Update on Learning Italian

Ciao!

I've been struggling today to think of a great topic to blog about. I left my list of topics at the house, so I'm trying to remember some of the things that I want to say. I think I'll try to update y'all on my language ability.

I've decided the real sign that I've speaking Italian too much is when I forget English words. This has really only happened twice. Once I forgot the word "stool" (as in chair) and once I forgot the word "drawbridge." I think it's actually quite humorous when this happens. With stool, someone used the italian word and asked the meaning. After I was given the explanation, I could picture it in my head, but I realized I couldn't think of the English word. The incident with drawbridge happened with our friend Sala. He wanted to know how to say that word in English. He explained it to me in Italian, and I told him I understood perfectly, butI couldn't remember the English word. Thankfully Clay was there, so I asked him and he remembered! Then, the other day when I was typing my Easter blog, I couldn't remember how to spell "scratch." I had to sound it out as the English "c" and "ch" just sounded weird coming from my mouth.

I don't speak Italian all the time. Clay and I speak English to each other, and we also speak English with all the other English-speakers here. Plus, I obviously type my blog and e-mails in English. But, I think a good portion of my day is spent listening to and speaking Italian, so sometimes I just forget some of those less common words like drawbridge and stool.

So onto a bit of a self-evaluation of my Italian. I don't think I realized how hard it would be to really become fluent in another language. I perhaps was a bit over-ambitious thinking I'd speak excellent Italian by the time I left. I still speak like a 4-year-old, although I probably understand the grammar better than a kid. It's funny, but it really bothers me to hear the kids here just blabber away in Italian! I keep thinking I'm so much older that I should be able to speak better, but I can't even understand what they're saying most of the time! I'm at a point now where I can get by pretty comfortably. I can ask for directions when lost. I can order food or buy things in a store. I can carry on a conversation for a while, although I'd hate to think about how terrible I sound. Changing just one little preposition can change the meaning of the whole sentence sometimes! One time instead of saying "Feed the dog some food," I said "Eat the dog as food," as the difference between the two was a very small word (that's not quite the exact translation, but you get the idea).

Am I as far along as I would like to be? No. But I now realize it takes years to really master a language. There are so many little things that you have to figure out, and it really does take awhile. I'm so glad I've had this experience, though. Most of you know that I move to Houston in June to join Teach for America. I'll teach some subject yet to be determined in grades 4-8. Houston has a large Hispanic population, and the majority of my classroom will most likely be Hispanic (although I could end up in a historically African-American school, who knows). When I first arrived in Italy, I realized learning Spanish probably would have been more practical for my upcoming job. Although I don't think there's that big of an Italian population in South, at least going through this process of learning a language, any language, will help me. I don't know how much English my kids will speak (actually, chances are good their parents won't speak it, even if they do). I now know what it's like to be a strange country and not speak the language. I know what it's like to have to constantly ask for someone to repeat themselves 10 times because I don't understand. I have felt the frustration of not being able to convey my thoughts in an articulate way. I have been overwhelmed when I didn't know what words to use or how to ask for something.

One constant frustration of mine the past three months is my lack of communication skills. My friends and family know I like to talk. I also like to write, and when I have an opinion, generally everyone knows it. But here, everything has to have a simple answer. How do I explain my decision to join Teach for America? That takes pages and pages to explain, but I don't know that many words in Italian. So my answer has become "I am joining a company called Teach for America. They send new graduates to poor schools." One time I tried explaining to Elsa that I would be a teacher. She then said "Oh, so this is to help your career. This is to make money." I then tried again: "No, this isn't for my career, but I will get paid. But to me it is important because the goverment is rich but there are lots of people who are poor. And the poor kids don't receive a good education, and this is not right." Teach for America doens't like the word "poor," the proper word is "underserved." I'm going to an underserved school district. That's just too complicated in Italian, so I have to say poor. Sure, the U.S. is a wealthy country, but I don't think the government's rich either when it's in debt, but all that is way too complicated in Italian. So I have my simple answer.

I remember the day I was asked what my parents did for a living at school. That turned out to be way complicated. Dad's a pastor, and I knew that word, but my teacher didn't understand. Everyone here is Catholic, and obviously priests don't marry. But here I was, in flesh and blood with a father who (my teacher thought) was a Catholic priest! We quickly cleared things up when I learned the word for protestant in Italian. Then, he was confused because he didn't understand who paid my Dad. I said the church. Then he thought everyone who came to church had to pay. Explaining an offering and budget of a church is way above my language capabilities. I think my final explanation went something like this: "The church pays my Dad. People at the church give money each Sunday. They don't have to give money, but they usually do. The money pays my Dad." I suppose that gets the point across. Then of course, I had to explain what my Mom does. This question is actually trickier in my mind. Mom is a GED instructor, but when asked I usually just say she is a teacher. One day, though, someone asked what she teaches. Uh-oh. My answer: "She teaches men and women who did not finish high school." The teacher (in Italian): "I understand. She teaches at night school." Me: "No, she teaches during the day." Teacher: "Yes, a night teacher." Me: "Right, a night teacher."

So, those are probably my best examples of simple answers, but really everything here has a simple answer because I can't explain things using long, complicated words. The day after the murder happened at Auburn, I found myself trying to explain it to several people. The Italians (my teachers and family) kept using the word "strage," which is shooting. I kept repeating that it wasn't a shooting, it was a homicide. Then that led to a discussion where they told me these things happen all the time on college campuses in the States. How do I explain that no, they don't happen all the time, but when they do, it's international news? That then led to a discussion of gun control and the differences among different countries with regards to gun laws. Yeah, trying having a conversation on gun control in Italian!

Alright, basta! I actually think that was a really disconnected blog, but hopefully it gave you an idea of some other language problems I have. It will be nice to be back to speaking English all the time and being able to really express myself when I want. Have a wonderful weekend. We're headed to Agrigento tomorrow, so I'll update you on that Monday. Ciao!