Becoming Italian!

25 May Becoming Italian!

When I first started my journey to Italy, I was a little nervous about the language barrier that I would be faced with. However, I have realized that my 5 years of Spanish courses actually paid off in that I can semi-understand the basics of Italian because of my Spanish knowledge. But one thing that I now struggle with is accidentally wanting to speak Spanish when I need to speak Italian! I can’t even begin to count the number of times I have wanted to say “hola!” when I walk up to someone. Or how many times I have wanted to say “gracias” instead of “grazi.” I knew it wouldn’t be this simple. Regardless, I am slowly improving more and more in my abily to say small phrases and order in proper Italian.

In fact, on my first day in Rome, after having several embarrassing situations where I attempted to speak in Italian, I finally was able to order properly, without any English! Even the cashier was impressed at my Italian! He smiled and said “Bon!” I can’t even begin to describe how happy that simple word made me!

Going along with this, I have noticed how different foreigners are treated here than foreigners are treated in the US. For example, if an American meets someone who is Spanish, the American will most likely get frustrated with them and complain that they can’t speak English. However, when an Italian meets someone who speaks English, they politely correct them or teach them the proper way to say something. In particular, I went to a cafe to get an expresso and while the barista was making my coffee, he was teaching me the proper way to say good evening and good night. The fact that people here are so willing to help foreigners is something that I really love about this country.

Currently, on my 5th day in Italy, I am still having a few moments where I slip up and say “I’m sorry” or “hello” like I normally would in the US; however, I was able to successfully ask a cranky Italian gelato server-man for a sample of gelato in complete Italian! So, after looking at my current abilities compared to the little to nothing that I was able to say before I came to Italy, I would like to think that I am going to be speaking like a natural-born Italian by my last day here! Or I will at least try to be!