{"id":388,"date":"2012-12-12T06:32:24","date_gmt":"2012-12-12T05:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rickzullo.com\/?p=388"},"modified":"2017-06-20T19:43:57","modified_gmt":"2017-06-20T17:43:57","slug":"italian-for-english-speakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/italian-for-english-speakers\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian for English Speakers"},"content":{"rendered":"
Well, after all the little jokes that\u00a0I’ve\u00a0made about teaching English to Italians (you can read here if you need to be reminded: Teaching English to Italians<\/a>), the rebuttal has arrived at last. \u00a0Italian for English speakers: turnabout is fair play, after all.\u00a0 I take no credit (or blame) for the content of this post.\u00a0 Any disparaging remarks from my Anlgo-American friends will be appropriately redirected to the source.<\/em><\/p>\n Ladies and gentlemen, I give to you <\/em>La Professoressa:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s only after Rick asked me again and again that I accepted to share some of the greatest challenges that I encounter when teaching the Italian language to Anglophones. Not that I\u00a0wasn’t\u00a0tempted. I simply thought I\u00a0couldn’t\u00a0find the time to write an article that would likely be as long as an epic poem. But eventually I decided to avenge all the Italians\u00a0who’ve\u00a0been losing sleep over inexplicable phenomena like the \u201ch\u201d sound\u2013 that actually has no sound in words like heir<\/em> and honor<\/em>.\u00a0 Perhaps some of my compatriots have even sought out a psychologist in their attempt to repress their anxiety over producing the \u201cth\u201d sound by putting their tongue between their teeth. You see, this little gesture, basically biting your own tongue, makes them feel stupid. \u201cWhy would I want to look like an idiot?\u201d they go whining to their shrinks.<\/p>\n That said, let me make a disclaimer: my post might sound a bit too harsh to an American audience. Please be assured that it is only intended for fun. We Italians tend to overstate, we\u2019re culturally not half as pressured as you are with that spotless political correctness, and ultimately, well, we don\u2019t really like to bite our tongue\u2014neither literally, nor figuratively.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n So, let\u2019s have a look to some of the preliminary difficulties that English speakers meet along their tortuous path to learning Italian. One above all: grammar. Sure, I am a language teacher and therefore very concerned about grammar. Already in high school I had earned the nickname of \u201cBrainy Smurf,\u201d that will probably give you a hint about how much<\/em> I am concerned about grammar. I will also admit that Italian grammar is undoubtedly much more complex than the English.<\/p>\n