I am not Italian. Most of my family is German and/or English. But I am a musician (in Nashville? Really?). And because I am classically-trained, I feel like I have studied Italy for a large part of my life (most advanced music terms are Italian). The language itself is very beautiful (molto bella) and musical.
A few years ago I got married – and now my mother-in-law is Italian. Like born-in-Italy and still has some trouble with English Italian. When we visit her house, we always end up watching either the Italian news or some game show and I try to pick out a few words I know. But they talk so fast, I think the most I’ve managed is 5 (or cinque – pronounced chink-quay). If you stay in the bigger cities, you can get by, but in my mother-in-law’s hometown of Udine (OOO-din-ay), north of Venice, no one spoke or understood English.
Until 1861, Italy was made up of a bunch of city states that each had their own language/ dialect. A common language was just one of the hurdles a unified Italy had to face in order to build a strong nation. Thankfully, a young man in Florence writing about heaven and hell saved the day several centuries before he even knew he had to. In writing his Comedia Divina (Divine Comedy), Dante really solidified Italian as a language and he elevated it to be equal to Latin as a means of communication.
Dianne Hales takes us through her own personal journey: how she fell in love with the language, what aspects of it she studied (and she has studied it, A LOT!), and she also talks about how the culture of Italy has a major influence on its language and its people. I enjoyed it and it made me want to try Italian again. I know that I’ll probably never get all the verbs tenses right or really grasp all the regional dialects that still exist, but every new word or conjugation I learn is a step in the right direction. With part of my husband’s family still there, I’m sure we’ll get more chances to show off our Italian prowess. Now we just have to get some – which is pretty much how the Italians do things, so I think we’re right on track!
Buona lettura…
