23. Lingua-It: (4) The Class

The class I attended at Lingua-It fluctuated between eight and ten students, with the linguistic majority being German speaking, comprising German, Austrian, and Swiss German. We also had three Japanese and two Brazilians over the course of the four weeks. Everyone could speak some Italian -- I was the weakest -- and all seemed committed to speaking Italian except for the Swiss. Although her Italian was fine, she insisted on speaking German, and all but one of the German speakers promptly responded in German. So while we waited in the morning for the instructor, and sometimes even when the instructor was present, we would be subjected to a constant jabbering in German. As a result, for two weeks, while she was a member of the class, more German than Italian was spoken.

This situation continued outside the school whenever we adjourned to a café or bar. It is very tempting to blame the others who responded in German as exhibiting a wolf pack mentality, but I also realise that once the tap is turned on, it is difficult to turn it off. On the other hand, three different German students joined us for the last two weeks and they spoke only Italian.

Whether it was the wolf pack mentality or just the lack of quality in the first group of students I don’t know, but in a small school, one of the hazards is not being able to get away from the proximity of someone like this wretched Swiss woman. Asking her to speak Italian fell on deaf ears, and perhaps the only recourse would have been to abandon all good manners and tell her outright and forcefully to shut up. Bear this in mind should you ever be subjected to the same nuisance factor. After she left and the other three Germans joined the class there was a distinct improvement in class conversation, and I certainly enjoyed the last two weeks.