Learning to communicate in a foreign language can be a rewarding and enjoyable experience. Lisa Gerard-Sharp looks at how to get the best out of an Italian language course.
Learning Italian has rarely been so popular. The Italian Institute in London, the bastion of Italian cultural supremacy, was delighted when Nicole Kidman dropped by for an Italian course before the Venice Film Festival. But lesser mortals are also signing up for language and cinema, or language and cookery courses.
Typical language and activity courses provide the perfect opportunity to combine language classes with a new passion, from Tuscan cookery to wine-tasting in Sicily, or delving into opera, or combining Italian conversation with cultural tours to museums and monasteries. Usually group language classes take place in the morning, leaving the afternoons free for trips or new hobbies. Students can come home with more than a smattering of Italian.
I'm ostensibly sampling an Italian and cookery course in Siena, but seem to be simply visiting the best bars, boutiques and pastry shops with my fellow students. Scuola Dante Alighieri in Siena has swept us out of the school's medieval monastery to sample city life — in lesson time. Books are banished and the students, a lively bunch of 'false beginners' (with a little language knowledge), are tingling with anticipation at the thought of speaking to 'real Italians' rather than teachers. On our first day out as a class, we stop at Nannini, Siena's most elegant bar and pasticceria, owned by rock star Gianna Nannini's family. There, several shy students successfully request panforte, the rich Sienese fruit, honey and nut-encrusted delicacy that trounces bland panettone. The teacher, Sissi, has cleverly combined gastro-tourism with learning, making a point many teachers forget: that we all learn more when we're motivated. There has to be a reason for learning or the experience never leaves the page of a book. The camaraderie and conviviality is the joy of language learning in Italy.
OUT OF THE CLASSROOM
One of the advantages of studying Italian in Italy is that the false construct
of 'the classroom' can be dismantled. The entire city becomes the classroom
and endless possibilities arise for 'authentic' conversation, albeit masterminded
by an alert teacher. In Siena, teachers take small groups of students shopping
to practise making polite requests, using "vorrei" (I'd like) and
listening out for the alternative, imperative form: "Fammi un caffe,"
(literally: "Make me a coffee") with the imperative used as an informal
request.
The experience is also a window on the local culture. English and Italian forms of politeness differ. In English, we'd recoil from saying: "Make me a coffee." Students learn that in Italian, the sense of politeness can reside in the intonation and the form of address rather than in the grammar. Most ultra-English circumlocutions such as "could you possibly" and "would you be so kind as to" are rarely translated literally in Italian. Such 'exaggerated' forms of speech as these would be considered redundant and mark one out as a foreigner. So a simple visit to a bar has become an entree to Italian society and a lesson in socio-linguistics. Given the warmth of the welcome, the loveliness of the setting and the aroma of the macchiato (white coffee), Siena is also offering us a lesson in living.
There is much to be said for my plumping for the intimacy of a compact city, such as Siena, where days seem to end chatting (in Italian) with fellow students in the shell-like splendour of Piazza del Campo, the heart of civic life since medieval times. The square is at its most theatrical in the late afternoon, after a day spent in the shadows of the walls and inner courtyards. Siena is a chiaroscuro (dark and light) city, from its striped marble cathedral to its tunnelled alleys and black-and-white city emblem. The Campo's pool of light draws even the meek students centre stage.
Afternoons outside set off new trains of thought, especially when spent with the school's art historian, who offers a real sense of Siena. Where Florence is boldly horizontal, Siena is soaringly vertical; where Florence has grand squares and virile statues, Siena has secret gardens and romantic wells. Florentine art is perspective and innovation while Sienese art is sensitivity and conservation. In other words, Siena is the feminine foil to Florentine masculinity.
Studying in such a self-contained city is a chance to share the local passions, notably the Palio, the ferocious horse race that holds the entire city in thrall. It's strange how a race lasting 90 seconds can require a year's planning, a lifetime's patience and the involvement of the whole city. But it does. The Palio has been raced through war, famine and plague and all students who study in Siena leave with a sense of awe for such civic pride.
Back in the 13th-century cloisters of San Domenico, where Scuola Dante Alighieri is housed, the advanced class gathers to discuss the varieties of Italian, including accent and dialect. Unlike in the UK, an accent is purely a denoter of place and belonging, and is devoid of class connotations and snobbery. Even so, the Semsi (Sienese) are reputed to be insular and aloof, proud of speaking the 'purest' form of Italian. Given that we are discussing linguistic 'purity', one student dares point out that Sienese Italian is as accented as any other regional variant. In fact, in much of Tuscany, the V is aspirated in a Spanish-sounding way so that casa (house) sounds like 'hasa'.
COMBINING COOKERY
An Italian cookery course with Setena follows, deep into the evening, and combines
food-focused language-learning with hands-on experience of traditional Tuscan
cuisine, cucina povera (peasant cuisine) as it is sometimes dubbed. Depending
on students' skills, the choice is between the classic course for greedy foodies
and the showcase series for professional chefs. On completion of this testing-ground,
the most talented are cherry-picked to join local restaurants on traineeships.
Serena, a feisty Tuscan, runs the cookery course with verve and a true Italian passion for fresh ingredients and seasonal recipes. Naturally, the Sienese believe that the truest Tuscan cuisine came from Siena. On the menu are such traditional dishes as: panzanella, a rustic summer salad; pappardelle (ribbon pasta, with whatever is in season, including mushrooms); and bistecca alla Fiorentina, chargrilled steaks from the enormous white Chianina oxen bred near Arezzo. The course is conducted in Italian and despite a wide range of language levels, all manage to follow it. It is the perfect example of motivational, practical learning: a weaker student might need Serena to show him what to do rather than understand from her instructions, but the next time he will know "cola la pasta" means strain the pasta. The cookery classes foster a great sense of camaraderie and all students share the dishes they have created for the lessons.
