LorenzoGuapo Triglot Groupie United States Joined 6435 days ago 79 posts - 94 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: French
| Message 1 of 10 10 August 2011 at 10:49pm | IP Logged |
This post is not about if you like the show or not but looking at it from a linguistic point, the cast is in Italy this season and the majority not all of them are of Italian descent. The only one who claims to speak Italian is Vinny, however it seem like he is having trouble with the language, he even says that he only understands the language when it is spoken slowly. My question to you all would u consider someone proficient in a language if they only understand it when spoken slowly or would u look at their language skills as if they are at a basic level. I think he may understand the language to an extent but if he can't hold a simple conversation, he should state that he knows a little Italian and not the whole language.
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patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7006 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map
| Message 2 of 10 11 August 2011 at 12:54am | IP Logged |
I have never watched the show. However, whilst watching other channels, I have seen previews for it and, from the look of these, I don't rate their English very high, let alone their Italian.
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carlonove Senior Member United States Joined 5977 days ago 145 posts - 253 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian
| Message 3 of 10 11 August 2011 at 2:04am | IP Logged |
The few Italian-Americans who speak Italian these days speak it as a home language which they never need to read or write. Most speakers know an Americanized southern or Sicilian dialect, and don't have the constant exposure to the standard dialect through television and other media the way peninsular Italians do. There are also many Italian-Americans who can understand the language with high comprehension but not speak it. I wouldn't be surprised if someone who spoke an American variant had trouble communicating in standard Italian, but since a brief glance at that show usually makes me nauseous, I have no interest in finding out what the case may be.
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newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6370 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map
| Message 4 of 10 11 August 2011 at 2:59am | IP Logged |
Yup, I can't stomach that show either. But it's not surprising that an Italian-American who can say mamma mia or gabbagool thinks he can speak Italian. It's a pretty common attitude.
Edited by newyorkeric on 11 August 2011 at 3:05am
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tibbles Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5182 days ago 245 posts - 422 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Korean
| Message 5 of 10 11 August 2011 at 7:15am | IP Logged |
I thought in season one that Vinny mentioned that his mother is from Sicily, so he probably can understand only that dialect.
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newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6370 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map
| Message 6 of 10 11 August 2011 at 7:30am | IP Logged |
They must all be fluent in Italian...Rosetta Stone sent the cast its Italian course!
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carlonove Senior Member United States Joined 5977 days ago 145 posts - 253 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian
| Message 7 of 10 12 August 2011 at 3:09am | IP Logged |
newyorkeric wrote:
They must all be fluent in Italian...Rosetta Stone sent the cast its Italian course! |
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Hopefully they'll be prepared if they encounter any Italian supermodels.
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