Becoming Italian Word by Word

Playing Hooky in the Italian Language

marinare la scuola

"marinate the school," play hooky

I played hooky the other day. The weather was perfect (faceva bello). The tide (la marea) was out. I didn’t have a deadline (una scadenza) to meet. So I headed for my favorite beach (la mia spiaggia preferita) and walked for miles. Then I felt guilty (in colpa).

“Perchè?” (Why?) an Italian friend asked. “Così fanno tutti.” (Everyone does it.) It’s true. Every country has some equivalent of “playing hooky.” The British “play truant”; the Germans “blaumachen”; the French “faire l'école buissonnière” (make school in the bushes).

But in Italy cutting class -- marinare la scuola (marinate or pickle the school) in standard Italian -– seems to be a national pastime, so widespread that linguists have identified dozens of local expressions for truancy. Here are some examples from various regions:

• Piedmont: tagliare (to cut), bucare (to make a hole), fare sega (to make the saw, to saw)

• Lombardy: scavallare (to frisk about), far cavalletta (to make the grasshopper), impiccare (to hang), salare (to salt)

• Trentino: bruciare (to burn), andare in marina (to go to the marina)

• Veneto: far manca (to make the left), brusare or bruciare (to burn), buco (hole)

• Liguria: fare il ponte (to make the bridge), saltare (to leap or jump)

• Emilia-Romagna: fare fuoco (to make fire), fare fuga (to make flight), fare focaccia (to make focaccia)

• Tuscany: fare chiodo (to make the nail), fare forca (to make the pitchfork), fare sale (to make salt)

• Umbria: fare salina (to make salty)

• Marche, Lazio: fare sega (to make the saw)

• Molise: fare spago (to make string)

• Campania: fare filone (to make the big wire)

• Puglia: fare fruscio (to make a rustle), saltare la piomba (to salt the lead), fare salasso (to make bloody

• Calabria: scioperare (to go on strike), giocarsela (to make a game of it)

• Sicily: far Sicilia (to make Sicily), stampare (to print), sparare (to shoot), buttarsela (to throw one’s self), fare luna (make moon), fare l'ora (make the hour)

• Sardinia: fare vela (make sail)

By whatever name, skipping school is, as an Italian writer puts it, una delle attività più amate dagli studenti di tutto il mondo (one of the most loved activities of students of all the world.)

Woody Allen, the multi-talented American wit, once explained the allure of this guilty pleasure:  “There are few things in life more enjoyable than playing hooky,” he observed, “It’s like postponing the electric chair.” (Ci sono poche cose nella vita divertenti come marinare la scuola, è come rimandare la sedia elettrica.)

You can find more regional expressions for cutting school, including some in dialect, by clicking here. 

For Italian speakers, the clip below provides excuses for not going to school (le scuse per non andare a scuola). One tip:  For a febbre finta (fake fever), insert a  thermometer  into the mouth of your pet dog. Or you can claim that  you must attend the funeral of a close relative. This excuse, the young narrator cautions, should not be used more than una o due volte (one or two times).

 

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Itaian, the World's Most Enchanting Language.

Strangers in the Italian Language

Gli stranieri

The foreigners

“Statunitense?” a hotel clerk in Italy once asked me. When I looked befuddled, he clarified the question: “La Sua nazionalità?”

“No, no,” I vehemently declared. “Sono americana.” He  kindly explained that he had thought that a “United States-er” was, in fact, an American.

Well, yes—even though we don’t identify ourselves as such. It may be a small world (un piccolo mondo), but we remain foreigners (gli stranieri) in other languages, including Italian.

Some countries—such as l’Austria, l’Australia, il Canada,  l’Iraq, and la Russia--go by the same names in English and Italian. But an Austrian is an austriaco; an Australian, an australiano; a Canadian, a canadese;  an Iraqi, an iracheno, and a Russian, a russo. (Italian does not capitalize the words for citizens of any nation, including gli italiani.)

Italian designates--for reasons unknown to everyone I asked--certain nations as masculine (il Brasile, lo Yemen) and others as feminine (la Tailandia, la Turchia). A man from la Spagna is a spagnolo and a woman a spagnola, a male Mexican, a messicano and a female a messicana. Regardless of gender, a citizen of il Belgio (Belgium) is always a belga; two or more are belgi.

