Everyone Italian in America
Is It Important to know the Italian Language?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by NetworkCrew on
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Dear Rocco, as you certainly know many italian/americans cannot speak italian. But it isn't their fault! They were not taught the language, they had no opportunity. In fact there has been a discussion on this forum about why this is so. That's why we have launched these twin sites (i-italy.us and i-italy.org) mainly in english. And this is why our Italian/American Citizen Journalist-Digital Witness Contest is in english. To be sure, one good subject for our contest would be exactly this: why italian/americans don't know italian, generally? what is left of the italian language in the America Italiana? How many people do understand opr speak their original ethnic language? How many of them have learned it in thier families and how many at the school? You live in Brooklyn and I am sure you could investigate... There are so many stories behind this missing language...
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Permalink Reply by Maria Paletta on -
I agree 100 %. There are people who claim to be Italian and refuse to pronounce my daughter's name correctly (Gianna) or worse yet mispronounce their own name!
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Permalink Reply by Vivian Liu on
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Permalink Reply by Patricia Rubino Sandler on -
Ha ragione Rocco. However, maccherone is a correct terms for certain types of pasta ascuitta (dryed pasta). That's where the English word comes from. It is true that without knowledge of the culture, art, and, above all, the first-hand experience of being in Italy, it is hard to call yourself Italian. However, many people do, because they have this "cultural memory" inside themselves. I have cousins that call themselves, "Italian," and have never been to Italy. They also don't speak the language, knowing just a few phrases of dialect phonetically (napoletano). By the way, the Italians really don't understand why we call ourselves Italian. They see us as Americans. I have 8 half-siblings in Italy and "un sacco di parenti." One of my half-brothers constantly entreats us to move to Italy, because "e` nel tuo sangue." These days, full-time life in Italy is not so different than our lives here, but I'm not ready to make a permanent move, at least not until (if successful) I am recognized as Italian by the Consolate and the government of Italy.
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Permalink Reply by riccardo verrecchia on
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I am an Italian living in the UK and have done most of my life. I go back home at least twice a year for a break or football ( I am lucky that I am close enough to do this and glad my parents stopped here instead of America). The Italians that claim to be Italian but have no interest in the culture or language are called in Scotland `weekend Tallies` or `plastic Tallies` by the hardcore Italians. Hardcore Italians keep all roots, infiltrate the local society but dont integrate, we speak both dialect and `proper` Italian if there is such a thing (i am all for the resurrection of dialect and dialectical literature) Dialect is also a necessary addition to save us from just being Italian, when you meet someone speaking Italian your first question is always `where from?` Dialect and intonations can help here. Sorry for going on about it.
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Permalink Reply by Elisa D'Aurizio on -
I am a hardcore Italian, kept all my roots, infiltrated the local society and tries to integrate with reservations due to my upbringing and core values and yes, I do read, write and speak Italian and the dialect Abruzzese.
Sono nata a Casalbordino (Abruzzo) durante la seconda guerra mondiale. Sono venuta in America all'eta' di 12 anni con i miei genitori. Ora sono nonna di 3 nipoti e pensionata. Il mio successo personale è misurato dalla felicità della mia famiglia. Sono appassionata per il giardinaccio (orto e fiori), cucina e crafts. Poco tempo fa, ho iniziato un blog - un mischio di cucina povera e vecchie ricette Abruzzese, giardino, e ricordi di fanciullezza. (http:casa-giardino.blogspot.com). Al contrario della maggioranza di pensionati che sono preoccupati a trasferirsi a posti caldi od andare a vacanza in luoghi esotici, io preferisco le comodità della mia casa e la bellezza del mio giardino perché preferisco a restare vicino alla mia famiglia e i miei amici.
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Permalink Reply by Patricia Rubino Sandler on
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Gentile Elisa,
anch'io sono in pensione e come lei mi piace moltissimo il giardinaggio. Quando avevo una casa a Huntington Bay, NY, mi occupavano dei fiori, mio marito del orto. Crescevano tante belle cose. Adesso, che ci troviamo a Manhattan, siamo fortunati di avere un piccolo giardino in comune con gli altri condomini. Sono il capogiardiniero. Mi piace anche cucinare. Senz'altro devo andare sul suo sito per scoprire quello che ha scritto. Saluti!!
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Permalink Reply by Elisa D'Aurizio on
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Fermati e commenti, mi fara' piacere. Saluti.
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Permalink Reply by Elena Marie Del Trecco on -
I would like to talk on this topic here for a moment.
Throughout my life, I have been criticized for not being fluent in Italian. or when asked where i am from and say Italian people then say I am not really Italian if i don't speak it.
I am the daughter of a FBI(full blooded italian) father and a 50% italian mother. My father came here with his parents when they he was fairly young. When they arrived in New York, they had the mind set of being in America and speaking the language of the country. They learned English right away and made sure their kids, my father and uncles, were fluent in it as well. Then shortly before I was born they passed away. So my father carried on speaking occasional italian with me as a child but my mother never knew italian so it wasnt spoken in my home once my grandparents died.
today i think some cultures worry about teaching just the native language to their kids and leave it up to the school system to teach their kids english. so a lot of these kids hold on to the native language throughout their lifetime.
i do not feel like i should be considered any less italian because i am not fluent in italian right now. i know alot about the history and culture and i love being italian. i spoke it as a young child but it was never continued through my adulthood, not by choice. and i also lived in an area where Italian was not common and barely spoken by anyone. no one to interact with so the language was lost.
so although i can see where you would be coming from with your comment, there are other sides of it to consider as well.
PS--I am in the process of relearning the language through studying...
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Permalink Reply by Patricia Rubino Sandler on
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Dear Elena,
It's great that you are studying Italian. When I was a young girl, my parents spoke the neapolitan dialect, not standard Italian. After going there back in l990, I decided to learn it. I did, and it's been an important part of my life. Even though my husband is not Italian, he learned how to converse by listening and talking with me. It's true that even when I was a child and my maternal grandmother lived with us, I always told her to speak English, which was incredibly hard for her. I don't think she knew how to read and write letters, only numbers which she needed to work in the fruit store that my grandfather had in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. One thing I will say is that knowing the language opens up a world of literature and culture to you. Buona fortuna. Patricia
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Permalink Reply by Sisifo on -
It's basically nobody's fault for the lack of knowledge of the italian language within the descendants of italian immigrants. I came to this country as a teenager with full knowledge of the italian language,having studied it in Italy and when I came to the US I attended high school and learned English.
Our ancestors did not have that kind of luxury. Firstly, the overwhelming majority of the first immigrants were not educated, if there were lucky they knew how to write their name or maybe attended a couple of years of grammar school. Around the turn of the century and in the first decade of 1900 (the exodus of the southern Italians) Italy was a recently unified country (1861) with tons of problems, unemployement skyrocketed after the south was depraved of whatever little they had to help their northen counterpart, but at this point I don't want to give any history lessons. Just keep in mind that the majority of immigrants that came to the US only spoke the dialect of their own region, they were taught to assimilate the english language as soon as possible, they had to defend themselves against the worst discrimination by the anglos that came before them (Irish-German, etc.etc.) Teaching italian to their off-spring was not a priority, they resorted to what they knew from the old country: the dialect, close family ties, do not trust foreigners, keep your mouth shut and brake your back with work.
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Permalink Reply by Rocco Deserto on -
Wow, I wrote this article in 2007 after my dissatisfaction of the kind of people NIAF (National Italian American Foundation) were honoring, these people had no sense of italian culture, or language. Almost 4 years later, I have changed, so please do not use this old article to current judgements lol
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