Teach Me A Little Italian

by Kristen Evans
Language, in my opinion, is the most beautiful man-made art. In it’s finest articulation language is rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic. It is sounds and words woven together into strings of meaningful phrases and sentences that bridge the comprehension gap between persons. If language is as powerful as I presume, imagine the barricade created when unable to speak the language of another person. “How do I effectively communicate?” swarms my thoughts as I walk through the piazza each morning at 8:15am. I typically choke on nervousness and fear as I utter my first ciao! of the day. Will the early risers at Café de Italia laugh at me thinking, “this poor American girl can’t even say hello”? Yet each morning strolling across the piazza I greet at least one Cagliese with an enthusiastic ciao! and he graciously returns my greeting with a ciao bella! Beyond my enthusiastic ciao! calling my Italian elementary is an extreme compliment and an extreme overstatement. Longing to add just one more word to more vocabulary (and pass my Italian test) I took to studying my Italian notes when I opened myself up and accepted the most teachable and magical moment I’ve experienced thus far on this trip. My new dear friend Romano sat with me for nearly 45mins teaching, and correcting, my pronunciation. On the surface it was a simple study lesson – one Italian teaching one American basic Italian. However underneath the obvious situation was a cultural breakthrough. Stepping outside of my comfort zone I offered myself to the culture and language. I shook off my American “3-feet of space” rule and sat side-by-side with Romano unafraid to try to speak the language.

Today I have a little more Italian in my brain. I concentrate on a phrase before speaking and certainly stumble over the words when saying them aloud. Yet today I asked a lady where the bus station was located and ordered an eggplant and mushroom pizza with spinach. It is risky to talk with locals when you’re lucky to understand 3-5 words, let alone be able to reply. But I’m experiencing personal growth and relationship building in at least making an effort. Risk taking is a part of cultural immersion; especially when there’s a chance I will feel silly or be wrong. I’m discovering there’s little wrong with working through a communication stumbling block one English-Italian dictionary and poor pronunciation at a time!