La Francia is home of the francesi; l’Irlanda, of the irlandesi; and la Svizzera, of the svizzeri.   The giapponesi come from il Giappone; the coreani, from la Corea; the cingalesi, from lo Sri Lanka; the bengalesi, from il Bangladesh,  the vietnamiti, from il Vietnam; and the cinesi, from La Cina. The citizens of il Cile (Chile) are cileni; of il Perù, peruviani; of Il Venezuela, venezuelani; and of la Nigaragua, nicaraguensi. 

All the Scandinavian countries follow the same pattern, with norvegesi from la Norvegia, danesi from la Danimarca, finlandesi from la Finlandia, and svedesi from la Svezia. This is not the case for Africa, where the kenyoti come from Il Kenya, the libici from la Libia, the tunisini from la Tunisia, the marocchini from il Marocco, and the congolesi from il Congo.

English speakers refer to the birthplace of their mother tongue by three names: the United Kingdom, Great Britain, and England. The Italian counterparts are il Regno Unito, la Gran Bretagna, and l’Inghilterra. In English, the Dutch come from the country known either as Holland or the Netherlands. In Italian, the olandesi come from l’Olanda or i Paesi Bassi (the low countries).

When Italians ask about my ethnic background, I explain that my grandparents came from la Polonia (Poland). But I was taken aback the first time one responded, “Ah, una polacca!” Although it sounds like the not-very-nice American slang for a Pole, “polacco” and “polacca” are, in fact, the perfectly respectable Italian terms for a Polish man or woman.

The combination of “alla"  plus a nationality refers to a characteristic of a particular country. “Un giardino alla giapponese," for instance, is a garden made in the Japanese style. The Italians call a pert little nose  a “naso alla francese” (in the French style) and  a placemat, a tovaglietta all'americana (in the American style).

When I heard one Italian say to another, "Non facciamo le cose all'italiana" (Let’s not do things in the Italian style), I asked  what this means. Her translation:  "Let's do things properly without improvising too much."

Words and Expressions

Paese che vai, usanza che trovi -- Every country  you go to has its own customs

fumare come un turco -- to smoke like a chimney

Tutto il mondo è paese -–  All the world is a village.

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language. 

Click below for a classic song about Italians who want to "fare l'americano" (make or act the American):

 

Guest Blog: Growing Up Bilingual in Italian and English

One Family, Two Languages

Una famiglia, due lingue

by Rebecca Winke

I fell in love with the bel paese during a high school foreign exchange summer in Umbria in 1986, when I met my future husband and began tripping through my first words in Italian. In 1993, after college, I moved to Italy from Chicago and opened an agriturismo in my husband’s renovated family farmhouse at the foot of Mount Subasio near Assisi. I spend my time taking care of guests at Brigolante and of our two sons -- Nicolò, nine, and Leonardo, “five going on six.”  

Raising bilingual and/or bicultural kids crystalizes the poignant truth about how much children belong to you and how much — how excruciatingly, heart-breakingly, humblingly much — they do not. We use OPOL (One Person One Language) in our house, which is a rather inelegant way of saying that I speak English to our sons and my husband speaks Italian.

Conventional wisdom holds that bilingual children speak later than monolingual children and that boys generally speak later than girls. My two bilingual sons spoke so precociously that I often found myself wistfully yearning that this were true.

Almost simultaneously with putting together their first phrases, my children understood grammar. They would often say “I raccont-ed (Italian for told) a story” or “they sposa themselves” (get married). From these linguistic mash-ups, I realized that toddlers—yes, toddlers--already understand the concept of adding a suffix to a verb in English to communicate the past tense and how a reflexive verb works in Italian.

Young children also understand the concept of language as a meta experience. When my older son was just learning his first words, I instructed him in English to say thank you to the butcher. He turned and said, “Grazie!” He already understood that two distinct languages with separate vocabularies needed to be spoken appropriately to two distinct groups of people.

As a parent I’ve come to realize how much of conversation is not a two-way street, even if you are speaking directly to a second person. For example, when I ask my son -- in Italian -- in front of his aunt if he has thanked her for the birthday gift, I’m not so much prompting him as communicating to her, “Listen, if he hasn’t said thank you, it’s not because I’m a bad parent who doesn’t know how to teach manners!” If I announce -- in Italian -- during a play date, “If you don’t keep it down, there will be no ice cream!” I am getting it across to all present that ice cream is on the line, even if you’re not my kid so I can’t scold you directly.

