Posted by alexb on Wednesday, May 17, 2017 in 2017 Blog post.

When I first heard that I was admitted to this maymester, I decided that I was going to teach myself Italian using Duolinguo, a free language app. Long story short, I was not disciplined and didn’t have enough time in my busy schedule to teach myself a new language. I knew this would be a major obstacle, especially coming to a place like Cefalú where people clearly had less experience speaking english than in a more urban part of Italy. I knew that my many years of studying Spanish would help me with communication and vocabulary; however, I did not expect it to help significantly.

When I first arrived in Rome, I already felt the culture shock of a foreign language. Because I am an olive skinned, Italian looking man, I find that people often talk to me in their native tongue with no hesitation. This is often overwhelming but a complement nonetheless.

As time has gone by on this trip, I have started to pick up vocabulary of essential simple statements so that I am able to communicate some remedial level of messages that can only be described in words. For example, I now know how to order food, ask prices, greet people, and many more. Not only does this feel very rewarding, especially when people understand what you say without hesitation, but it has made me feel much more like this is my home for a month. I no longer feel like a tourist in this town, but a temporary and respectful resident.

By far the most rewarding experience was when I had a conversation with an Italian man in his fruit shop yesterday. He did not speak any english at all. While Peter assisted me in communicating, I was actually able to understand around 75% of what this man was saying. It felt so good being able to understand the general ideas that he was conveying and, at that moment, I was ecstatic.

While I still do not know the grammar of the Italian language, I have learned many ways to compensate. I have found that while language is a staple in communication, there are many alternatives that are useful. The most important alternative is hand signals. I have been able to come up with a long list of comprehensive hand signals that anyone can decipher, such as scribbling with my hand as a sign for the check after a meal or drawing the number in the air when asking what the price of a product is (because I don’t know numbers in Italian).

In conclusion, I have found that while the language barrier is certainly an obstacle, I have been able to get by without using it and have even learned a significant amount in the process.