Was It Something I Said?

Becoming Italian Word by Word, a blog by Dianne Hales, is an absolute must-read for anyone with an interest in Italian and Italians. Hales discusses the nuances of words and phrases, provides cultural insights, and talks about the history and structure of the Italian language, all in a way that is both entertaining and intelligent. As a native speaker of Italian who may not always grasp the English speaker’s mindset, my Italian teacher often finds it difficult (or impossible) to explain all those idioms, irregularities and idiosyncrasies to the satisfaction of his students. He shrugs his shoulders and says, “That’s just how we say it. It is the way it is.” Hales digs deeper and gives us a better of idea of why it is that way and what we can do with it. Take a look.

Pimsleur offers the best audio program for learning Italian I have found, and I was sorry that it stopped at Level 3. Now, there is Italian Plus,which goes to the next level. It contains only 10 lessons, compared to 30 in the other levels, so it’s not quite as expensive. There is also a comprehensive set that contains all four levels, but it’s not currently available on Amazon.

UCLA Extension has a new course called “Weekend Prep for Italian 3″. It sounds like a better class than the “Verborama” I took a couple of years ago. This offers a refresher of the fundamental skills, including important aspects of grammar and interactive activities. The textbook is Oggi In Italia, yet another overpriced textbook. The class meets three times, Feb 7, 8 and 14. It’s Italian 701, Reg# U73268 in the extension catalog.

Photo by Rosemary West

I use my iPod in the car to practice Italian. Currently I am repeating some of the lessons from Pimsleur Italian III. Several of the places I regularly go are almost exactly the right distance to play one lesson.

Diane from my class was very smart to start her book group. They choose a book and then meet from time to time to discuss it. I haven’t attended one of the meetings (the time is never right for me) but sometimes I buy the book to read. If your pronunciation is good (mine usually is), reading aloud is one way to get some practice with speaking (and, if your pronunciation is good, hearing) Italian. In any case, Italian literature can teach a lot about sentence construction and essential vocabulary. It’s best to find books that have the English translation on the facing page, making it easier to understand the difference between how it’s said in Italian and how it’s said in English (assuming it’s a good translation). It’s also good be able to look at the English version for some quick help, rather than having to look up words in the dictionary.

Watching Italian movies seems like a good idea, but is probably not a highly effective way to learn Italian. There are just too many issues. But it can be an interesting comprehension test.

This looks absolutely wonderful:

http://www.piccolauniversitaitaliana.com/index.html

It may not be too late to enroll in “Italian Verborama” at UCLA extension, www.uclaextension.edu. This is a two-Saturday course that reviews all the verb tenses. I took it a couple of years ago and found it quite helpful. At the time, I knew only about half the tenses; the first Saturday covered everything I had done up to that point, so I did not attend the second Saturday. It’s a review, not a tutorial, so sign up only if you have already studied at least a few Italian verb tenses.

Technically, I graduated in December, when I officially received my Associate’s degree in Italian. It took the school another four months to produce my diploma. I was cordially invited to attend today’s graduation ceremony, but I stayed home.

Photo by Rosemary West

For those who live in the Los Angeles area, UCLA Extension is offering a few Italian courses in the spring quarter. The “Weekend Immersion Workshop” is one I have taken. At $295 it’s not really worth the money, unless you don’t have access to anything else. In any case, it’s much too simple for anyone who’s had more than a semester or two of Italian.

The others are sections of “Elementary Italian”. At $415 for two months of twice a week classes, they are a better bargain than the weekend course, although still much more expensive than the community college I currently attend. I haven’t taken any of these (it’s farther from home than I want to go late at night) but the descriptions sound like 2 and 3 might be good reviews for for many of us. It is possible to take these courses for credit that is transferable to UCLA. (I don’t know if other schools accept them.) See http://www.uclaextension.edu

The more I learn Italian, the more it seems to me I will never really learn Italian. There is something about language, the way one’s native language interacts with the way one thinks, the ways in which the language and world view interact, that is deeply imbedded in the brain. It doesn’t take long to learn that it is impossible to translate anything literally. You can’t just substitute the words of language A for the words of language B and expect to get something that is right, maybe not even something that makes sense. It’s not just the word order, although that’s part of it. There are just so many details that seem perfectly normal, simple, even instinctive to the native speaker, that are confusing, strange, perhaps completely incomprehensible to the non-native. The sentences in our textbooks are simplified. Certainly, a real Italian might sometimes say things that way, and if we say things that way we will be just fine. But pick up a novel, a newspaper, a play. Suddenly, everything is completely different. Words don’t seem to mean quite what we were told. Some things seem to be missing. Some things seem to have been inserted randomly for no good reason. I can go through each sentence, slowly, word by word, and figure out what they are saying, but I have no idea what they are really saying.

Recently I attended a large party where I knew absolutely no one except the host. So I came up with a way to socialize with my fellow guests. I would simply introduce myself to people, tell them that I didn’t know anyone at the party but that I hoped to meet someone who spoke Italian. Nobody that I met spoke Italian (I wasn’t really expecting that any would). But people found my quest delightful. They were very interested in talking about my Italian studies, other languages they had studied in school, trips they had taken or were planning to take to Italy, etc. I didn’t get to practice speaking Italian, but I was able to avoid standing by myself and got involved in a lot of interesting conversations. If I had actually met an Italian speaker, I would have had the added advantage of getting some practice.