Every family has a private language, laced with inside jokes and references, invented words, and lots of baggage. A bilingual family’s patois is more intricate and exclusive. I end my children’s names in the endearment mou, which is a relic from my Greek heritage. My husband calls them boccia, a word in the disappearing Umbrian dialect for young boy — how he himself was addressed growing up.

We all slip an Italian word into an English sentence or an English word into an Italian sentence for expediency or comprehension (or habit). My sons say they’re nervous when they mean stressed-out (nervoso in Italian), annoyed when they mean bored (annoiato), and uneducated when they mean rude (maleducato). They use taste, smell, and feel indiscriminately (because it’s all the same verb sentire in Italian).

As they grow, my sons’ two languages will fully form and separate, and our little private island with its crazy patchwork of words stitched together with the threads of history and family and culture will slowly vanish. But right now we speak one common language in our house -- the language of love. And we all capisce (understand) ourselves, as my sons would say.

Rebecca blogs about the lovely region she calls home at Rebecca’s Ruminations and wonders what strange winds blew an urban vegetarian to a pig farm in Umbria.

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language. 

The Italian Language Without Words

dieci gesti 

ten gestures

Italians, with their innate passion to communicate, have never let words get in the way. In Italy the shrug of a shoulder, the flip of a wrist or the lift of an eyebrow says more than a sacco di parole (sack of words). Gestures (i gesti) are to Italian conversation what punctuation is to writing. Hands become exclamation points, periods, commas, question marks. 

Even before the law banned talking on cell phones while driving, Italians would pull over to the side of the road because they couldn’t drive and carry on a conversation. In the old days of telephone booths, Italians would step outside so they would have space to express themselves fully. 

The next time you’re in a piazza, give yourself a crash course in “silent” Italian with a few hours of careful observation. Here are ten basic and useful gestures: 

1. Prayer (above). Clasp your palms together with fingers extended and press them in front of the chest as if you were praying.

Translation:  “Please, would you do me a favor?” 

2.  Finger kiss. Bring your fingers together and lift your hand to your mouth. Touch your fingers to your lips. 

Translation:  “Excellent! This deserves a kiss!”

3. Chin flick. Bend your arm at the elbow, palm and fingers facing your body. Bring your hands to your throat and run your fingers lightly upward from your neck past the tip of your chin. 

Translation: “I don’t give a *&#@!”

4. Finger purse. Bunch your fingers together, with tips touching and pointing upward. Hold your arm about a foot from your body. You can either hold your hand still or move it up and down at the wrist. 

Translation:  “What do you really want? What do you mean?” 

 

5. Temple point. Extend your index finger and bring it close to the temple on one side of your head 

Translation: Use your head! Don’t be stupid!

6. Cheek screw. Extend the index finger of one hand and corkscrew it into the cheek. 

Translation: “Delicious!” Parents use this gesture to encourage children to eat. A Neapolitan waiter told me that he signals the best-tasting dishes on the menu in this way. I’ve also seen Italian men doing the very same thing on the street when a tasty-looking girl walks by. 

7. Line in the air. Press the thumb and index finger of one hand together and draw a straight horizontal line drawn in the air.  

Translation: ““Perfect!“

8. Eyelid pull. Using your index finger, tug at your bottom eyelid.

 Translation:  “Watch out! Pay attention!”  I’ve seen this gesture at street markets when a fast-talking salesman tries to pass off counterfeit goods as the real thing. 

9. Finger cross. Bring the index fingers of both hands together to form an “x” in front of your mouth. 

Translation: “I swear it!” This also signals that you will remain silent and not say a word. 

10. Circle in the air. With your hand at your side, extend one index finger and trace a small circle in the air. 

Translation:  “See you later! We’ll catch up another time.” 

This is the last week to enter to win seven sensational books on Italy in our "Viva l'italiano! Book Bonanza Contest"!  The deadline is midnight (Pacific) on October 31.

Lovers of the Italian Language, Unite!

October 18 to 24 marks the annual settimana della lingua italiana nel mondo (week of the Italian language in the world). Viva l'italiano!

Confessions of an Innamorata

Le confessioni di un'innamorata

Humans hunger for language the way birds crave open air. Although we might eke out a meager land-bound life, only through words can our souls take flight. And in no other language can they soar, spin, dip, pirouette, and dive with greater flair and finesse than in Italian. 

My love affair with the world's most enchanting language began, as such things usually do, with a man other than my husband. When I arrived in Italy for the first time in 1983 I knew only one Italian sentence: “Mi dispiace, ma non parlo italiano.” (I’m sorry, but I don’t speak Italian.”) 

