Learning a Second Language

— Catherine Mitchell

Whatever the reason, it’s a long haul, but well worth it. I can only tell you my story first-hand, but if you’re curious, I believe it will leave you with a greater understanding of the process and admiration for those who opted to follow through with the dream.

My heritage is Italian. My father was born in Fano, province of Pesaro in the central Marche region, on the Adriatic Sea. My mother’s parents came from Celenza di Valfortore, a small village in Apulia, in the heel of Italy. Although they both spoke Italian, they spoke dialects and could barely understand each other. But more than this, it was their wish that their children, while respecting and cherishing their heritage, become Americans.

To make a long story short, I learned in high school that I loved foreign languages and had an affinity for them. I started with one year of Latin, continued with French, and, when Italian was offered, I continued with both French and Italian.

At the University of Pennsylvania, I continued my Italian studies. At the end of my sophomore year I chose Italian as my major. There was no such animal, but fortunately, Penn was a very open-minded university. I was told that I could major in Italian and was assigned the head of the Department of Romance Languages as my adviser. I immediately followed with my desire to spend my junior year in Italy! Mind you, Penn had no junior year abroad program. My Italian professor, adviser and I got together. It was decided that I could take a leave of absence, take a summer course followed by a year at the University for Foreign Students in Florence, return with proof of my studies, and be awarded 30 credits (the bare minimum) for my year abroad.

In the summer of 1959, I boarded a ship for Genoa. While on board (one week) I met many Italians — immigrants returning home for a visit, students who had spent a year in the U.S. Only then did I begin to realize what I was in for!

I did become fluent in a year, but not before crossing many hurdles. I rigorously eschewed contact with English speakers. I ate at the Italian student restaurant. I went to lots of movies, which were all dubbed in Italian, and immersed myself in Italian culture.

When I first arrived, a cousin on my mother’s side took me to visit her friends, where I was always served espresso, which I could not refuse, and was inundated with questions I couldn’t answer. How old are you? This, I could answer. How tall was I? How to convert feet and inches to meters? How much did I weigh? Heaven knows why they would ask me this! How many pounds to the kilo?

People I met in my travels asked my nationality- American. America del nord o America del sud? America del nord. Canada o gli Stati uniti? Gli Stati Uniti. Such exchanges taught me how egocentric we Americans were. We were not the only people in the Americas – not even in North America.

I learned the value of a lira – this was long before the euro!

On a train ride from southern Italy to London, I would get off at each major destination enroute and ask where I needed to change trains. I once spent a night in a Bologna train station because I mistook Boulogne, where I was supposed to change trains, for Bologna. My knowledge of geography was practically non-existent!

I learned that doing something differently wasn’t necessarily wrong — just different. I learned that there was a whole other world out there, with fascinating people, places and ways of doing things. I came away with a whole new view of life. When I hear someone speaking with a foreign accent, I listen more carefully. English probably isn’t his native language. Who knows what wonderful knowledge that accent is hiding?

Travel changes you — if you let it. Speaking another language takes it to another level.

Catherine Mitchell holds a master’s in Italian from Middlebury College and lived in Italy for ten years. She has taught English at European language schools and Italian in the United States. She teaches Italian Levels I through IV for OLLI-USF and moderates an Italian conversation group in South Tampa.