Italy Expat Roadblocks
To Learn the Language (and Not Sound Like an Idiot) Pt. 2
I’ve noted before that one of the struggles of learning a new language is going from being reasonably articulate in your native tongue to being reduced to childish phrases and half-sentences in your new language. Well, one of the blogs I’ve quoted before on this subject has another post about it which I think is worth quoting again.
Elizabeth of Cross-Cultural Moments has a way of looking at everyday experiences and extracting meaning from them - meaning that takes the form of cultural collisions (or, if she’s lucky, mere cultural fender-benders) between her American-born self and her adopted home of Italy. She’s completely fluent in Italian, but has recently begun taking lessons in the fine art of writing in, for lack of a better explanation, a more truly Italian way.
As she’s mentioned in the past, Italian writing is much more what we might call “flowery” than American writing tends to be, so learning how to write like an Italian isn’t as easy as just translating the words. Her new post quotes her teacher as saying something I found fascinating:
“English”, he said, “Is free yet not anarchic at all, while Italian full of rules yet anarchic in practice.”
Date: July 10th, 2007 |
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The Challenges of Finding a Job in Italy
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted an update on the whole attempt to become expats; partly that was because the husband and I hadn’t really learned anything new, and partly that was because what we eventually learned didn’t make us terribly optimistic. But here’s the latest - as much as I’d like to be reporting something different, it looks like we’ll be staying in the US for at least the foreseeable future.
The husband has been working with an outplacement agency in Milan for a couple of months, but he’s only had a few …
Date: June 16th, 2007 |
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Italian Regional Dialects Still Prevalent
This Spring marks the sixth anniversary of my first Italian class, and while I tend to think I should be further along than I am, I also am reasonably proud of myself when I’m able to understand and communicate with the Italians I’ve met. There have been bumps on the road - pretty significant ones at times - but I’m usually able to decipher what’s going on and mutter some kind of reply. (It helps that the husband is usually with me, as between the two of us we can almost always get the full picture of the conversation.)
It is, therefore, with mixed feelings that I read about the various dialects which are so prevalent in Italy. Sure, the Italian government has just made Italian the national language of Italy, and wherever you go throughout the country you’ll be able to communicate using Italian, but a new report released recently says that Italy’s many dialects are still alive and kicking.
Date: May 5th, 2007 |
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Expat Roadblocks: Does Milan Suck?
Well, I got some disappointing emails this morning. The husband and I had kind of figured that Milan would be the place we’d end up because of his work… Our friends who live in the Veneto hate Milan, but, since we’ve never visited the city, we were trying to keep an open mind.
One email I got is from a friend of mine who lives in the Friuli (he’s a native Italian, not like our Veneto friends who are expats), and he confirmed all the bad things our Veneto friends said about Milan. Then I got a note from a British expat who’s lived in Milan for nearly 30 years - she must like it there, right? Wrong. She hates the city, too. From her email:
It’s polluted, noisy, full of ugly apartment blocks, and completely lacking in green spaces. It’s full of chaotic traffic, hideously expensive, has a high crime rate … need I go on?
Oy!
Date: January 7th, 2007 |
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Getting Used to “Italian Time”
I’m a firstborn, which I think means certain things to certain people. I know it does to me. I’m never surprised when I find myself being described as Type A or over-prepared, and the husband has come to accept that if we’re supposed to be somewhere at 8:00 I’m going to want to arrive a few minutes early - just in case. In case of what? Who knows. That’s just the way I am.
So I couldn’t help but cringe a little on the inside when I read Elizabeth’s recent post on time - the way she wants things to be done (as an American-born woman living in Italy) and the way her husband and children expect things to be done (as Italians who are just used to it).
My oldest just finished his first day of the written portion of his maturità exam. Tomorrow is the second day and Monday the third and last. Then there is the oral exam, but he could not know the date that this will take place until today when the class order was chosen out of a hat (first will come section C, then section B) and a letter of the alphabet (S). So, now he knows that he will be the second student of his graduating class of four sections to be grilled to a crispy crust, on the first day of the oral exams, Thursday the 28th. Then he will be free, but we couldn’t know that earlier and he could have possibly finished as late as July 15 had the letter “T” been extracted and the section “B”, so he (and we) couldn’t make plans any earlier than that date. Would that make you crazy?
Date: June 30th, 2007 |
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To Learn the Language (and Not Sound Like an Idiot)
One of the things I find most frustrating about learning another language is how stupid I sound sometimes. I can usually get my point across in a conversation, but I’m forced to do it using childlike language as opposed to sounding like an adult. I’m capable of expressing myself pretty well in English, I like to think, so when I speak Italian I often find myself essentially talking myself into a corner - wanting to say one thing and then finding myself unable to and having to talk around the obstacles in order to explain myself. Again, more often than not I’m able to get my meaning understood by whoever I’m talking to, but it’s frustrating all the same to be unable (as yet) to express myself using the same level of language in Italian that I use in English.
Imagine my dismay, then, when I read some recent items online - one telling me that the Italian language is even more ornate (especially the written language) than English, so I really have much further to go than even I thought; and two talking about how SMS (that’s text-messaging to anyone from the US) has invaded “normal” Italian writing, so I have yet another language to translate now. Egads.
Date: June 5th, 2007 |
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Expat Roadblocks: Experiencing Culture Shock at Home
Even if you’re prepared for culture shock, that doesn’t mean it’s going to be any less, well, shocking. And, as we’re learning already, it begins even before you’ve left the comfort of home.
Take, for instance, the Italian tendency toward procrastination. It’s well-documented, and we’ve read about it - there’s a habit in Italy to get a week’s worth of work done in a few days right next to the deadline. But just knowing about it isn’t always helpful. In our case, we’re very much feeling the deadline of the husband’s impending joblessness, and …
Date: April 16th, 2007 |
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