I’ve been following the Italian Blog written by Serena for quite a while now. It’s a super blog. It regularly has articles that are very useful for anybody learning or trying to improve their command of the Italian language.

Recently Serena posted the poem I Pastori (The Shepherds) by Gabriele d’Annunzio (born in Pescara) and provided an English translation.

This is special for me because not only is it the first time I’ve come across a translation of a poem by d’Annunzio, it is also a poem about the traditional way of life in Abruzzo and reflects the transumanza (migration of sheep).

I’ve had a chance to visit d’Annunzio’s birth place in Pescara which is now a museum Casa Natale di Gabriele d’Annunzio. It was one of the rare occasions I’ve ever been close to a Brioni suit!

I’m delighted to have been given permission to reproduce the article so I’m going to stop writing shortly and hand you over to Serena, Gabriele d’Annunzio and the shepherds of Abruzzo.

If you’d like to read the original post you’ll find it here, I Pastori di Gabriele d’Annunzio. Note also that you can follow the Italian Blog on Facebook and Twitter, or subscribe via an RSS Feed or by email.

What follows is the article in full…

Yesterday it rained and rained all day and all night. This morning there is a new freshness in the air, and with it the feeling that the summer is drawing to an end. The seasonal change reminds me of a poem by Gabriele d’Annunzio entitled I Pastori (The Shepherds).

Gabriele d’Annunzio was born in Pescara (Abruzzi) in 1863. He was a poet, novelist, journalist, play writer, patriot, trend setter, and much more. He had many nicknames, amongst which was l’Imaginifico (The Creator of Imagery) due to his particular writing style which mixed together lesser known words such as verga instead of the more common bastone = stick, with words from dialect such as avellano instead of nocciolo = hazelnut. He twisted and created new words (such as erbal from erba = grass), and made use of numerous similes.

In this poem d’Annuzio (who by the time that he wrote it had moved to the north of Italy where he died in 1938) describes, with a sense of nostalgia, the seasonal migration of the Abruzzesi shepherds from the summer Alpine meadows down to the winter pastures on the coast of the Adriatic sea. I Pastori was published in 1903 in Alcyone, a collection of verses written between 1899 and 1903.

 

 

I Pastori

Settembre, andiamo. È tempo di migrare.

Ora in terra d’Abruzzi i miei pastori

lascian gli stazzi e vanno verso il mare:

scendono all’Adriatico selvaggio

che verde è come i pascoli dei monti.

Han bevuto profondamente ai fonti

alpestri, che sapor d’acqua natia

rimanga ne’ cuori esuli a conforto

che lungo illuda la lor sete in via.

Rinnovato hanno verga d’avellano.

E vanno pel tratturo antico al piano,

quasi per un erbal fiume silente

su le vestigia degli antichi padri.

O voce di colui che primamente

conosce il tremolar della marina!

Ora lungh’esso il litoral cammina

la greggia. Senza mutamento è l’aria.

Il sole imbionda sì la viva lana

che quasi dalla sabbia non divaria.

Isciacquio, calpestio, dolci rumori.

Ah perché non son io co’ miei pastori?

 

 

The Shepherds

September, let’s go. It’s time to migrate.

Now in the land of Abruzzi my shepherds

leave the folds and go towards the sea:

they go down to the wild Adriatic

that is green like mountain pastures.

They’ve drunk deeply from the Alpine fonts,

so that taste of their native water

may stay in their exiled hearts for comfort

to deceive their thirst along the way.

They’ve renewed their hazelnut sticks.

And they go along the ancient bridleway,

that is almost like a silent grassy river

in the traces of the ancient ancestors.

Oh voice of the one who first

discerns the shimmering of the sea!

Now along this coast moves the flock.

Without movement is the air.

The sun bleaches the living wool so that

it almost blends into the sand.

Swishing, stamping, sweet sounds.

Ah why am I not with my shepherds?

Post from: About Abruzzo

The Shepherds by Gabriele d’Annunzio Featuring Serena

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Although they are in Italian I find the use of a dictionary can help me discover new places to visit.

D’Abruzzo: Turismo Cultura Ambiente possibly has the advantage over tesori d’Abruzzo for English speakers as it often has an article summary in English in the sidebars.

To give you an idea of what they cover here is what I discovered in the editions I picked up in May.

In the Primavera 2010 edition of D’Abruzzo: Turismo Cultura Ambiente

• The Trabocchi Coast
• The Protection of the Environment
• Walks in the Abruzzo Countryside
• The restoration  of the cathedral of San Panfilo in Sulmona
• Civita d’Antonio: its association with art school of Kristian Zahrtmann and the formation of Central and Southern Italy’s first tourist board
• Breeding of traditional sheep dogs of Abruzzo

In the aprile-giugno 2010 edition of tesori d’Abruzzo

• Benedictine craftsmanship
• Examples of Romanesque Architecture
• Creativity in Stone
• Festa dei Banderesi at Bucchianico
• The mosaics of Tornareccio

They cost about €5 and I think they are great value considering the amount of material they cover.

Being able to read Italian would allow you to get the most out of these publications. But since each article is accompanied by wonderful photos you can easily get a feel for what they’re writing about.

My only criticism, and it’s a selfish one, is that they are only published every quarter.

I should add that I’ve no association with D’Abruzzo: Turismo Cultura Ambiente or tesori d’Abruzzo; I just think they’re great magazines.

I was going to finish this post with that last sentence. I’d have completed what I set out to do by bringing these magazines to your attention for the second time. (I first wrote about them back in February 2009.)

But then I thought I can’t finish so abruptly.

So I had a quick look through my back catalogue of photos and I’ve selected six street scenes that I’m fairly certain I haven’t published before. Although they were taken in Abruzzo they are so typical they probably could have been taken anywhere in Italy.