Kathy Friend studied at Dante Alighieri recently, and was full of praise for the school and Cactus, the agency she booked with. "I chose Cactus because of the clear website, the possibility of doing a week-long course and the helpful staff. The school was in; a great location, with nice classrooms, while Siena is in the centre of Tuscany — great for visiting other towns. I stayed in a flat arranged by Cactus, five minutes from the school, where I felt safe and it had all the facilities I needed. I enjoyed meeting people of all ages and from different countries. The extra activities were wonderful, from film viewings to wine tasting."
My Siena course was also booked through Cactus, the leading UK agency for language courses. The Cactus credo is that: "The teaching, by native speaker teachers, will be communicative, engaging, intimate, fun and engages and stretches our students. We take teacher support seriously. Our teachers are qualified language trainers and are given further guidance by our full-time Director of Studies, who both interviews the teachers and meets them for teacher training sessions. Although there will be an emphasis on speaking and listening, grammar is included in our courses and will be taught in context. Our courses are monitored throughout and feedback is gathered from you.”
WHERE TO LEARN
Stefania Gatta of the Italian Tourist Board sees language schools as an increasingly
popular option for intelligent, active visitors. "There is a trend towards
choosing 'new' places, such as Bologna and Siena, even if Tuscany and Umbria
are still considered the best place to learn the 'purest' Italian". Most
language agencies believe that language courses combined with art or cookery
appeal more to older students. Younger students want to know what a place offers
in terms of entertainment after hours, hence the popularity of places such as
Alghero, Taormina ami Elba," adds Stefania.
Prospective students should choose the destination with care, deciding whether the buzz of a big city, such as Rome, outweighs the art-historical grandeur of Florence, or the relaxed mood of a beach resort on Elba or Sicily. Cactus elaborates: "We find that many people are looking for less touristy destinations. Younger people tend to head for the larger, livelier places (such as Rome, Bologna and Florence) and older clients for smaller and quieter locations such as Sorrento, Siena and Orvieto. But this is a sweeping generalisation and we do always have a wide variety of ages in each location."
LEARNING METHODS
As for the question of methodology, you need to find your own style. There are
as many ways of learning a language as there are language learners, but some
methods work better than others. That's not to say that there is one right way,
even if the communicative approach is the most widespread. Established schools
have signed up to the Common European Framework, which classifies learners into
12 levels, according to language skills, ranging from absolute beginner to fluent.
By trying a short course in the UK, whether self-study or a classroom version, you will soon discover whether you're more of an instinctive learner, ready to go with the flow go with the flow, who doesn't mind making mistakes, or whether you're more analytical, self-critical and set on a perfectionist path. You'll find out whether you're a cognitive learner, at ease with understanding the reasons behind every grammatical rule, or whether you respond better to being thrown in at the deep end, and learning more instinctively, swimming through language you don't always fathom.
Some of us respond better to visual prompts, others to aural prompts, such as recorded conversations. More cognitive learners may feel comfortable with the rules clearly set down before them. Older learners may be more au fait with grammatical terms in general, and respond to a more traditional presentation of Italian grammar, and be more acquiescent to learning by rote, say in the case of irregular verbs, or the subjunctive - a linguistic minefield. Younger learners may prefer to learn structures in a highly communicative way, by example and practice.
Again, there is no right and wrong approach, but it helps to understand your own learning style. Good teachers (with smaller classes) should respond to your idiosyncrasies and create a dynamic atmosphere in which learning is an adventure. However, with a self-study Italian course, you must accept the approach as presented or move onto another course that appeals more. The best-selling self-study courses are as different as we are, so don't despair if one particular approach doesn't suit you. It's much like dating: move on to the next date with as little baggage - 'language issues' - as possible.
Accuracy and fluency are the yin and yang of language learning, with good courses fostering both in different sessions. Accuracy strives after perfection, linked to whatever structure is being practised at the time, while fluency looks at the bigger picture, the overall ability to communicate, regardless of the odd errors in vocabulary and grammar.
CHOOSING A SCHOOL
As for choosing the right school, always go through a reputable agency. This
will not increase your costs as agencies make money from commissions paid by
the language schools, rather than by the clients. Check the size of classes
and opt for smaller classes, out of season, if possible. Your progress in Italian
is directly linked to your interaction with the locals, so choose a family 'home-stay',
if possible.
You'll get more out of a language course if you're an intermediate or a 'false' beginner, with some prior knowledge of the language. That way you can exploit the city as a resource, ordering a meal, asking for directions and chatting to desirable strangers — purely to practise your Italian language skills, of course.
Paradoxically, all these suggestions come with caveats, depending on circumstances. Language learning is a minefield. As for the cliché that acquiring an Italian lover is the quickest route to fluency, this is both true and untrue. My Italian partner has undoubtedly made my language more confident and colloquial, but he has also corrupted my speech. Even cultured Italian men tend to use the odd profanity. Yet, when swear words slip into female conversation, Italian males look startled: such linguistic licence is not accorded to Italian women, let alone to foreigners.
Cactus Language:
Arranges Italian language courses, as well as language and activity courses
all over Italy, including Siena, Rome and Bologna (which has a superb cookery
course). Cactus also runs Italian courses in various centres in the UK. www.cactuslanguage.com
Cactus Language
Training: UK based but organises tailor-made language courses around individual
or group needs. www.cactuslanguagetraining.com