Now you're speaking my language!

Salve! (Hello!)

For those of you who have traveled abroad, you’ll probably be able to relate to this. Potentially the most frightening part of a travel experience is encountering and working around a language barrier.

Since I’ve been in Italy, the most rewarding experiences have been those I’ve shared with the locals who speak little to no English, while I speak only very little Italian with a terrible accent. I was pleasantly surprised to find that although it’s challenging, it’s completely possible to maintain a conversation, to some extent, with each party speaking a different language! Who knew?

Over the past (almost) two weeks here, I’ve been so exhilarated at the chance to communicate with the locals in the hopes of practicing my Italian and getting some feedback. The groundwork of learning a language is always the most exciting part, before grammar and verb conjugations complicate things. I was able to practice a few of the simpler phrases during my stay in Venice such as “piacere” (nice to meet you), “quanto costa” (how much), and my all-time favorite, which I find the most useful because mistakes are inevitable, “mi dispiace” (I’m sorry).

While I’ve been practicing these basic phrases all along with somewhat English-speaking Italians in the big city and even in Paderno, I hadn’t had any real issues where my deduction and interpretation skills would be put to the test until this past weekend on a trip to Bassano del Grappa.

To familiarize ourselves with a popular nearby town before the students arrived, the other RAs and I traveled by bus to Bassano with a list of things to do and see there as provided by our manager. The town was so beautiful and we found that, although there was barely ever a street sign, getting around was fairly easy. That is, until we decided to head back toward the bus station by following a passing bus, gambling that it was traveling toward the station rather than from it, and found ourselves going in a very wrong direction toward a far corner of the city.

Dr. Al, the executive director of CIMBA, gave us some advice during an orientation meeting. We will get lost. We will almost definitely get on a train going in the wrong direction, faced with the challenge that no one around us speaks our language. Find our way back and we’re developing the very problem-solving skills every college student uses to market themselves to employers. Don’t panic; know that mistakes are part of creating the most valuable experience.

Well here we were in a residential area of a small-ish town in northern Italy, where I can guarantee very few people outside of the city center know how to speak English. We see a man in his driveway and at first I’m skeptical whether we should even bother him, knowing he most likely wouldn’t be any help. We take a chance and offer a, “buon giorno.”

Of course the man didn’t speak a word of English. Luckily, I’d learned a few important things from my Italian phrasebook like “aiuto” (help), “dov’è” (where is…), and “stazione dell’autobus” (bus station). He quickly responded in Italian some lengthy directions I didn’t understand. With the hand gestures and a few words I may or may not have understood here and there, I got a general sense of what he wanted us to do. Mainly, it’s possible he wanted us to go back toward the city center, follow the road around it where all the buses seem to be going, after a while turn right and it should be just a little further down. This was all uncertain, but seeing as he was the only person we’d encountered for several blocks and likely the only one we’d see for some time, we had to say “grazie” (thank you) and trust his directions, or what we could understand of them.

In some miraculous feat, we followed what we expected the man’s directions to mean and were soon approaching the bus station.

With time to spare before the bus back to Paderno arrived, we were able to stop off for a break in a pub and sample the Amaro made at the local distillery.

It amazes me that two people with almost no language in common can still communicate. This whole experience just made me all the more excited to actually learn Italian in my class this semester!

Ci vediamo! (See you!)

-Melissa