Non parlo Italiano molto bene

Susan Spano’s Postcards From Rome

My study of the delightful Italian language at the Dante Society in Rome continues apace. I’m with the beginners on Monday and Wednesday mornings in a hot classroom full of desks that look like they were installed in the days of Il Duce.

My teacher is a teasing, elfish woman who arrives with big stacks of handouts on such curiosities as irregular verbs and indefinite articles. She addresses us as if we were kindergartners, which, in terms of Italian, we are.

There are four Japanese nuns, an Israeli, a Libyan and a Polish woman in my class, many of whom have a better working knowledge of Italian than I do.

Nevertheless, I find it easier and more enjoyable than studying Mandarin, which I did last year in Beijing. And, for me, Italian isn’t as hard to understand as French, with all its word-slurring elisions.

I come out of class all charged up and ready to test drive what I’ve learned at my neighborhood green grocery or hardware store, where people are tolerant when I use the wrong verb form. I always begin by saying that I’m studying Italian, but can’t speak it yet.

The response I’ve gotten?

“Piano, piano,” which means something like, “Take it easy. You’ll get it right soon enough.”

– Susan Spano, Los Angeles Times staff writer

[Photo: Susan Spano]

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This entry was posted on Saturday, July 12, 2008 at 6:00 am by Susan Spano and is filed under Europe, Italy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.