I hope you like them.

Post from: About Abruzzo

A Little Bit Of Repetition: Scenes from a Magazine Revisited

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But I’m better at communicating in Italian now then I was six months ago. In fact I’m probably better now than I was three months ago.

I haven’t formally studied in a school, or focused on “teach yourself” books and CDs, what I’ve tried to do it make Italian part of my day whether I’m in Italy or not.

If I’m in a restaurant (as I was on Saturday night) and the staff speak Italian I speak Italian to them. If I meet Italian tourists in Ireland, or if I overhear them talking to each other I say “Ciao”, welcome them to Ireland and wish them a good holiday.

I might have the same conversation with several groups, but it’s still a chance to practice.

It must be working because the last time I was in Abruzzo friends complemented me on my Italian. It wasn’t only that my abilities had improved but my confidence and my ability to hit the ground running had improved greatly. Normally it takes me a day or two to get back into the swing of it, but this time I was up and running in no time at all.

It felt great.

I do have a few other secret weapons that I use to help.

I’ve an Italian word a day calendar sitting in my kitchen and each day I’m introduced to a new word and a sentence to keep it in context. It’s a bit early for the 2011 edition of Living Language: Italian: 2011 Day-To-Day Calendar but I think the 2010 edition is still available.

Using a similar approach, I subscribe to an Italian word of the day RSS feed from Transparent Language. The idea is the same, each day I get introduced to a new word and a sentence that uses it in context. I think having a sentence or a phrase is key, as it’s easier to remember a phrase than an isolated word.

Sticking with Transparent Language, I subscribe to the feed of Italian Blog, written by Serena. This blog is great because it introduces you to a collection of words at a time, often including songs, poems and most importantly if you want to feel Italian, gestures.

Serena introduced me to the artist Sergio Cammariere and his album Dalla Pace del Mare Lontano in this post about Cantanti Italiani. His jazz rhythms and clear diction make his albums a great aid to improving your Italian.

My final tip, and definitely one not to be missed, is to buy a copy of La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language by Dianne Hales. Dianne quite simply loves the Italian language. If you ever needed a kick start embracing La Bella Lingua then this is the book for you.

I’ve followed Dianne’s blog Becoming Italian Word by Word for quite a while now and as a result I thought her book would be the perfect read when I was last in Abruzzo.

I was right.

The book not only is great for introducing you to collections of related words and phrases but it does a wonderful job of awakening your Italian soul.

It’s peppered with many cultural references ranging from Dante Alighieri and the birth of modern Italian, through The Renaissance and its great masters, past that most Italian of art forms, Opera, and on to food, film and some choice bad language.

Dianne’s passion for all things Italian is evident in every page you read.

This is not a study book, although you will learn a lot from it. Rather it’s a book that you will want to read and read again and each time you’ll discover something new about Italian and Italian culture.

I bought the hardback edition, but a paperback version will be available from 20th April based on Dianne’s post 10 Reason’s to Fall in Love with the Italian Language.

I’d like to study Italian more formally. Ideally I’d like to do it in Italy. But as it isn’t possible for me to take that route yet these are the informal methods I’ve used and so far, perhaps slowly, they seem to be working.

Grazie mille to all my informal Italian teachers.

Post from: About Abruzzo

My Italian Has Improved. Here’s How…

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 I think Italian is a beautiful language.  It rises and falls with ideas and emotion.  I have met many English speakers who appear to speak with one tone only but I have never encountered that with Italian.  Considering that you ask a question in Italian by raising the intonation at the end of your sentence how could it not sing!

While I was in Abruzzo recently I realised that although I can get by with my Italian, I  hadn’t really improved very much in the last year.  There are many reasons why this is the case but the reality is that all of them reflect a lack of work and discipline on my part.  I’m not someone who is gifted at languages, science and mathematics are more my strong suits.   I do have one key element on my side though, I’m motivated.  That does make it easier.  I want to be better at Italian.  I want to cultivate the friendships I have already made and I want them to grow.  I know that won’t happen unless I can communicate better.  Sure my Italian friends make allowances for my stumbling attempts at getting my thoughts across, but  I can’t rely on them to do that forever.  I’m sure they’ll also find it easier if I’m less faltering in my efforts to speak their language.

Now although I’m motivated I still need to be reminded to do the work.  I’m hoping that a little widget from Learn10 will help me achieve my goal.  Each day I’ll get sent an email with 10 Italian words and their translations.  The email will remind me to work on my Italian and also give me some material to work with.  What I do with that material, how disciplined I am, remains to be seen.  I do know that if the email encourages me to work on the language for 30 minutes every second day it’ll be much more than I have  done in the last six months.

If this interests you at all I have placed the Learn10 link on a new page called Learning  Italian, so you can see it for yourself.  Or alternatively go to the Learn10 site, and sign up for your 10 word a day email.

Post from: About Abruzzo

Learning the language

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Now I have a few friends in Italy that do not understand English.  Why should they?   I try to keep in contact by email or postcard.  The great thing about having somebody that writes to you and to whom you write is that it forces you to work on your Italian.  Keeping the discipline of study can be hard and a note from a friend can act as a timely reminder. 

When I get an email or postcard in Italian I have time to translate, check grammar, get to grips with colloquial phases, compose my reply.  All of this takes time and effort, but it helps me to learn the language and it is worth it to stay in touch.

This website is a great help, wordreference.com.  I like it because you not only get the translation, different meanings of the word, but you also get useful phrases.  I find that remembering a phrase is easier than remembering a single word.  So if you haven’t already sent an Italian buddy a Christmas card, and your Italian is not a good as you would like it to be, use wordreference.com to help you write an email, a postcard or New Year’s card.

Post from: About Abruzzo

Improve Your Italian By Keeping In Touch

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