Language as a bridge

by Bonnie Brandes
The first night that I arrived in Cagli, I met an outgoing older gentleman named Romero. We bonded watching the Italy vs. England 2012 Euro Cup football match. Since that night, Romero waves eagerly and shouts “ciao” every time he sees me around Cagli. He likes to practice his English but is also very eager to teach Italian. On my second day in Cagli, he was sitting with his friend Gabriel and waved me over to join them. Gabriel had a warm smile. He only speaks Italian so when Romero walked away we began to attempt to communicate. Gabriel gently touched my arm and asked me a series of questions in Italian. With hand signals and broken words I tried to understand anything in his song of Italian. I concluded with my very limited Italian, Gabriel was trying to ask when I arrived in Cagli. In my response I tried to communicate "yesterday or one day ago" and it was clearly creating confusion. My response was not making any sense to him. In fact, it started to create more confusion. We sat together and just tried unsuccessfully for about five minutes until Romero came back to our sitting area. Instantly, I could see a confused Gabriel ask Romero for clarification. Romero promptly told Gabriel that we were leaving after two weeks. Gabriel and I smiled at each other because it was the first moment that made any sense and the confusion was clear. I had misunderstood his question and created more confusion. He was a sweet man that smiled and offer many warm gestures through our efforts. But I was completely frustrated that I was not able to communicate with him more clearly. Language is a bridge that helps you cross over into the world of another cultural.