Something that I’ve always found pretty interesting about places that attract a lot of foreign visitors (e.g. Florence) is the culinary dynamic. Regardless of what language you speak, you still have to eat. English is indeed the lingua franca for most visitors, so I’ve witnessed a lot of ordering and waiting on conducted in English by non-native English speakers. Nonetheless, there are some who don’t speak any English (or Italian) and, obviously, still have to eat. The other day at dinner I witnessed a Spanish couple at the restaurant who didn’t speak English or Italian. They still ate well with no problem because we all speak the language of food. This is one of those things that I just didn’t consider before actually witnessing it.
Seeing that dining is the type of activity that can and must be done no matter how good my Italian is, I have found this setting to be one of the best for improving my real world speaking skills. Ultimately, the waiter will figure out which dish I’m ordering, so I might as well put the language to use while it happens. As my time has gone on here, I’ve found that the waiters have stopped responding to me in just English and have begun speaking back to me in Italian. Whether this is to humor me or because they think I speak well enough to do so is not clear to me, but either way I am glad. These interactions allow for relatively simple yet real exchanges, which have been great practice for me. Each time I say something that is understood by an Italian, it’s as if I’ve cracked a little code. It is small but satisfying. And in the end, I get some great food. Of course, I have photos of said food.
