La Bella Lingua by Dianne Hales
Little did Dianne Hales know that when she went on her first vacation to Italy, it would become a life altering experience. But that’s exactly what happened. Not only did she fall in love with the country, its culture, its people, she took it one step further. She decided to BE Italian in every sense of the word.
Her first hurdle was the language barrier. Most people try to learn a language word by word, through repetition and trial and error. But not Dianne. She began at the very beginning and went back into history to understand how Italian came to life.
Dianne takes us on a true Italian journey. Chapter by chapter, she explores how some of Italy’s most famous personages, writers, artists, and musicians helped shape the language from its vulgar vernacular into the beautiful harmonic language that it is today.
Sprinkled throughout, is Dianne’s humor as she stumbles verbally and sends the wrong message as she begins to speak basic words. But as her skill develops, so does her keen sense of analysis and she is able to give her take on how Italians communicate through their coloroful words, complex hand gestures, and rich food and drink. She met with experts from some of the country’ s leading educational organizations for her research and even explored Italy’s many dialects.
To say her journey and her book was captivating would be an understatement. The uniqueness of her story, the vibrant prose contained within this non-fiction book, and her tales of some of her mishaps as she learned to speak Italian, kept me turning the pages, eager to learn more. Her book honors Italy and Italians everywhere. A highly recommended read – but beware – it will make you want to vacation there yourself. Brava Dianne! Encore!
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