Volunteering and clubs

Tenth on the list is l’assemblea annuale, and the word inside it resembles « assembly » closely enough to hide a split. In English « assembly » does two jobs that have nothing to do with each other. One is a gathering of people: « a school assembly », « the general assembly », « freedom of assembly ». The other is the act of putting parts together, and it gives « an assembly line », « flat-pack assembly » and « assembly instructions ». Italian keeps the two apart and never lets them meet. L’assemblea is people, always: l’assemblea dei soci, l’assemblea di classe, votare in assemblea. Parts are the business of il montaggio or l’assemblaggio, and a production line is la catena di montaggio. The verbs hold the same line — you assemblare a bookcase and you riunire the members, and swapping the two sounds absurd in either direction. So l’assemblea annuale is the annual general meeting, and « the annual assembly » is a phrase no club here would put on its notice board.