A friend sent me a copy of the iconic Italian film La Dolce Vita. I'd wager that not too many Americans have seen this Fellini film, but I'd also bet that they have heard of the title. Like the French expression 'joie de vivre,' it has been adopted by English when referring to 'the good life,' or to express when things are going extremely well for us, especially financially.
I find it amusing that English speakers have to borrow from other languages when we want to express positive things like how sweet life is. Are we by nature a somber, unfulfilled people who always think that happiness is something only to be dreamed about or wished for? Are continental Europeans happier than we are?
Americans are often stereotyped as always smiling and chatty. Always overflowing with that can-do spirit. But is it only a myth? I've seen my share of mean-spirited, bitter, very negative fellow Americans. In fact I used to be sort of that way myself. On the other hand, is it la dolce vita that is the myth?
I have no doubt that there are some unhappy, resentful people in Italy and France but, as I've mentioned elsewhere, practically all of my Italian pen-pals seem gregarious and at least relatively content with their lives. True, when one is writing to a stranger in a language that is not familiar enough to him to express a lot of complex thoughts, he's apt to try to put his best foot forward, but it seems to me that Italians (other cultures also, but maybe not quite as much in some cases) do have a special reverence for life--in all it's beauty and in all its sorrows and disappointments. After all, it's better than the alternative, death, non è vero?
In the meantime, I continue to try to feel as at home with Italian as I do with French. When I'm listening to or speaking French, I don't have to think about the words so much--they just sort of come naturally and they feel more like they are coming from me. I'm still at the stage with Italian that I have to grasp for words to express even the simplest things. The words seem to be 'out there,' instead of within me. In some ways perhaps this is good. I think that like everything else, language loses some of its freshness and novelty when we get to the point where we are no longer conscious of the words and sounds themselves. I wouldn't want that to happen to my Italian. What originally attracted me to it was its musicality and beauty. May that appreciation never fade. Below is a nice Italian song, Nel blu di pinto di blu or, as we English-speakers know it, Volare. May we all feel so happy that it feels like we're flying through the day.
A presto...
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