BRITALY – Some Observations

Jane Hedworth, UK

Jane Hedworth has worked teaching Italian and ESOL in further and higher education for thirty years. She has also done many freelance contracts for individuals and businesses. She is currently self employed teaching both online and face to face. E-mail: angloitalia2003@yahoo.co.uk, www.angloitalia.com

There was a time when Britannia ruled the waves; which empires are rising and falling these days is a matter for debate. However, like it or not, none can deny the imperial rule of the English language. Speakers of Mandarin may be more numerous by far than Brits, Esperanto may have a more rational grammar but English is here to stay for the foreseeable future.

Believe it or not there is a sizeable group of Brits who venture into the realm of foreign language learning rather than simply speaking English more loudly to baffled waiters abroad. Equally Italians, waking up more and more to the realities of the global village (where business is conducted in English), not so long ago enforced earlier English tuition at school. The summer invasion of Italians (and a host of others) to British language schools has been going on for decades. In the age of the internet and cheap flights ‘Britaly’ is expanding as we all trot about the globe and get to know each other better. Brits are developing their fondness for Tuscany and fortunately do not seem to have acquired the same seedy reputation there as in Spain and Greece where the locals have had to put up with drunken indiscretions for some time. Italians do not suffer from such a reputation in the UK. As a young man commented, ‘in the disco here everyone’s drunk except for a few sober ones but it’s the other way round in Italy’. The stereotype of the civilised Mediterranean drinker might slip on occasion but they really exist (to the bemusement of an average British student). However it seems that British visitors to Italy aren’t always lager louts and enjoy the monuments and wine more than the football.

So what about communication; are there any problems? Compared to Italian English contains a much wider and subtler range of vowels and diphthongs. Whilst the British may be horrified by the verb and tense inflections which are an integral part of Italian grammar their counterparts are in the habit of pronouncing every vowel sound (Italian spelling is fairly logical) and need some training to cultivate the ubiquitous ‘schwa’. Typical confusion between ‘ship and sheep’ (the former vowel doesn’t exist in Italian) can lead to embarrassing misunderstandings re such words as ‘beach’ and ‘sheet’. It’s also a minor miracle to find an Italian who can clearly distinguish the sounds in ‘walk’ and ‘work’. There is the usual catalogue of linguistic misdemeanours with ‘false friends’ for example a newly married Englishwoman’s bewilderment at her Italian spouse’s eulogy to ‘sensible breasts’ (‘sensibile’ means ‘sensitive’ in Italian) or the keen shopper for local specialities in Italy inadvertently asking the shop keeper if there were any condoms in the produce (‘preservativo’ isn’t the English ‘preservative’). In the realms of literature there was the university lecturer attempting to read Dante in his original lingo and waxing lyrical over the poetic wonders of ‘fastidiosi vermi’, (presuming the worms must have been very choosy types) however ‘fastidioso’ means ‘disgusting’ and not ‘fastidious’.

We’ve always tried to unravel Babel and now English and the internet look like the best contenders. The face of tourism is changing and language learning can be easier and more rapid even if translation machines and chat rooms haven’t replaced the need for boring old rote learning. Still, along the way midst the confusion and cacophony of mispronounced syllables and misunderstood linguistic imports surely we can have a few laughs about Engliano, Italish or whatever combination.

Five typical Italian problems:

1. The phoneme ‘th’
2. The first conditional (Italians say, ‘if I will…..I will…’)
3. Not to mention other conditionals (Italians use the subjunctive perceived as practically non - existent in English)
4. Present perfect/simple past confusion (northerners have no verbal equivalent of the simple past.
5. Syntactical inversion of subject/object; it’s an Italian habit to put the subject at the end of the sentence.

Typical English problems (in a nutshell): ‘Whaaaaat? Ten different ways of saying ‘the’?!!!!

Possible problem solvers:

1. It isn’t generally too difficult for the Italian mouth to mould itself around ‘th’ with a modicum of spluttering and spraying before becoming habitual….
2. …and the first conditional is quite easily memorised and absorbed with practise…
3. If other conditionals lead to head scratching puzzlement patient comparison with mother tongue structures and a stiff dose of boring old rote exercises help re-program the grey matter and increase fluency in these ‘fiddly bits’ of everyday speech…
4. Hmmmm…not so straight forward as many Italians don’t distinguish the two tenses in speech. Clear examples put beginners on the right track but advanced learners still stumble and to make matters worse those pesky Americans are doing if differently (why doesn’t someone tell them how to talk properly?). Maybe life’s too short to do whatever’s necessary to iron out this persistent wrinkle. Swift recourse to the encouraging ‘communicative’ god of language learning is a help – the ‘haves’ and ‘eds’ might have been out of synch but we got the message…
5. A diplomat from Rome ‘cured’ his Italian syntax (and other interferences) with a ruthless programme of immersion as far as is possible without leaving Italy. Other mere mortals might not want to pay the price of being transformed into a computer geek unable to recognise friends and family. Still, just like having two cars with different idiosyncrasies and driving them both around a lot practise makes perfect. More reading more listening more more more more……

……. not to forget the struggling Brits There are legions of adult learners who, keen to move on from phrase books, realise they’ve forgotten what a verb is (or never found out). They are terrified by the very word ‘grammar’ and have zero linguistic role models, unlike the rest of the world whose politicians and sportsmen are regularly to be seen on the telly yacking away in English. As Mary Poppins said, a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down so it’s good to become a veritable nanny of language learning replete with endless and regular reassurances ‘yes you can do it…..yes it is possible…yes look at me I did it…..no you’re not stupid…..yes we all make mistakes…..yes you can learn something new if you’re over thirty, forty, ninety whatever….all things are possible with patience, perseverance, conviction

AND I’LL HIT YOU IF YOU DON’T GET IT RIGHT THIS TIME!!!!!

Please check the English for Teachers course at Pilgrims website.