Istituto di Venezia: my experience at the Italian language learning school in Trieste

​Although I've been a translator for a few years now, and rewriting documents in English has become second nature, I still get a little anxious when someone speaks rapid Italian to me over the phone. It’s harder to follow a dialogue when you can’t see someone’s face. This is the main reason I booked an intensive course at the Istituto di Venezia Italian language school, an organisation based in both Venice and the beautiful city of Trieste - where I stayed for a week in July. The school offers Italian classes for beginners and improvers of all levels. It also provides guided excursions and activities, such as cooking lessons, in the late afternoons, and students are encouraged to accept accommodation in an Italian family, to experience full immersion in the language.

I chose the Trieste school because it’s in a region of Italy I hadn’t visited before and I’d heard positive things about the city. I wasn’t disappointed. Due to its location at the northern end of the Adriatic Sea, its proximity to Austria, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia, and its accessibility by train to many European cities, I really felt at the heart of Europe, at a crossroads of cultures and languages.

With its numerous cafes and restaurants, elegant architecture, surrounding countryside and fascinating history, Trieste has something to offer any tourist or photographer, and more than enough to fill the days of the sightseer.
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This was, however, for another time. The purpose of my visit was to make advancements in the language. First thing Monday morning, I was asked to take a short, written test and undergo an interview so as to be placed at the most appropriate level. I found myself in a class alongside people of a variety of ages from Germany, Hungary, Colombia, Argentina, France, Poland and the US. The challenge, therefore, was not just to follow instructions and complete assignments in Italian, but also to understand the language being spoken in a variety of accents, styles and intonations. Although undeniably an enriching experience, this took some getting used to.

The standard of teaching was outstanding. The staff I worked with were patient and supportive, and I was impressed by both the effectiveness of their strategies and the originality and resourcefulness of their ideas for classroom activities. My day began with a two-hour lesson from 9am to 11am, which involved reading comprehensions, reading aloud, and some rather brutal grammar exercises. I’ve always been a fan of verbs, and feel that mastering conjugations of verbs in all tenses and for all persons – something I will probably never achieve - is an objective worth striving for. The grammar being fairly advanced, we started with various forms of the passive tense, then went on to the passato remoto. By the end of the week, we were on sentences including conditional + subjunctive verbs. When everyone seemed to be having difficulty, our teacher did allow that many Italians would have found the exercises challenging. Each of us was required to participate, and there was a shared philosophy that it was ok to make mistakes; that being outside your comfort zone helps you to  improve.

The second half of the morning, from 11am to 1pm was for discussion, speaking and listening. There were some inventive, colourful and highly amusing activities, with discussions in pairs, groups, or “circle time”. We listened to poems or songs, and explained one half of a story rich in metaphor and meaning to a partner, who then explained the other half - the first part having been concealed from them. We watched a short film with the sound turned off, then speculatively discussed possible interpretations of what we had seen with the group. Perhaps the most entertaining activity was sitting in a group of three, writing a brief script for a short comedy in which two people go into a shop to choose and purchase a partner of the opposite sex, which we then had to act out in front of the group. These four hours of intensive lessons always seemed to be over in a flash.

I also had a private lesson between 2 and 3pm, consisting entirely of conversation. My one-to-one teacher was truly wonderful, with a marvellous sense of humour. She spoke at a normal pace, without concession, so that I could develop my listening skills, and listened attentively when it was my turn to speak, gently offering correction when necessary. Although she began the week with icebreakers such as asking me to talk about a person, place, event, object or date that was important to me, the topics rapidly became more profound, and we found ourselves discussing, for example, the importance of football in uniting the population of Italy, the problems of old age and whether euthanasia should be legal and moral, and how UK citizens and visitors from European countries visiting Italy are viewed by Italians.

Because my private tutor was understanding and flexible in her approach, I felt sufficiently at ease to make an unusual request. Since my personal demon is speaking on the phone, I asked if she would conduct our last two lessons without us being able to see each other, and pretend to be a client contacting me by phone to order a translation. Although surprised and amused, she was happy to oblige, and suggested that we run the session “schiena contro schiena” (back-to-back). In spite of this feeling ridiculous at first, and in spite of finding the temptation to laugh almost irresistible, it proved to be extremely effective in laying my fears to rest. I made mistakes. I didn’t quite grasp everything she said, and I certainly felt nervous, which led to errors, for example, in spelling out the letters of my email address. However, we reached an agreement as to the nature of the documents to be translated, the reason for the work, the type of file and page layout, price and deadline, and I now feel confident that I could do this again. The experience was invaluable and I am very grateful to her for humouring me.

The Istituto di Venezia offers enormous flexibility in terms of number of weeks of tuition and lessons per day. I met a few people who were staying for four weeks or even the whole summer. Work and family commitments prevented me from staying for longer than one week, but I would recommend this school to anyone with an interest in learning Italian, at whatever level, and I definitely intend to return. I feel that, in most things, the more you learn, the more you realise you don’t know, and I am the first to admit that I have a long way to go if I am ever going to speak like a native and use error-free grammar. But for me, the main benefit is that I’ve lost the fear. The next time the phone rings and I see a +39 number on the screen, or hear a voice speaking in Italian, I will be able to answer with confidence: “Pronto. Chi parla?”