""Italians say that someone who acquires a new language 'possesses'
it. In my case, Italian possesses me. With Italian racing like
blood through my veins, I do indeed see with different eyes, hear
with different ears, and drink in the world with all my
senses..."
"
A celebration of the language and culture of Italy, "La Bella
Lingua" is the story of how a language shaped a nation, told
against the backdrop of one woman's personal quest to speak fluent
Italian.
For anyone who has been to Italy, the fantasy of living the Italian
life is powerfully seductive. But to truly become Italian, one must
learn the language. This is how Dianne Hales began her journey. In
"La Bella Lingua," she brings the story of her decades-long
experience with the "the world's most loved and lovable language"
together with explorations of Italy's history, literature, art,
music, movies, lifestyle, and food in a true "opera amorosa"--a
labor of her love of Italy.
Throughout her first excursion in Italy--with ""non parlo
Italiano"" as her only Italian phrase--Dianne delighted in the
beauty of what she saw but craved comprehension of what she heard.
And so she chose to inhabit the language. Over more than
twenty-five years she has studied Italian in every way possible:
through Berlitz, books, CDs, podcasts, private tutorials and
conversation groups, and, most importantly, large blocks of time in
Italy. In the process she found that Italian became not just a
passion and a pleasure, but a passport into Italy's "storia" and
its very soul. She offers charming insights into what makes Italian
the most emotionally expressive of languages, from how the
""pronto"" ("Ready ") Italians say when they answer the telephone
conveys a sense of something coming alive, to how even ordinary
things such as a towel ("asciugamano") or handkerchief
("fazzoletto") sound better in Italian.
She invites readers to join her as she traces the evolution of
Italian in the zesty graffiti on the walls of Pompeii, in Dante's
incandescent cantos, and in Boccaccio's bawdy "Decameron." She
portrays how social graces remain woven into the fabric of Italian:
even the chipper "ciao," which does double duty as "hi" and "bye,"
reflects centuries of "bella figura." And she exalts the glories of
Italy's food and its rich and often uproarious gastronomic
language: Italians deftly describe someone uptight as a "baccala
"(dried cod), a busybody who noses into everything as a
"prezzemolo" (parsley), a worthless or banal movie as a
"polpettone" (large meatball).
Like Dianne, readers of "La Bella Lingua "will find themselves
"innamorata," enchanted, by Italian, fascinated by its saga,
tantalized by its adventures, addicted to its sound, and ever eager
to spend more time in its company.
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