Beyond the Language

What is the Italian course at the British Institute actually like? Well, when I tell people I'm taking an Italian course, there is the image of being cooped up in a classroom for hours with endless exercises, which perhaps goes against the very much alive and personal nature of languages. Essentially, what the Institute's course does is provide a holistic approach to language learning. This can be within class and outside with activities such as 'Caffè e giornale', 'cultura e parole' and 'aiuto' which supplement the morning classes.

The teachers at the Institute realise that learning Italian isn't just about dry grammar sessions and vocab lists, and often during the classes we improve our language through learning about the country's culture, be that through literature, cinema or art, among other things. For example, last Friday we watched the film Una giornata particolare, which depicts life under fascism and so tied in perfectly with our previous lesson on the history of this period. It is a virtue of language learning that watching a film can really be counted as highly useful, as the language is authentic (often spoken slightly too fast - we needed Italian subtitles for this one!), and it teaches us so much about the country. I am very much a believer that understanding the culture behind a language and vice versa is the best way to understand people from all over the world, so it really is great to have the opportunity to look at some of these gems of Italian culture, especially as this particular film, from 1977 with Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni, isn't that well known abroad. Of course, it also helps that I'm a big film fan too...!

When we watch films or read articles or books like this, we always leave plenty of time to discuss them afterwards. This, for me, is really key because it is one thing to be able to speak Italian to hold normal, everyday conversations, but it is quite another to be able to express nuanced, well-thought out opinions on a topic. All of which makes this format of learning, when done alongside the more commonplace working through textbooks, listening, vocab and grammar exercises, makes us more prepared to engage with people in a wide variety of situations. Next week we will be looking at the many dialects spoken in Italy, which should be an interesting topic given the diverse linguistic fabric that continues to give each Italian region (and even provinces within regions) its own particular character. All of this is testament to the broadness of the Institute's Italian course, which, in spite of nearly three months here, continues to teach me so much about this fascinating country and its people.