Learning Italian: "trattoria"

A trattoria (Italian pronunciation: [trattoˈria]) is an Italian-style eating establishment, less formal than a ristorante, but more formal than an osteria. There are generally no printed menus, the service is casual, wine is sold by the decanter rather than the bottle, prices are low, and the emphasis is on a steady clientele rather than on haute cuisine. The food is modest but plentiful (mostly following regional and local recipes) and in some instances is even served family-style (i.e. at common tables).

Ciao! Parlo Italiano, e tu?*

And with these words, I signed myself up for a 3-month Italian language course when I was 17. Boy, little was I aware, at that moment, a long-term relationship with la bella lingua italiana** was begun.

A single Beginner’s course, a bi-weekly affair, which in its totality was no more than 40 hours of classroom instruction by a native teacher by the name of Loredana, sufficiently armed me for my first trip in Italy 4 years after. It was truly satisfying to be able to greet strangers on my maiden trip to il bel paese***, to introduce oneself and speak in simple, clear sentences to natives of a foreign land 10,020km away from my homeland. Each time I spoke in Italian, I’d see the faces of people astonished to find a young girl from Asia, with her almond-shaped eyes, dark hair and bright smile, speak to them in their madrelingua#, a language no one uses in the Far East.

Upon my return home, I embarked on a learning craze, relentlessly scouring all things that aided me to learn, practice and perfect my Italian. Language courses, books and newspapers, magazines, you name it. Italian movies! Italian music! I grabbed hold of any available podcasts that taught or was in italian, listened and sang along to mp3s of Italian songs, watched Made In Italy programs on Youtube. I made italian friends everywhere, at home, abroad, in restaurants, in bars. I have pen friends I could exchange emails with and real friends with whom I could partake in conversation. And whenever I could, whenever my heart called for it, I returned to Italy. My fascinating trips to Italy numbers 5 so far and counting. They could last 2 weeks of trotting about the peninsular to a month which would usually include at least one of its many picturesque, neighbouring islands. While I do not have plans to return this year as yet, life could still surprise us with its twists. However this year’s travel eventually pans out, I am sure that soon enough ritornero in Italia##.

Due to the hecticness of life and the events it brings, sadly the past year has been a slow one in terms of Italian-language learning and practicing. I am losing my ability in the language slowly but surely, simply due to lack of practice (hey I’m in Asia!). One could easily spend a year reading and writing nothing in Italian, have near to zero speaking and listening opportunities to practice such obscure language this part of the world. Additionally, my interests took other turns and it is increasingly impossible to have time to pick up a book in Italian nowadays!

The reason I started this blog is because of a conversation I had with GG, a born-again francophile who is also a dear friend of mine. I realised my passion in Italy was never doused, merely buried by quotidian affairs and other pressing matters needing greater attention. I want to resume from wherever I left off and rekindle my love-affair with all things Italian. I would never wish to lose my ability in Italian. In fact, my goal is to become truly fluent in the language.

GG started a blog recently upon her eye-opening trip to Paris, which rekindled her “love for all things french” as she puts it. Her francophilia resembles my own italophilia and she planted this seed in my head too to start to write about my own love for the Italian language, my knowledge of the various regions and cities, towns and communes which I visited. It didn’t sound like a bad idea. So here I am embarking on a project of love, in order to find it again. I hope you’d enjoy.

~~~—+@+—~~~

Notes:

From time to time I would use simple Italian phrases or words in my blogposts. These would italicized. All of these would be translated to English, where possible. If a direct translation is not possible, more explanation would also be posted here.

* :Hi! I speak Italian, and you?

** :The beautiful italian language

***:The beautiful country (normally a term used in the Italian language to refer to Italy.)

# :Mother tongue (Now that was easy, wasn’t it?)

## :I will return to Italy (future-tense of the verb: ritornare)

I still have no clue what is the difference between Benvenute and Benvenuti

Okay, tomorrow I am definitely gonna continue my Italian lessons here on Tumblr.