Hales gave me a feel for Italian. ( )

Not very good. I thought it would be more language based or more about the authors experience and discovery of Italian culture, but in reality it was a bunch of textbook chapters on different aspects of Italian culture that have nothing to do with each other. ( )

Oh, goodness. Had to donate it away before I could get to page four.

I bought this book after I traveled to Italy myself. I was fascinated by the culture and country and wanted to take something home with me that I could constantly refer to as a memory. This book was actually being sold in a train station in Florence so I decided to pick it up. And I am so glad I did! It is a beautiful book and perfectly captures the wonderful essence of Italian culture. It was a truly wonderful read and I will definitely reread it the next time I miss that country. ( )

Takes you through Hales' personal "affair' with Italian, as well as the history of the language and its influence on literature, music, love, art, food, etc. Enjoyable way to learn about the language (as compared with "The Pursuit of Italy," which is a more dry history that I ended up skimming). I will revisit this book as I seek to acquire better idiomatic knowledge of Italian. ( )

Italian really is one of the world’s most enchanting languages. Dianne Hales’s La Bella Lingua takes the reader on a sumptuous journey through the words of Michelangelo, Dante, and Verdi. Although Italian only has about a third of the words that English has, their meanings are more precise and more elegant. Each word becomes a story. Take “furbo” for example. It means a small deception, but a furbetto is a small child who gains through deception, a furbastro makes money through trickery, and a furbizia is a clever use of deception in language. Only Italian could pull off these hidden layers.

Hales writes about her immersion in Italian language and culture like someone who wishes they’d been born there. The Italian language tells the story of its speakers and its nation. Shaped through its folklore and metaphors, Italians can speak of someone who is “piu tondo dell’O di Giotto” (rounder than Giotto’s O, or slow on the uptake) or someone who doesn’t know his “Galateo” (a historical guide on etiquette written in 1558 and still used a model of behavior). Every syllable becomes a world with new and exciting characters.

Hales writes with wit, verve, and childlike glee. She shapes the history of the language around the stories if Italy’s cultural institutions—its food, its art, and its music. While some of her travels seem a bit showy (she gets tickets to Milan’s La Scala and chats with Roberto Benigni), her conversations with Italian friends illustrate the core of the language. It’s meant as a way for the Italian people to continue to share their pride in their nation and history as well as their absolute love for the Italian way of life. While reading this book, I found myself almost constantly saying the Italian words and phrases out loud to hear them come off the page. By the end, you want to learn the whole language, to wrap it around you, so “cominciamo”—let’s get started. ( )

This book was almost exactly what I expected it to be. The author runs through the obvious reasons to love the Italians and the language they share: opera, music, Dante, Boccaccio, Fellini, et al. There's a lot of talk about how "The Italians really know how to *live* because they are so *earthy* and *passionate* and appreciative of *beauty*" and it may all be true, but makes for predictable reading. It all feels touristy. Nevertheless, there's some neat information here, and there's no denying that the language is lovely and worth investigating...

I picked this book up as part of my love of Italy and my endeavor to learn the Italian language. I was not disappointed. In fact, I loved this book so much that I bought several copies for Christmas gifts and it made my annual list of recommends to friends and family.

Hales' love of both Italian and English languages shines through with her lush vignettes and her careful explanations. It's clear that she spent a considerable amount of time doing her research--so much so that even someone fluent in Italian will still find this book engaging.

I was so enchanted by the book that I was very pleased to see that Hales continues to share her love and knowledge of La Bella Lingua through her blog: http://www.becomingitalian.com/

Se amate la lingua italiana, comprare questo libro! ( )

As one of countless Americans who love most everything Italian, I was naturally drawn to a book that promised to explore the origins and influence of “the beautiful language”. Although I was not exactly disappointed with what I read, neither was it a wholly rewarding experience. Part of the problem was that the author seems to have been a little confused about what sort of book she really wanted to write.

Despite the specificity of the title, Hales has actually tried to squeeze three different topics into one volume: (i) an exploration of how the modern Italian language developed as well as its social and cultural impact, (ii) a series of personal reminiscences about her travels and interactions in Italy, and (iii) several brief chapters focusing on that country’s contributions in areas such as art, literature, music, and food.

Each of these subjects might make great separate treatments—and already have in the case of the second and third topics—but they don’t mesh seamlessly here. In particular, while many of Hales’ insights about the language were fascinating (e.g., the discussion of La Crusca academy), the historical chapters are both quite cursory and have little connection to her ostensible purpose; just translating words from Italian to English or vice versa does not really qualify as a “celebration” of the language. Overall, I would still recommend this book for what it is, but that recommendation would have been far more enthusiastic if it had had a tighter focus. ( )

Read 8.2024

Delightful and informative; now I want to learn Italian ( )

I just published an interview with Dianne Hales, the author of "La Bella Lingua" on the BAIA blog (BAIA is the Business Association Italy America).
You can read the interview here:
http://tinyurl.com/lmvakq