There were three foreign languages available for study at my high school: Spanish, Italian, and French. I chose to study Spanish for a multitude of reasons. Spanish is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world including the United States. Furthermore, at that time I believed the only two languages I would come in contact with were English and Spanish. Lastly, my sister took Spanish so I knew a little bit from quizzing her. After just a few weeks in my Spanish II class, I knew it was right for me. Not only was I excelling in the course, but I was also enjoying it.
On the last day of class, my life turned upside down. “Buenos días clase. Ha sido un gran año y les deseo a todos buena suerte el año que viene en español tres. Me gustaría hablar después de la clase con Mateo, Ava, Steph y Jake, gracias y tenga un gran verano!” Why would Senor Eagle want to talk with me after class? Was I in trouble? Those were the ideas running through my head. “Hola Mateo! I wanted to talk to you about taking a second language next year.” Although flattered by the suggestion I was not interested in taking another language. After discussing this suggestion with my parents, they were enthusiastic. My parents insisted that, “Not only will this help you with Spanish but it will also boost your resume.” After the persistent nudging by my parents and teachers I reluctantly decided to add Italian to my schedule. Unfortunately, Italian One was not offered in my high school; only Italian two for students who had a background in Italian from middle school. This meant that I had to study Italian over the summer while at sleep away camp if I wanted to enroll in Italian Two. After learning this I felt very half-hearted about the entire situation; however, it was too late. I was going to learn Italian over the summer whether I liked it or not.
I arrived at Mah-Kee-Nac sleep away camp with sports equipment in one hand and Italian textbooks in the other…my dream had come true! After a week of camp, it was time for my first lesson with my Italian tutor. I sat in the gazebo anxious and annoyed waiting for my tutor wondering why on a beautiful sunny day I was learning a new language rather than water skiing on the lake. Finally, my new tutor arrived. I went to an all boys’ camp so in general talking to girls and meeting girls at camp was considered a luxury. As my new tutor walks over to me my jaw dropped. I was expecting an older Italian man with a heavy accent and instead my new tutor is a young and beautiful woman named Michelle excited to teach me Italian. All I kept thinking was that maybe Italian is right for me! My tutor began right away, “Ciao Mateo, let’s begin with the primary colors. Blue is blu, red is rosso, and black is nero." I interrupted and said, "Is green verde? Is black negro? Is white blanco?" She looked at me and smiled signaling for me to name more colors. After attempting to name a few more she stopped to show me a list of all the colors. I had gotten most of them right and others I was just slightly off. “How did you know that,” she questioned. I proudly stated, “After hearing a few colors I noticed that they seemed similar to Spanish so I thought all the colors would be the same as Spanish if not very similar.” She nodded her head explaining how romance languages are in fact very similar and how understanding Spanish is going to be a very helpful tool when learning Italian. As the weeks continued we would walk around the camp having conversations in Italian about camp. Italian was no longer a chore but rather something to look forward to every Wednesday. I was excited to go back to school and show off my Italian competency.
“Good morning class I will be your Italian Two teacher this year. My name is Signor DiMartino. Lets start with something simple. Everybody write down a few sentences describing a little bit about yourself and then we will share after.” I began to write up a storm writing down my name, where I was from, and several other facts. I was very proud of myself until another classmate raised his hand and shared his response. He said, "Mi chiamo Tyler. Sono entusiasta di essere sentire in italiano due e non vedo l'ora di imparare molte cose nuove in italiano.” What I heard was, “Mi chiamo Tyler. Ndvsjdd in italiano due dfndskenfjsnd in italiano.” I began to worry that I did not belong and that everyone else was smarter than I was. After a week or two I found that I knew as much Italian as any other student in the class if not more due to my Spanish background. Another week of school passed and I was very disappointed with my grades. I looked at my Spanish assessments and my Italian assessments and noticed I was not performing as well as I should have been. When I analyzed the tests I found that although the gist of what I wrote was correct, I mixed up multiple things on both tests. On the Spanish test there were Italian words and on the Italian test there were Spanish words. My biggest struggle was keeping the two languages separate. I considered dropping one of the languages but in the end I decided to stick with the challenge. By the end of the year I had been successful in both courses and wanted to learn more Italian and study in Italy. Summer arrived quickly and I was going to be doing the same I had done the prior summer: learning Italian. This time however I was going to be living with a host family in Italy in order to truly immerse myself in the language.
