Hello All,
And welcome to
Italian Diction. Each week (or so) I
will post a blog and you will write a response on your own blog to let me know
you read mine and watched the videos.
Your responses will be due the following Monday by class time.
Half of Italian
diction is learning the rules for pronouncing the language. That’s what we will dedicate the first half
of the semester to. The other half of
Italian diction – and something we will work on all semester – is the actual
pronunciation of the language.
Rules-wise, Italian diction will be the easiest one you’ll study. But, I believe Italian is the hardest
language to sound idiomatic in. Partly,
the difficulty lies in the fact that the consonants are closely related to the
consonants in English but are substantially drier, crisper and generally produced farther forward in the mouth. Mostly though, Italian pronunciation is
difficult because it has such music of its own and it’s very hard for us to
willingly make that music. In truth, to
our ears, when we speak Italian properly it almost seems as if we’re making fun
of it. One of the things you are going
to find most difficult in this class is figuring out how to marry the music of
the language with the rhythm the composer gives you.
So, first,
let’s start with just getting the sound of the language in our ear. To help with that, I offer you two videos
dealing with two very beautiful things – Italian language and Italian
food. First up is opera singer Ambrogio
Maestri teaching how to make pumpkin risotto.
Ambrogio is one of the reigning Falstaffs of our day. He is from Northern Italy just south of Milan
and has always made a practice of cooking risotto for his casts whenever he is
on the road. These risotti have become
so popular he has put out a series of instruction videos to show people how
it’s done properly.
The second
video is of an English television series called “Two Greedy Italians” which
follows two Italian immigrant chefs around Italy as they visit the towns and
food of their childhood. The show is an
hour long but I only ask that you watch the first 7 minutes or so.
In both of
these videos, start to listen for the rhythm of the speech. Ambrogio has a very sing-songy way of
speaking which is beautiful and crisp.
Why do the two greedy Italians sound Italian when they speak
English? This isn’t an accident. Any accent is a result of the way the
speaker’s mother tongue is put together.
I think we
Americans tend to think of the French as the passionate fiery lovers of the
“joie de vivre.” We think of them as Pépé le pew. But it’s really the Italians who seem to have
figured out how to find the gioia in
life. You can see it in their gestures,
you can hear it in the music of their language and you can taste it in their
food. Buon appetito!
R
Ambrogio Maestri
Two Greedy Italians
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