In my first minutes in the country, I repeated it half a dozen times, interspersed with pleas of, “Stop this train!” Other passengers responded with torrents of incomprehensible Italian. Only the weary conductor followed my gaze as I pointed to my forlorn suitcase, left behind at the border in Switzerland. 

“La Sua valigia?” (Your suitcase?)   

“Sì,” I nodded, frantic that I would never be reunited with it. 

“Non c’è problema,” he announced loudly. “Domani mattina a Milano.” 

The faces encircling me smiled in relief. “Domani mattina,” they repeated reassuringly. “Domani mattina.” Settling into my seat, I rolled the melodious syllables around my mouth. Yes, as soon as I arrived in Milan, I would find Signor Domani Mattina, and he would somehow retrieve my bag.

Late on a Sunday afternoon, I rushed to a man in a custodial uniform and entreated, “Signor Domani Mattina?” 

 “No, signorina, the day after today. Domani mattina." 

My quest for the quixotic “Mr. Tomorrow Morning” launched my journey into the Italian language. In the years since I have devoted countless hours and effort to this wily tongue. Italians say that someone who acquires a new language "possesses" it. In my case, Italian took possession of me.

There is no English word that quite captures the sensation of innamoramento, crazy head-over-heels love, deeper than infatuation, way beyond bewitched, bothered, and bewildered. But that’s what I am—an innamorata, enchanted by Italian, addicted to its sound, and ever eager to spend more time in its company. 

I am not alone. In the the last 18 months, more than 230,000 innamorati have come to my website and blog.  About 70 percent come from the U.S. Others are from around the world: Australia, Canada, China, India, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Brazil, and dozens of other countries.  

Every day I receive e-mails from other anime gemelle (kindred spirits) eager to share their passion for Italy and its language. One described herself as  "an Italian soul trapped in the body of a German-American nurse anesthesist in New Hampshire." 

Yet Italian studies in the United States are in danger. Struggling with economic pressures, universities are eliminating majors in Italian and cutting back on Italian courses. In a recent editorial, a leading sostenitore (supporter) of Italian, Professor and Dean Anthony Tamburri of Queens College/CUNY, urged Italian-Americans to become more versed about why Italian should be studied and more involved with the teaching of Italian from a community perspective. I wholeheartedly agree.

However, you don't have to be Italian (I am not) to appreciate and advocate for la bella lingua. Other idioms may be better suited to commerce, technology, science, or finance. But no other language expresses human feelings and emotions more powerfully. No other tongue offers so many sfumature (subtle shadings) that can foster understanding and cooperation.  Italian, which has enriched the realms of art, literature, music, philosophy, cinema, fashion, and cuisine, embodies civilization itself. To me, it is the language of culture and humanity--and therefore everyone's mother tongue. 

This lovely video from the Società Dante Alighieri, a bastion of the Italian language, presents people from around the world reading from Dante's Divine Comedy and asks the question, "Can you imagine a world without Italian?"  Its answer: "Noi no."  (Not us.)  Me neither.  

Win a mini-library of books about Italy's language, culture, people, food, and wine in our Viva l'italiano Book Bonanza Contest!

 

Immersion in Italy's Language and Culture

 

 

Todi as Teacher

Todi come maestra

by Christina Ball

Faccio la professoressa d’italiano. I’ve been an Italian teacher for over 20 years, initially to college students and, since 2004, primarily to those who’ve fallen in love with the language later in life. My duty is to dust off unrealized dreams and help people of all ages and backgrounds believe that it is never too late to learn a new language, especially when learning is propelled by a profound, enthusiastic, unbridled passion for all things Italian. 

As Italian professoressa and friend, I have witnessed many epiphanies over the years -- from the excitement over the first “Buongiorno, signora!” to the equally empowering moment when a student learns to distinguish between the two principal past tenses (passato prossimo and imperfetto) while describing a favorite childhood memory or an unforgettable dining experience in Rome.

However, I’ve witnessed the biggest, most thrilling transformations, not directly as a teacher, but as the instigator and guide of a language and culture immersion program in Todi, a tranquil hilltown in the achingly beautiful region of Umbria. 

Each year, the town opens its arms wide to welcome my group of Italy-loving Americans for a 14-day seminar on Umbrian life. Participants join me from all over the U.S., from all walks of life, and with varying experiences with the Italian language. 