Anna and Giovanni were my new parents. We lived in Firenze, Italia. Whenever I would converse with them I was able to comprehend what they were saying because of my Italian and Spanish background; however, speaking to them was certainly a major issue. I would always speak in “spitaliano,” Anna would say. Spitaliano was Anna’s way of putting a mixture of Spanish and Italian. My host family and I got along very well except for this one instance. Giovanni was planning on going to the movies one night with his friends so I was curious and asked, “Vai al cinema stasera?” He replied angrily, “Io sono il tuo padrone, si dovrebbe mi trattano con rispetto!” I was very confused. I thought I was being very polite; however, there was a major miscommunication. In my Spanish class I was always taught to use the informal article when addressing others and I was never taught the formal format. I assumed this was the same in Italian so when I addressed my host father using the “tu” form, it was a sign of disrespect. He thoroughly explained this to me and I made sure never to make that mistake again. Staying with a host family was a struggle at times; nevertheless, it was an amazing experience and I gained a newfound respect for both Italian language and Italian culture.
What started out as a resume booster became a newfound passion. I always had a plan since I began learning a foreign language. The plan was to use Spanish to help me with either international business or help me communicate with future patients. Now, as a freshman at Emory University, Spanish is not even part of my schedule. I am in an advanced Italian class now and thoroughly enjoying it. Learning a new language has many advantages. For instance, due to the help of my stunning Italian tutor I am now able to successfully ask an Italian tutor, or any other girl, out on a date, which could definitely help me in the future. Looking back on my entire foreign language career I realize that in life you have to be open minded and try new things. You cannot always plan everything because you may miss out on an amazing opportunity and find your passion. I am very happy that I chose to study Italian and put the work into learning two different foreign languages. It has been nothing but a rewarding experience.
On the last day of class, my life turned upside down. “Buenos días clase. Ha sido un gran año y les deseo a todos buena suerte el año que viene en español tres. Me gustaría hablar después de la clase con Mateo, Ava, Steph y Jake, gracias y tenga un gran verano!” Why would Senor Eagle want to talk with me after class? Was I in trouble? Those were the ideas running through my head. “Hola Mateo! I wanted to talk to you about taking a second language next year.” Although flattered by the suggestion I was not interested in taking another language. After discussing this suggestion with my parents, they were enthusiastic. My parents insisted that, “Not only will this help you with Spanish but it will also boost your resume.” After the persistent nudging by my parents and teachers I reluctantly decided to add Italian to my schedule. Unfortunately, Italian One was not offered in my high school; only Italian two for students who had a background in Italian from middle school. This meant that I had to study Italian over the summer while at sleep away camp if I wanted to enroll in Italian Two. After learning this I felt very half-hearted about the entire situation; however, it was too late. I was going to learn Italian over the summer whether I liked it or not.
I arrived at Mah-Kee-Nac sleep away camp with sports equipment in one hand and Italian textbooks in the other…my dream had come true! After a week of camp, it was time for my first lesson with my Italian tutor. I sat in the gazebo anxious and annoyed waiting for my tutor wondering why on a beautiful sunny day I was learning a new language rather than water skiing on the lake. Finally, my new tutor arrived. I went to an all boys’ camp so in general talking to girls and meeting girls at camp was considered a luxury. As my new tutor walks over to me my jaw dropped. I was expecting an older Italian man with a heavy accent and instead my new tutor is a young and beautiful woman named Michelle excited to teach me Italian. All I kept thinking was that maybe Italian is right for me! My tutor began right away, “Ciao Mateo, let’s begin with the primary colors. Blue is blu, red is rosso, and black is nero." I interrupted and said, "Is green verde? Is black negro? Is white blanco?" She looked at me and smiled signaling for me to name more colors. After attempting to name a few more she stopped to show me a list of all the colors. I had gotten most of them right and others I was just slightly off. “How did you know that,” she questioned. I proudly stated, “After hearing a few colors I noticed that they seemed similar to Spanish so I thought all the colors would be the same as Spanish if not very similar.” She nodded her head explaining how romance languages are in fact very similar and how understanding Spanish is going to be a very helpful tool when learning Italian. As the weeks continued we would walk around the camp having conversations in Italian about camp. Italian was no longer a chore but rather something to look forward to every Wednesday. I was excited to go back to school and show off my Italian competency.
