Language

Italian is a beautiful language to hear and speak, but which Italian? Many Italians speak in regional dialect. Think of these as the differences in English/American accents, but to a greater degree. Northern Italian and Southern Italian are classified as two different languages, with lingual differences in all regions between. For this reason, a ‘common’ Italian was introduced with television, in the 1950s. ‘Dante’s Italian’, the language of the Tuscan region, is taught in Italian public schools, as well as international language schools. Consequently, all Italian speakers feel the language spoken in Tuscany is the purest form of the tongue.

Is That Sign Language?

When walking out of the airport or train station, you'll notice most Italians make rather emphatic movements with their hands. Sign language? No...but there are certain 'Italian' hand movements.

A common Italian hand 'movement' is placing the thumb against the two middle fingers, and moving the hand up and down. This accentuates a comment, wordlessly expressing distain. I've noticed it used often with the comment Dai (pronounced 'die'), which is equivalent to our use of "Come on!" (expression of disbelief, not invitation). There are several other hand movements you may notice; one is shaking the palm sideways over the shoulder or beside the face. This has several meanings, the most common being Un lungo tempo fa--a long time ago.

Needless to say, the middle finger is rather universal in meaning--there are rude teenagers everywhere. There are a few other 'rude' expressions; two middle fingers against the palm with index and pinky finger up, thumb crossed over middle fingers, hand upraised and shaking side to side is supposedly used to ward off the 'evil eye' (so I'm told), and indicates a loose female (depending on user's bias) when lifted behind her back. A fist with the thumb inserted between index and middle finger signifies "eating the fig"...which relates to a rude medieval story I refuse to repeat. Brushing the back of the fingertips under an upraised chin has same meaning as our 'shooting the bird'; please note, Italians are less restricted with their use of rude expressions. The "under-brush" is used quite often in conversation; especially if one doesn't like the way it's going.

Usually, when we answer the phone, we say "Hello?", "Good Morning", or even "Yeah?" if we're in a hurry; listening into a conversation, you notice Italians say "Pronto." Pronto? That means "Ready"...ready to talk. And Italians are always ready to talk on their cell phones; I never met a local who did not have one. The network is very good in Italy--before I left, I even had a cell phone...and answered each time with "Pronto."

Toasts

When toasting your friends, you often say "Cheers!" while clicking glasses together. It is slightly different in Italian pubs. The common toast is "Salute" or "cin-cin" (to imitate the sound of the glasses touching).