{"id":272,"date":"2010-02-19T09:59:33","date_gmt":"2010-02-19T13:59:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=272"},"modified":"2010-02-19T09:59:33","modified_gmt":"2010-02-19T13:59:33","slug":"la-dolce-lingua-%e2%80%93-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/la-dolce-lingua-%e2%80%93-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"La Dolce Lingua \u2013 part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my blog \u2018La Dolce Lingua<\/strong>\u2019 I wrote: \u201cNow I don\u2019t wish to start a controversy about the expressive merits of one language over another\u201d<\/em>, ecco, c<\/strong>ome diciamo in Italiano \u2018ultime parole famose\u2019<\/strong> (as we say in Italian \u2018famous last words\u2019). <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, I had a feeling that this might be a controversial topic for the very reason that language is such a personal matter, it\u2019s so much a part of who we are. There have been some very interesting and enlightening comments\u00a0added to the first part of this\u00a0blog, and there is certainly a lot of food for thought. We are in the realms of linguistics, philosophy and aesthetics, aiuto, non sono altro che un umile blogger!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Aesthetics is perhaps one of the most controversial areas of thought, after all \u2018beauty is in the eye of the beholder\u2019, a beautiful English expression for which I can\u2019t think of a good equivalent in Italian! My main theme in part one of this blog was the inherent \u2018musicality\u2019 of the Italian language, and I chose the Jovanotti lyrics because a.<\/em> I wanted to use an example from contemporary culture rather than a famous lyric from la musica lirica<\/strong> (opera), and b.<\/em> these lyrics\u00a0clearly illustrate one of the important \u2018technical\u2019 reasons for the inherent\u00a0musicality of the Italian language,\u00a0i.e. the preponderance of words ending in vowels. I am aware, of course, that song lyrics, poetry, and literature are always better in their original language. For example, the famous lyrics\u00a0\u2018Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away\u2019<\/em> by Paul McCartney when translated literally into Italian would be \u2018Ieri, tutti i miei guai sembravano cos\u00ec lontani\u2019<\/strong>. Try putting the Italian\u00a0words to the rhythm of the original song and you\u2019ll end up giving yourself a hernia!<\/span><\/p>\n

However, to quote once again from my first blog \u201cyou have to take into account the tonality of spoken Italian, and who can say how much of this is part of the language itself and how much is simply inherent in our cultural temperament<\/span>.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

For me this is probably one of the keys to the subject. What my friend Vilma was saying is hard to express in a blog for the simple fact that you would have to physically see her explaining her point of view, you would have to see how she uses her body when she speaks. What Vilma meant is not to do with the actual sound of the words piacere<\/strong> and pleasure, but how they are expressed. For Vilma, piacere<\/strong> is something she expresses not just with her heart but with her\u00a0face and body. N.B. we are not discussing the verb piacere as in \u2018mi piace la lingua Italiana\u2019, but piacere as in pure and simple pleasure, i.e. che piacere! (what a pleasure!).<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, as you may have noticed, when we Italians speak we like to use our whole body, not just our mouths! <\/span>In fact, my husband Geoff always maintains that he first really fell for me when he saw<\/span> me say the word parmigiano<\/strong>, because of the incredibly sexy way that I moved my body when I said it.\u00a0He believes that\u00a0if you wanted to devise a terribly cruel torture for an Italian it would be to put them in a straight jacket and make them talk about food!<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking of talking, so to speak, we have a love hate relationship with our\u00a0telefonino<\/strong> (cell phone): we love to use it as often as possible, but we hate to only have one free hand to speak with. This obviously leads to some very dodgy driving when using one’s mobile phone because it necessitates steering with one’s knees.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the summer when there are more tourists about,<\/span> one of Geoff\u2019s famous tricks is that of spotting his fellow (English) countrymen and women from a distance, before he has heard\u00a0them speak.\u00a0Friends of ours have been incredibly impressed by his rate of accuracy, how does he do it, is there some secret Masonic code? “No”, he says, “I just look out for the total lack of body language, we English try so hard not to stand out from the crowd that we end up standing out from the crowd”.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stay tuned for part three in which I try to teach you a bit of non-verbal Italian!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my blog \u2018La Dolce Lingua\u2019 I wrote: \u201cNow I don\u2019t wish to start a controversy about the expressive merits of one language over another\u201d, ecco, come diciamo in Italiano \u2018ultime parole famose\u2019 (as we say in Italian \u2018famous last words\u2019). Well, I had a feeling that this might be a controversial topic for the…<\/p>\n

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