“Good morning class I will be your Italian Two teacher this year. My name is Signor DiMartino. Lets start with something simple. Everybody write down a few sentences describing a little bit about yourself and then we will share after.” I began to write up a storm writing down my name, where I was from, and several other facts. I was very proud of myself until another classmate raised his hand and shared his response. He said, "Mi chiamo Tyler. Sono entusiasta di essere sentire in italiano due e non vedo l'ora di imparare molte cose nuove in italiano.” What I heard was, “Mi chiamo Tyler. Ndvsjdd in italiano due dfndskenfjsnd in italiano.” I began to worry that I did not belong and that everyone else was smarter than I was. After a week or two I found that I knew as much Italian as any other student in the class if not more due to my Spanish background. Another week of school passed and I was very disappointed with my grades. I looked at my Spanish assessments and my Italian assessments and noticed I was not performing as well as I should have been. When I analyzed the tests I found that although the gist of what I wrote was correct, I mixed up multiple things on both tests. On the Spanish test there were Italian words and on the Italian test there were Spanish words. My biggest struggle was keeping the two languages separate. I considered dropping one of the languages but in the end I decided to stick with the challenge. By the end of the year I had been successful in both courses and wanted to learn more Italian and study in Italy. Summer arrived quickly and I was going to be doing the same I had done the prior summer: learning Italian. This time however I was going to be living with a host family in Italy in order to truly immerse myself in the language.
Anna and Giovanni were my new parents. We lived in Firenze, Italia. Whenever I would converse with them I was able to comprehend what they were saying because of my Italian and Spanish background; however, speaking to them was certainly a major issue. I would always speak in “spitaliano,” Anna would say. Spitaliano was Anna’s way of putting a mixture of Spanish and Italian. My host family and I got along very well except for this one instance. Giovanni was planning on going to the movies one night with his friends so I was curious and asked, “Vai al cinema stasera?” He replied angrily, “Io sono il tuo padrone, si dovrebbe mi trattano con rispetto!” I was very confused. I thought I was being very polite; however, there was a major miscommunication. In my Spanish class I was always taught to use the informal article when addressing others and I was never taught the formal format. I assumed this was the same in Italian so when I addressed my host father using the “tu” form, it was a sign of disrespect. He thoroughly explained this to me and I made sure never to make that mistake again. Staying with a host family was a struggle at times; nevertheless, it was an amazing experience and I gained a newfound respect for both Italian language and Italian culture.
What started out as a resume booster became a newfound passion. I always had a plan since I began learning a foreign language. The plan was to use Spanish to help me with either international business or help me communicate with future patients. Now, as a freshman at Emory University, Spanish is not even part of my schedule. I am in an advanced Italian class now and thoroughly enjoying it. Learning a new language has many advantages. For instance, due to the help of my stunning Italian tutor I am now able to successfully ask an Italian tutor, or any other girl, out on a date, which could definitely help me in the future. Looking back on my entire foreign language career I realize that in life you have to be open minded and try new things. You cannot always plan everything because you may miss out on an amazing opportunity and find your passion. I am very happy that I chose to study Italian and put the work into learning two different foreign languages. It has been nothing but a rewarding experience.
Photos:
- http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml
- http://www.sodahead.com/fun/which-country-has-the-best-cuisine/question-2563531/?link=ibaf&q=&esrc=s
- http://www.casadelvino.co.nz/club_vino_11.html
- http://www.bubblews.com/news/730862-spain-or-brasil