teams (squadre).

And the team who loses is pushed over the edge (orlo) of a suspended platform (piattaforma sospesa).

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Learn Italian with Squid Game: Marbles

Fourth challenge. Let’s continue to learn Italian with Squid Game.

Marbles (biglie) is a quite game.

It’s in this moment, however, that truth (verità) comes out and you see the real face (faccia) of the people you thought were your friends (amici).

If it’s a matter of life and death (una questione di vita e di morte), even a friend can betray you (tradirti).

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Learn Italian with Squid Game: Stepping on glass

Stepping on transparent (trasparente) glass panels can be a traumatic experience (esperienza traumatica) as is, even without a 50% chance that the glass (vetro) might break.

Glass can be tempered (temperato), so as to withstand stronger blows.

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What next?

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