Learning a Language
With the beginning of a new school year fast approaching, I have a bit of the learning bug on my brain. And “learning” shouldn’t be reserved for those under 22, who are mostly forced to become educated before reaching 18! “Learning” is a life long adventure ~ or so it seems to me.
For as much as my book and this website are about food, they are also about language. Sometimes I forget that or, maybe it is more accurate to say, that I don’t talk about language as often as I talk about food. [Click HERE to read previous “Word of the Day” language-themed blog posts.] A beautiful dish makes a great photo, but how do you visually make language become the “eye candy” that food naturally is? Food is easier to write about.
I get so wrapped up in bringing you one of Nonna’s recipe or sharing an adventure we had together, that I forget to tell you about the other half of my Italian love story … Alessandra and the Italian language!
My trip to Viterbo, Italy, which started all of this ~the book, the website and the app on iTunes~ was as much about learning the language as it was about learning the food. Actually, now that I think about it, the trip for me at that time was really MORE about learning the language than it was about the cuisine. I already knew how to cook, but I didn’t know how to speak anything but English.
Obviously, learning to cook a cuisine is a fantastic gateway into a culture. But unless you plan to spend your entire vacation with your mouth so full that you can’t converse with anyone, at some point, you will feel the innate desire to want to speak, to express yourself, to no longer be the foreigner who has to smile, nod and gesticulate at everything to be understood.
Language is key. There is power in the spoken word!
Fluency is not an easy task and it takes years, but that shouldn’t hinder you from being adventuresome in trying to learn what you can. Be a baby once again. A little bit here, a little bit there. It’s fun!
- Start small. Pick up a phrase book. Listen to a tape. Download lessons on your media devices. Check out the “Una Parola del Giorno”– posted in the right hand column of this blog. Visit every day to see and hear a new word. Bravissimo!
- Feeling braver? More curious? Take a class at a local college or language school.
- Really want to jump in? Trial by fire? Do what I did and travel to the country to learn from a native speaker. Surround yourself with the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of a new culture. You’ll be surprised how much more you’ll learn beyond the written and spoken word.
Here is a piece of footage I shot this past January when I visited Nonna, Alessandra and the rest of the Stefani family, except this time, there is no Nonna in this video. This is all Alessandra ~ a wonderful woman, mother, Italian teacher and ~ my dear friend!
[E-mail subscribers, please click HERE to view the video from your e-mail.]
In this video, I had to remind myself to speak English simply to Alessandra, which is why I end up rephrasing my questions to her. It helps to think of the simplest way to phrase a question. Alessandra speaks English VERY well, but she is not 100% fluent in English. She makes mistakes, too. Her most common mistake is confusing “he” and “she.” Often Alessandra will be telling me a story about “she did this” or “she did that” and it is only at the end when I realize that, all along, the story was about her husband Lillo.
Also, Alessandra was a bit nervous being interviewed. You can see it by the fact that her hands are under the table. Using your hands to speak Italian is a must and I wish I had thought to remind her to keep her hands above the table so you could see her “speak” as she answered my questions. Hands ~ Molto importante!! Watch her shoulders and arms … you will see that her hands were “talking” as much under the table as her mouth was above it.
I hope you are eating well and cooking up a storm this summer, but I also hope that you’ll push yourself, just a little, to learn a new word or two in another language. Why not give your brain a little something to chew on, too?!
Cari Saluti~
Mark
*Interested in studying with Alessandra and Nonna? Here are the links to the Dante Alighieri Society in Siena. Classes with the Stefanis in Viterbo may be booked through the Dante Society.
For the school: http://www.dantealighieri.com/
For the course: http://www.dantealighieri.com/
Live Italy Studying Italian info: http://www.inviterbo.com/
Might I recommend:
For Children: Gemelli Press offers this fun and entertaining children’s Italian language book: Impariamo l’Italiano con l’aiuto della Mano
