Essay Example on Learning Conversational Italian: My Experiences in Rome

While I was in Rome, I observed conversational Italian being used by continually talking with the locals. Talking to them enabled me to speak the little Italian I knew frequently. My friends and I went to the restaurants and supermarket where I had the opportunity to interact with the native speakers. Reflecting on the conversations was also a way that I observed conversational Italian. I would think of how much Italian I understood, how the conversation went, and how many unknown words I had encountered. These reflections increased my confidence for the next conversation in Italian. Through these reflections, I had set objectives like working on the vocabularies I did not understand. I also observed conversational Italian by reading their magazines and books, listening to their music and radio. When I was listening, I found new and exciting expressions, like "Come stai crescendo" meaning "You're growing so fast." This expression made one of the songs become one of my favorite Italian music. Another expression found interesting that I frequently saw in the magazines was "piano piano" which means "no hurry." I observed that if you use the expression for the emphasis, it is "pian pianino" to mean "little by little."

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While I was in Rome, I observed conversational Italian by being used by preparing a couple of cheat sheets. I made them because I was always nervous when speaking Italian and not knowing what to say. Before going to the supermarket or anywhere alone, I would research the specific vocabulary interrelating with the state and some communal phrases I'll require. These phrases were "So soltanto un po' di Italiano," "Parla inglese?" and "Mi dispiace,ma non parlo bene l'italiano." These phrases meant "I only speak little Italian," and "Do you speak English," and "I'm sorry, I don't speak Italian very well," respectively. I also recorded my voice to observe conversational Italian. Recording my voice helped me to improve my speaking in Italian. I realized that I tend to speak Italian extremely slowly when nervous, and I mumbled at times.

I also learned to use more phrases instead of using single words when I was observing conversational Italian. Instead of greeting people with only "Ciao" to mean "hello," I could go ahead and ask them, "come stai oggi?" meaning "how are you today?" I could also mix expressions like "Tr ail dire e il fare c' e di mezzoil mare" which meant "Easier said than done." I also learned that most of the Italian conversations begin with a greeting as I observed conversational Italian. Starting with a greeting in almost every conversation was like a norm and pattern in the Italian language. I observed conversational Italian being used while I was in Rome by mastering Italian language rhythm. I noticed that their word stress falls typically on second to last syllables. For instance, the word "Ragazzi," which meant "guys," the stress was on the second syllable. In return, the word I got sounded like ra-GAZ-zi, "macchina" meaning "car," the stress was on MAC-chi-na, which is the first syllable. Moreover, I observed that conversational Italian is frequently spoken rapidly by native speakers. I found that to be very exhausting because I spoke Italian very slowly.

While in Rome, I observed conversational Italian used by learning the Italian filters and connectors. I was able to fill conversations with the fillers and connectors between my ideas while speaking in Italian. Thus, these words made me sound fluent rather than a robot reading book. These fillers include "Beh" to mean actually, "allora" meaning "well then," and "tipo" to mean "like." The connectors encompassed "Infatti" meaning "as a matter of fact," "Qualora" meaning "if, in case," and "Percio" to mean "therefore." While I was in Rome, there were also some expressions that I found fascinating when observing conversational Italian. One of the expressions I found most interesting was "In bocca al lupo" meaning "to be in the wolf's mouth." I noted that this expression is used by Italians to wish one another good luck, especially before something significant, like going for an interview. Thus, the typical response to this was "crepi il lupo," meaning "thank you."

"Hai vouluto la bicicletta? Eadesso pedala!" meaning "You wanted bike? Now you've got to ride it!." I noted that it was a sarcastic expression in Italian, and it seems to be the same with the English idiom, "I told you so." I heard the phrase among some students who I saw buying painkillers in the morning at a pharmacy. I think they had a drinking night before that morning. Another most interesting expression was "Perdere le staffe" meaning "Losing the stirrups." I heard of this expression when I saw an Italian man pinching fingers together while swaying in the air, saying those words. The individual seemed to have lost his temper. "Prendere due piccioni con una fava" was another Italian expression I found to be most interesting. It means "kill two pigeons with one stone." This was a common expression that I noted to be frequently used by Italians that was employed when somebody has prospered in achieving two things at the same time. While I was in Rome, "Mangia bene, ridi spesso, ama molto" was also one of the expressions that I found most interesting. It means, "Eat well, often laugh, love much." I met an Italian friend who kept on saying these words. She also taught me an expression that is utilized for predicting the following day's weather. The expression means, "Red sky at night good weather hopefully."

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Italian language is indeed one of the most delightfully expressive and beautiful languages to listen to. The easiest method to practice this language is to visit the country and intermingle with the locals. However, Italian pronunciation is a challenging feature of learning the language. Therefore, to learn the language, one needs to speak and listen to it more frequently (Kamps, 2015).

Reference

Kamps, B. (2015). Italian with Elisa - Flying Publisher. Retrieved from http://pdf.flyingpublisher.com/ItalianWithElisa2015.pdf