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I am learning about twenty new Italian words a day. I'm always studying, flipping through my index cards while I walk around the city, dodging local pedestrians. Where am I getting the brain space to store these words? I'm hoping that maybe my mind has decided to clear out some old negative thoughts and sad memories and replace them with these shiny new words.
我每天新学二十个左右的意大利字。我总是在学习；在城里漫步时，一边翻阅我的单字卡，闪避街头行人。我的脑子怎么有储存这些生字的空间？或许我内心已决定清除旧有的负面想法和哀伤回忆，用这些闪亮的新字眼取而代之。
I work hard at Italian, but I keep hoping it will one day just be revealed to me, whole, perfect. One day I will open my mouth and be magically fluent. Then I will be a real Italian girl, instead of a total American who still can't hear someone call across the street to his friend Marco without wanting instinctively to yell back "Polo!" I wish that Italian would simply take up residence within me, but there are so many glitches in this language. Like, why are the Italian words for "tree" and "hotel" (albero vs. albergo) so very similar? This causes me to keep accidentally telling people that I grew up on "a Christmas hotel farm" instead of the more accurate and slightly less surreal description: "Christmas tree farm." And then there are words with double or even triple meanings. For instance: tasso. Which can mean either interest rate, badger, or yew tree. Depending on the context, I suppose. Most upsetting to me is when I stumble on Italian words that are actually—I hate to say it—ugly. I take this as almost a personal affront. I'm sorry, but I didn't come all the way to Italy to learn how to say a word like schermo (screen).
我用功学习意大利语，但我不断希望有一天意大利语能完整而完美地展现给我。让我有一天张开嘴巴时口若悬河。那时我将是一位道地的意大利女子，而不是一个听见有人在对街叫朋友“马可”的时候，直觉想回喊“波罗”的彻底美国人。我希望意大利语能在我内心定居，可是这语言有这么多变化，比方，为什么“树”（albero）和“旅馆”（albergo）的意大利用词如此相似？这使我不断在无意中告诉他人，我在“圣诞旅馆农场”长大，而不是较为精确、较不超现实的描述：“圣诞树农场”。还有些用词具有双重、甚至三重含意。譬如，“tasso”的意思可以是利率、獾或紫杉。我想得视内文而定。对我来说最惹人烦的，是碰上——我很不情愿这么说——很难听的用词。我几乎把这当做一种个人的侮辱。很抱歉，我一路来到意大利，不是为了学怎么念“schermo”（荧幕 ）。
Still, overall it's so worthwhile. It's mostly a pure pleasure. Giovanni and I have such a good time teaching each other idioms in English and Italian. We were talking the other evening about the phrases one uses when trying to comfort someone who is in distress. I told him that in English we sometimes say, "I've been there." This was unclear to him at first—I've been where? But I explained that deep grief sometimes is almost like a specific location, a coordinate on a map of time. When you are standing in that forest of sorrow, you cannot imagine that you could ever find your way to a better place. But if someone can assure you that they themselves have stood in that same place, and now have moved on, sometimes this will bring hope.
话虽如此，整体来说却很值得。大半是一种纯粹的快乐。乔凡尼和我教给彼此英语和意大利语惯用语时，度过十分愉快的时光。有一天傍晚，我们说起尝试安慰悲苦之人时所用的短语。我告诉他，在英语中，我们时而说：“我到过那里。”（I'have been there.）一开始他并不懂——“我到过哪里”？但我解释说，悲痛有时宛如一个特定地点，时间地图上的一个坐标。当你站在悲伤之林，你无法想象自己走出林子，去到某个更好的地方。但若有人告诉你，他们自己曾站在相同的地方，而今已走向新的生活，这有时会带来希望。
"So sadness is a place?" Giovanni asked.
“所以悲伤是一个地方？”乔凡尼问道。
"Sometimes people live there for years," I said.
“有时，人们在那儿居住多年。”我说。
In return, Giovanni told me that empathizing Italians say L'ho provato sulla mia pelle, which means "I have experienced that on my own skin." Meaning, I have also been burned or scarred in this way, and I know exactly what you're going through.
乔凡尼回过来告诉我，意大利人表示同情的时，意思是“我的皮肤领教过”。其意味，我曾受过这样的伤或留下这样的疤，我完全清楚你内心的挣扎。
So far, though, my favorite thing to say in all of Italian is a simple, common word:
不过，到目前为止，我最喜欢说的意大利语是一个简单平常的用词：
Attraversiamo.
Attraversiamo。
It means, "Let's cross over." Friends say it to each other constantly when they're walking down the sidewalk and have decided it's time to switch to the other side of the street. Which is to say, this is literally a pedestrian word. Nothing special about it. Still, for some reason, it goes right through me. The first time Giovanni said it to me, we were walking near the Colosseum. I suddenly heard him speak that beautiful word, and I stopped dead, demanding, "What does that mean? What did you just say?"
意思是“我们过街吧！”当朋友走在人行道上、决定该换到对街的时候，经常对彼此说这句话。也就是说，基本上这是行人用词，没什么特别之处。 但不知何故，它就是深得我心。乔凡尼头一次跟我 说起这个用词时，我们正走在竞技场附近。我忽然听见他讲出这个好听的字眼，我突然站住，要求道：“这字是什么意思？你刚刚说什么？”
"Attraversiamo."
“Attraversiamo。”
He couldn't understand why I liked it so much. Let's cross the street? But to my ear, it's the perfect combination of Italian sounds. The wistful ah of introduction, the rolling trill, the soothing s, that lingering "ee-ah-moh" combo at the end. I love this word. I say it all the time now. I invent any excuse to say it. It's making Sofie nuts. Let's cross over! Let's cross over! I'm constantly dragging her back and forth across the crazy traffic of Rome. I'm going to get us both killed with this word.
他不明白我为何这么喜欢这个词。我们过街吧？在我听来，它完美地结合了意大利语音。起头是哀 怨的“ah”，途经颤动、舒缓的“s”，结尾结合了萦回不散的“依阿莫”。我爱这字。现在我一天到晚讲它。我为了讲它而编造借口，这让苏菲抓狂。我们过街吧！我们过街吧！我经常拉着她来回穿越罗马疯狂的车潮。这字会让我俩丢了小命。
Giovanni's favorite word in English is half-assed.
乔凡尼最爱的英文字“half-assed”（不称职）。
Luca Spaghetti's is surrender.
Eat, Pray, Love
卢卡则是“surrender”（投降）。
