Introduction
In this post, I conducted an online interview with Lucrezia Oddone, one of my favorite Italian youtubers. Not only does she post amazing Youtube videos on the grammar of the Italian language but she also has a blog on WordPress called Learn Italian With Lucrezia. Below I created a list of questions for her to answer about her Youtube channel, the Italian language, and Italy in general.
1. What inspired you to start your YouTube channel?
I started my channel when I was living in Trieste for my bachelor’s degree in Translation Studies. During that period, I spent quite some time watching YouTube videos for two reasons. One, to relax during my free time and the other was to find authentic material to help me practice my listening and summarizing for my English and French Liaison Interpreting courses.
I really enjoyed the Internet world and I also started to realized that it played a big part in my studying process, whether it was to find articles to read for an exam or use an online dictionary. Also, the YouTube videos I usually watched to relax were videos about travel, lifestyle and people, more generally.
So I wanted to do something useful with my free time and came up with the idea of an Italian language blog. I thought that someone would be interested in reading it. The first platform I used was actually a blog, but then I felt that it was missing something. That something was the audio! When teaching or speaking about languages. it’s really important to have both text and audio, so the blog wasn’t enough, I thought. This is why I filmed my first Italian video lesson and stuck to YouTube ever since!
2. Is there anything you love the most about the Italian language?
The more I teach, the more I find myself just thinking about words, phrases and the meaning behind them. I love everything about it. It’s form…and sound. But fi I had to pick just one thing, I would say the history of the Italian language!
3. What advice would you give to Americans who are learning Italian abroad in Italy?
Get the most of your time in Italy and “use” people for your learning, what I mean is that you need to make friends with Italians! That’s the only way to speak and gain confidence in doing so.
4. What would you say is the hardest thing about learning another language?
The hardest thing is definitely creating sentences that sound natural, hence thinking the same way native think. Languages represent our way of thinking and our thoughts are processed through language, so it differs from culture to culture. Once you get to that point, you can safely say you are on the right path to fluency.
5. What do you admire the most about being a blogger and a Youtuber?
Being able to talk to so many different people everyday. As I teach, I also learn a lot, not necessarily language wise, but about people, traditions, how is life in other parts of the world, etc. Listening to people’s life stories is enriching.
6. What did you like or dislike about growing up in Italy as a native-born Italian?
Looking back to my childhood and teenage years, I’m very grateful to my mother for always sourcing quality food for us and always cooking homemade meals. Because of this, I am conscious about food, I take my time preparing food, eating it and sharing meals with friends and family.
7. Have you ever thought about coming to America to teach Italian abroad?
Yes I have. If an opportunity in this sense came my way, I’d seriously think about it. But for now, I’m happy to be working in Rome. In fact, 75% of my time I find myself interacting with non-Italians, mostly Americans. I like the idea of working here and abroad at the same time, if that makes sense!
8. What are your goals for your YouTube channel in the next 5 years?
I would like to develop my editing skills and find a different place to film my videos, nothing too professional looking though because I like the homely feeling of my videos and I think my viewers like my kitchen too! (LOL)
I would also like to create a full language course out of my channel, professionally re-filming my videos in a downloadable version. This is just an idea for now!
9. Do you believe speaking more than one language has opened many doors for you?
Definitely, knowing English has opened many doors, mostly because interacting with foreigners is now my job and I wouldn’t be able to do it if I didn’t speak English.
10. Do you think being fluent should be the main goal of learning a new language? Or would the Intermediate Level (B2) be sufficient?
I think it really depends on the personal needs of the student, but generally speaking, learning a new language should equal experiencing new ways of expression and maybe finding a new identity, without too much pressure for succeeding or fear of failure. Therefore, being fluent is not the main goal of learning a new language, the process should multiple goals, one of which being fluency. Another should be, as I previously mentioned, speak naturally, as a native speaker would , even if it’s elementary sentences. One more important thing is that the process of learning should be enjoyable as well. When students are too anxious to reach their objectives, they start feeling demotivated. As a student, I would, therefore, focus my attention on the steps I take to reach fluency, rather than keeping my eyes peeled on the target.