Florence, a nurse from Arizona, and her 21-year-old daughter, Nicole wanted to spend some time together while learning a little Italian in order to communicate with relatives in Sardinia. Domenico (Don), an air traffic engineer with Italian roots, chose to spend part of his sabbatical studying Italian and enjoying Umbrian food and wine with his wife and new friends. 

Marianna (Mary Ann), a flutist and advanced student of Italian, brought her entire family along to share her passion and to perform in one of the local churches (a highlight of the 2010 course). Giuliana (Jill) and Marta (Martha) have been studying Italian for years, but knew they needed total immersion to reach the next level. Roberta, a school reading specialist returning for the third time in 2011, has convinced all of us that she has un cuore italiano, an Italian heart. She comes back to Todi because, she says, it’s like coming home. 

For two weeks, my primary job is making introductions. I first introduce my group to their host families and apartment owners and to our wonderful driver and guide, Leonardo. I introduce them to Elisabetta, who owns the coffee bar, and to the teachers and staff at La Lingua, La Vita, the Italian school where they spend four hours each morning learning to laugh in Italian. 

 On our afternoon walks, I take them to meet Michele, the hairdresser; Marcello, the owner of a museum-like food and wine shop; and Elsa, owner of Enoteca Oberdan, my favorite little wine bar. Within days -- and even with the most minimal Italian vocabulary -- they become part of the fabric of life in Todi. They become tuderti. 

My favorite moments come from silently observing my “students” interacting with the people and places of Todi. I walk by the bar to catch Martha and Jill chatting with barista Elisabetta over cappuccini before class. At the miniscule supermercato, I stand in line behind Don, who’s talking with the woman behind the counter about the different types of pecorino cheese. Out for my evening indulgence -- a gelato “noci e fichi” (walnut and fig) at Gelateria Pianegiani -- I catch four of my students watching a World Cup soccer match with a handful of locals. I wave a friendly "ciao" and continue my passeggiata. 

With Todi as their teacher, I’ve realized that the best thing I can do for my students is simply to step back and let them shine. 

Words and Expressions

Volere è  potere --- to want is to be able (to do) or  "Where there's a will, there's a way"

Tuderte adjective (singular) -- from Todi

fare un giro  --- literally "take a spin around", closest equivialent to "cruise around"

Magari! -- an expression meaning 'I wish!" or "If only!"  For examplee,if asked: "Parli benissimo l'italiano?" (Do you speak Italian very well?), a student might say, “Magari!”  And an Italian teacher might comment, "Volere è  potere!”

Christina Ball is the owner/director of Speak! Language Center and the creator and guide of Two Weeks in Todi, an Italian Language and Culture Course. Click here for more information on this program including 2011 dates (June and September) and numerous videos.

Win a week-long immersion in Venice!

The Venice Italian School is offering another opportunity to immerse yourself in Italy's language and culture:  Enter its second annual contest to win a week for two studying Italian in Venice (accommodations included). You can find out more about the school and its programs at its website.

Dianne Hales is the author of 

La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Languag

 

 

 

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Teaching the Italian Language to Preschoolers

 

Buon Giorno, Bambini! 

by Carolina Gengo Di Domenico 

I wish I could have learned Italian when I was a little girl growing up in New York City. But in the 1960’s, English was the most important language, and creative education for children was in its infancy. I had to settle for hearing bits and pieces of Italian from my grandparents and aunt. Now language learning has taken on great value, which gives me the wonderful opportunity to make my livelihood teaching Italian -- as I have been doing enthusiastically for the past 15 years.  

My favorite way to teach Italian is to children. At my Italian preschool, La Piazza di Carolina, I get to play all day, have fun, be creative, sing songs, dance, pretend, paint, draw, build things, read stories, cook, and really do just about anything I can think of in the moment. But the absolute best part about it is that I get to do it all in Italian! 

Teaching Italian to children makes the best sense because, as we now know, the brains of children, from as young as six months to about eight years, are wired to learn multiple languages simultaneously. This neurological miracle makes my job very easy. The kids pick up the language so quickly and effortlessly that my lessons flow simply and naturally. 

When I teach Italian, my inspiration comes from the children. Say a little boy walks into school one day with a fire truck. Instead of instructing the child to put it away, I’ll use his enthusiasm for his toy as a springboard. We’ll end up taking about cars and trucks, what colors they are, what sounds they make, and who drives them. Then we’ll take out a book about “Things That Go,” (i veicoli), maybe listen to “The Wheels on the Bus” in Italian (Le ruote della macchina), and take out some paints or construction paper and make some vehicles -- all in Italian, of course!

