OVERVIEW

"'Abandon All Hope, You Who Enter Here.'

These words I saw inscribed in some dark color

Over a portal. 'Master,' I said, 'make clear

Their meaning, which I find too hard to gather.'"

—(Dante Alighieri, Inferno, Canto III,

Translated by Robert Pinsky)

But of course he had a difficult time discerning the meaning of these (in)famous words etched upon the gates of Hell. In Italian, they were actually rendered as "Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate," and before Dante himself had written them into existence, there was, in fact, no standardized form of Italian which all speakers of the language could understand.

Complicated? Not really.

It began like so much else: With the Romans.

Way back when the populi was making its vox heard, the Latin language in which they spoke manifested itself in a variety of forms. The Roman empire, remember, was huge, stretching from modern-day Portugal and England all the way East to a portion of the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia. And within that vast swath of land, though the official language of the empire was Latin, various dialects developed. In the western provinces of the empire, those dialects were known as "vulgar Latin." And as opposed to the contemporary English definition of vulgar ("Lacking sophistication or good taste," according to the Concise Oxford Dictionary), back then it meant merely that it was a spoken tongue, as opposed to a written one. ) The root, incidentally, is from the Latin word "vulgare," which means "common, ordinary, usual" (http://catholic.archives.nd.edu).

"This spoken Latin differed from the literary language of classical Latin in its pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar" (www.en.wikipedia.org). It is similar to the various ways English is spoken in New York, Baton Rouge, and London: They are all variations of the one standard written form, but rather different among themselves. Eventually, these so-called vulgar dialects evolved so much that they ceased to resemble Classical Latin, and eventualy they morphed into their own distinct languages. Modern-day offshoots include Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian, among other less-widely-spoken tongues.

But Italy's tumultuous history did not end with the fall of the Roman empire. In fact, Italy itself was not fully unified until 1871, when Rome was officially made its capital. Before then, the boot jutting into the Mediterranean was nothing more than a collection of city-states, many of which spoke distinct dialects until Mr. Divine Commedy himself standardized the Italian language in his great three-part poem about Heaven, Hell, and Everything In Between.

In writing La Commedia Divina, which he completed in 1321, Dante combined elements of southern and Sicilian dialects with his native Florentine tongue. The combination of the widespread admiration people had for his work and the general Italian feeling that "the best spoken Italian is lingua toscana in bocca romana—'the Tuscan tongue, in a Roman mouth' (Tuscan dialects spoken with Roman inflection)," led Alighieri's language to become the standard which would eventually become modern-day Italian (www.en.wikipedia.org).

So it only stands to reason that Dante's pilgrim had to ask his tour guide Virgil what that sign at the gates of Hell meant. By walking beneath it, he was not only entering the Inferno, but crossing over the threshold into a new language, as well.

ITALIAN LITERATURE

Great Italian literature did not begin or end with Dante (1265-1321). Its roots can be said to extend as far back as the Latin epic poetry of Virgil (70-19 B.C.E.: Aenead). Other Italian writers who have shaped the way we use language, tell stories, and perceive our world include Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274: Summa Theologica), Petrarch (1304-1374: Canzoniere and the eponymous sonnet), Boccaccio (1313-1375: Decameron), and Machiavelli (1469-1527: Il Principe).

In the modern period, Italy has had no shortage of fascinating literary movements and influential writers. Since 1901, in fact, six Italian writers have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, including such luminaries as Luigi Pirandello (1934), Eugenio Montale (1975), and Dario Fo (1997). And though he did not win the Nobel, the mind-bending work of Italo Calvino (1923-1985: If On A Winter's Night A Traveller, The Cloven Viscount, etc.) continues to influence writers to this day.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

There are numerous career opportunities for those possessing a mastery of Italian. These include the U.N., various government agencies in Washington, D.C., and non-governmental organization (NGOs). Other careers include: foreign service officers and translators, the armed forces, nursing, social services, international relations and marketing for private business, and teaching and research opportunities at colleges and universities.

Learning Italian will also "plunge you into a world of art, music, innovative technology, fashion[,] and much more. It will enhance your career opportunities in this new age of [globalization] and communication revolution. [These days,] the world is interconnected and Italian companies operate the world over. The ability to speak Italian will…surely [be] a great advantage in this competitive…global market.

"With Italian you could increase the chances [of finding] work in many exciting fields:

• "Trade and commerce: Italy is one of the most [industrialized countries] in the world and a major European trading country for Australia. There [is] an increasing presence of Italian companies in Australia[,] and Italy is becoming an important gateway for Australian companies in Europe.
• "Design: Italian design is renowned and appreciated all over the world, [including] industrial , automobile, domestic, object, and furniture design…
• "Arts: Italy has an incomparable heritage in the arts: music, paintings, sculpture, architecture and cinema. Access to these is greatly enhance[d] with the knowledge of Italian." (www.vati.vic.edu.au)

SOURCES

1. www.en.wikipedia.org
2. www.arcaini.com
3. www.roman-empire.net
4. www.uwm.edu
5. www.encarta.msn.com
6. The Concise Oxford Dictionary
7. "The Inferno Of Dante," by Dante Alighieri. Translated by Robert Pinsky.
8. http://catholic.archives.nd.edu

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