In the middle of a lovely holiday here in Napoli, and I’m using every opportunity to use my skeletal Italian survival phrases. It’s largely due to the confidence that I have achieved through SSiW that I just plunge in, mistakes and all, and have the time of my life trying to get by in Italian with an almost non-existent vocabulary.
This evening I had to go to a pharmacy for a supportive bandage for a sprained foot (nothing serious!) and did the whole lot, including asking the price, in Italian ! “Seven!” the pharmacist replied in English… 
Thanks SSiW for the confidence to take on any new language and enjoy the effort!
9 Likes
Da iawn ti. By the way, do they speak Italian in Napoli? 
2 Likes
Actually, there is a Neapolitan language spoken there, although everyone seems to use standard Italian as the common tongue, even though “Italian” is actually the Florentine language.
1 Like
I learned my Italian in Lombardia but found my Welsh was more useful when I visited the beautiful city of Napoli/Naples. But you’re right. If I had persisted, I’m sure that “received” Italian would have been mutually understood.
I have the same experience in my favourite Italian destination - Sardegna/Sardinia.
From a very windy and soggy Ystrad Meurig, I envy you right now. Buona vacanza! 
2 Likes
Hey @Baruch, glad you’re doing good!
In Campania most people just speak Italian with a strong local accent. They don’t usually talk to non locals in dialect.
Usually the way to go here (and what Italians tend to do abroad) is just adding wide and varied gestures to accompany the words you’re saying or even not saying. Just like in those games where there are two teams and you have to get yours to guess the title of a movie by miming the words and without speaking. Improvise that way and you’ll do great!
p.s. at the car rental and at the airport everybody spoke to me in English! 
3 Likes
They don’t usually talk to non locals in dialect.
Of course not, I found most Neapolitans to be just as polite and considerate as we Welsh are. I found the accent extremely difficult, however, and many found my learner’s Italian incomprehensible in much the same way as many native English speakers find difficulty in Glasgow or Aberdeen.
I was taught a Neapolian song once but I couldn’t perform it now. 
2 Likes
Gwych!
I’ve suspected for quite some time that there may be a neurological adaptation in the process of speaking a second language that is at least partially transferable to other new languages - not quite sure how/where it would work, but I see occasional signs of something of that nature in quite a few different environments.
But also… llongyfarchiadau MAWR for the confidence/enthusiasm side of things… 
2 Likes
That may well be true. Many years ago I had a friend whose parents were from different European countries and he grew up in a third, giving him three mother tongues. He had added several languages to his repertoire by the time I had met him, and he was fluent in a dozen languages. I always remember him telling me that after about 2 or 3 languages, the brain adapts to learning new ones much more quickly.
2 Likes
Yes, sure, I know even many people from northern Italy who do not understand Italian spoken with a strong Napoletano accent!
But now I’m curious to know which is the song you had learnt! 
By the way I noticed that every single time Italy is mentioned in Welsh TV program, mandolin music starts. But apart from tourist tours in Campania nobody really listens to mandolin music, except for a handful of folk music enthusiasts!
Someone tell the producers!
1 Like
But now I’m curious to know which is the song you had learnt!
It could well have been “O sole mio” (ma non sono sicuro / sai’n siwr)
I do recall the setting, however. It was at a conference in Milan in the 90s of “I quattro motori dell’Europa” / the Four Motor Regions of Europe (Catalunya, Rhône-Alpes, Lombardia, Baden-Württemberg) to which Wales was a sort of honorary associate. I was part of the Welsh delegation. On the last night, the delegates from each country/region sang their local songs. Our delegation probably offered “Ar hyd y nos” or “Calon Lan” or maybe even “Sospan Fach”. The Naples group taught us “O Sole Mio” or (something else) and I recall the Northern Italians having to learn the Neapolitan dialect and accent. Una serata indimenticabile / noson bythgofiadwy /unforgettable evening
2 Likes