Twin words are the most valuable and overlooked gift in language acquisition. — Susan Elizabeth Nus
I love the sound of Italian. As I child, I could listen to my father and grandfather talk to each other for hours and never get bored. Sometimes, with the help of hand gestures, arm movements that took in the room, crooked heads and raised eyebrows, I actually knew exactly what they were saying.
In high school, I studied Spanish, because Italian wasn’t an option back then. But there were so many similarities between the two, that at some point I could actually answer my grandfather in Spanish and he knew what I was saying. That was when I learned to love Italian words and language.
As an adult, I’ve wanted to learn Italian very badly. I take beginner classes in advance of my trips to Italy, do very well, and then forget most of it until the next refresher course. I am pretty good in tourist Italian, but everything is in the present tense. It’s frustrating. A friend of mine moved to Belgium years ago and, although she was pretty much fluent in French, still had this complaint: I hate that I’m not funny in French. I know what she means. It’s the difference between being book-smart-adequate and really knowing the language.
“Believe it or not, the inside is even more interesting than the cover.”
So when I learned about Italian instructor Susan Elizabeth Nus’ new book, Italian Fluency — reading that it could be my “short cut to Italian fluency” — I was intrigued. Nus takes a radical approach to language learning, focusing on the vast numbers of cognates, or twin words, that exist between the two languages. I knew that some words were similar, of course, but I had no idea of the extent of cognate mania that existed. Now I can see how familiarizing myself with these twin words will take a lot of the stress out of learning vocabulary — and that will free me up to practice the language in a more confident way. They’ll keep me in my language comfort zone, so to speak.
Want examples? Consider these words:
il sentimento the sentiment
la differenza the difference
la funzione the function
flessibile flexible
creativo creative
incessante incessant
stupido stupid
la farmacia the pharmacy
ritornare to return
segreto secret
Well, Nus puts forth a whole book of ‘em: noun, adjective, adverb, and verbal cognates. And then she offers up cognates by category — people, food, health, business, etc. But watch out for the false cognates (so you think morbido is morbid? Think again.) and start right now on the “1,000 essential Italian vocabulary words.” Really. This is a truly fascinating look at what’s similar, rather than different, between the two languages. Read this book, learn some cognates, and I guarantee you won’t feel like such a language idiot!
Susan Elizabeth Nus has a Master’s degree in Italian Literature from Catholic University and a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish Literature from George Washington University. She has taught Romance languages for eight years, and has lived in Spain, Germany and in three different regions of Italy. But I think my favorite thing about her is that she has a fish named Dante.
Speaking Italian in Mantova . . .
Of course, Nus stresses that cognates are not a magic bullet, just a beginning. We language learners still have to focus on grammar and syntax (and a few well-placed gestures) and find a way to work on pronunciation. If we’re in a class, that’s great. But listening to Italian radio and television stations also helps. And to wrap our heads around current and idiomatic usage? Try to read an Italian newspaper every day — or scan the internet for Italian blogs, YouTube videos, websites and more. Armchair travel to Italy every day and some of the panic will slip away.
As a trained ESL instructor, I’m a big advocate of the using all the Reading/Writing/ Listening/Speaking modalities, and Nus suggests that we do some of each every day to stay in shape. To help, she provides a raft of links and suggestions for how we can do that on a regular basis. If you’ve ever been curious about learning the world’s most beautiful language or, if you’re like me, have been thwarted by lack of time or opportunity, you’ll find this book to be an amazing help as well as a great ego boost.
Allora . . . parliamo italiano con Italian Fluency!
Buon viaggio!
Linda Dini Jenkins is a card-carrying Italophile, travel planner, freelance writer, and amateur photographer. Travel is her passion, so writing about her travels just comes naturally. She hopes all her travelers find a way to express their joys, surprises, and fears as they travel and gives every traveler a nifty journal to help smooth the way. Learn more…