This teaching technique tends to keep the children engaged and interested. They think we are playing, but we are most definitely learning too. I can apply this methodology to just about any topic. Up-coming themes include apples (le mele), autumn (l’autunno), pumpkins (le zucche), turkey (il tacchino), and Christmas (il Natale).    

In essence, I believe Italian should be taught no differently than English. Walk into any preschool classroom and what do you see? Children playing, singing, creating, building, discovering, imagining, reading, drawing -- learning in so many different ways. You’ll see the same when you peer into our classroom at La Piazza di Carolina. There’ll be one significant difference: the dominant language is Italian. Evviva!

Carolina is the founder and director of La Piazza di Carolina in Yonkers, New York. You can find more information on her programs and educational materials for children and adults at www.lapiazzadicarolina.com. Click below for a virtual visit to her piazza:

Dianne Hales is the author of La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language.

 
 

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The Boom in Italian Language Classes for Children

L’italiano per i ragazzi

Italian for Children 

“Mi chiamo Abigail,” the blonde, pig-tailed girl at the Girotondo Italian Academy in San Rafael, Ca., replies when asked her name. Holding up four fingers, she announces “quattro” as her age. When I compliment her Italian, she nonchalantly says, “Si, parlo bene italiano.” (Yes, I speak Italian well.) 

I am seized with jealousy of this adorable child. Although I’ve studied Italian for more than a quarter-century and written a book about la bella lingua, I will never match Abigail’s flawless accent or effortless rhythm. She and growing numbers of American youngsters are ingesting Italian with as much ease and delight as a cone of gelato. 

Fluency is only one of the reasons for a boom in Italian “Mommy and Me” playgroups, family day care, preschools, kindergartens and after-school programs. Many of these young students are among the 26 million Americans of Italian descent. “Italians take great pride in their roots and want to preserve their heritage,” says Carolina Gengo di Domenico of the Piazza di Carolina, an all-Italian nursery program in Yonkers, N.Y. “The language helps their children connect with their grandparents and relatives in Italy.” 

Other parents, lacking even a drop of Italian blood, want to prepare their youngsters for an increasingly competitive global future. According to linguists Kendall King and Alison Mackey of Georgetown University, authors of The Bilingual Edge, children immersed in two languages at a very young age are more creative and flexible in their thinking and demonstrate earlier reading readiness compared to their “monolinguistic” peers. 

The Romance languages, including Italian, French and Spanish, offer an extra advantage: Their Latin roots, the basis for many English words, build vocabulary and pay long-term dividends such as better grades and test performance. 

“Extended study of a Latin-based language can boost verbal SAT scores by 20 percent—and Italian is closer to Latin than any other tongue,” says Patrizia Ciniquini Cerruti, education director at the Italian Cultural Society in Sacramento. 

Because Italian is so musical and phonetic, even the youngest children grasp it quickly. Within a week, a two-year-old in an Italian-only class fully comprehends what teachers and classmates are saying, reports Rosella Pusateri, founder of the Girotondo Italian Academy. “The older the child, the longer it takes—three weeks for a three year old, up to three months for a five year old.” 

By studying Italian, children become not just bilingual but bicultural. They sing the same ninnenanne (nursery rhymes) that youngsters in Italy have chanted for hundreds of years. They listen to stories such as Cappuccetto Rosso (“Little Red Riding Hood”) and Riccioli d'Oro e i Tre Orsi (“Goldilocks and the Three Bears”). They add and subtract with pasta shells and make the sounds of Italian cani (dogs), gatti (cats) and mucche (cows).

Like others preschoolers, children in Italian immersion programs may learn colors by touching everything yellow (giallo) in the room or filling a basket with red (rosso) items. But they also do activities all’ italiana (Italian style). 

For instance, at Sacramento’s Italian Cultural Society (photo above) kindergarteners choose colors whose names they know in Italian, attach big sheets of paper to the undersides of their worktables, lie on their backs, and paint like Michelangelo. 

Viva l'italiano!

Because readers often ask where they or their children can learn Italian, I am putting together a registry of Italian programs for children and/or adults at my website. If you would like to add your link, email me at dianne@becomingitalian.com. 

Words and Expressions

asilo -- nursery school, kindergarten

disegnare -- to draw

colorare -- to color

pastelli -- crayons

pennarelli -- colored pens

Dianne Hales is the author of La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language. 

Click below to learn more Italian school-related words -- from a child: