This afternoon, partly as a deliberate diversion from my obsessional concern for preparation for my exhibitions, I set my mind to preparing for the next meeting of the regional Italian Circle. We are asked to offer a brief anecdote about an experience in Italy. I’ve decided to talk about the time I found myself having to organise a mountain rescue in the Alps (and that was before I started to learn Italian!) More than my sense of satisfaction at the outcome of this event was my ability to produce a subjunctive, after such a lay-off from the use of the language.
I like to think that, despite the long period in which it has been used so little, my knowledge of Italian is still buried in there somewhere. Even more so, I like to think that despite my immersion in administrative detail, my capacity to paint might actually be open to rediscovery.
By the way. I was looking at a website devoted to the teaching of Italian to foreigners this afternoon. It is run by an Englishman who is married to an Italian woman. His message contained an unfamiliar word, and when I looked up this in the dictionary it said that the word is normally accompanied by a gesture of the hand. I emailed him, and asked when we were going to be told the nature of the gesture, to which he replied that he doesn’t do gestures! What kind of Italian are we learning?