Salve! Since you were just talking about dialects and accents and stuff, I wanted to ask whether you know something about the way people speak around Verona. I'm going to work there for a year (in an old-people's home) starting in September and am worried that I won't understand what the elderly are saying. Is there anything to keep in mind? And thanks for all your efforts and your whole blog, I really appreciate it!
Ciao! I know almost nothing about that dialect, just the way it sounds and a few words. All I know, generally speaking, is that there are just a very few people, even among the elderly, that speak only dialect: despite some of them might only have been through a few year of school, they kinda learnt how to speak Italian.Maybe some of them will use an “italianized” version of a dialect word (and I’m sorry but I cannot think about anything in veronese right now), but I’m sure you’ll find what they mean anyway, even by asking them for further explanations.If anyone happens to speak in particularly strong dialect with you and you cannot understand a thing, just ask them to explain or someone else to help you with a translation, if possible (some things are better left untranslated at times - I mean they might be just some gross old sayings haha!).To make you feel better, I -as probably all the other fellow Italians, or at least most of them- don’t understand what people say in most of the Italian dialects either, especially if they speak fast (but I’d say even slow), so don’t worry, really.Another funny thing: I still don’t understand all the words my grandma says when she speak the old dialect of a small town a few kms away from mine; at times not even her daughter/my mother does and needs to ask her “what did you say?” because some old words almost disappeared or we don’t hear them often - in my hometown we speak a different dialect and my mum got used to that too. But she always explain us using other words or showing us, so I guess it will happen with you too.
Dialects are used mostly with other people that speak them too or not to be understood by someone (for example, if a local has to communicate with a family member or a friend but doesn’t want you to understand what they’re saying: it doesn’t have to be something against you at all, just.. Idk, they just may think it’s not your business to know about that or they just miss speaking dialect). But again, if you happen to find someone that only speak dialect with you, no matter which dialect (you might find a person from anywhere in Veneto and/or Italy there, Idk, I’m just saying), just ask for a translation. I’d do that myself too.To help you with the accent you’ll find there, here you have a youtuber from Verona explaining a few sayings/idioms and making comparisons also with other cities’ slangs (not only in Veneto). For example, she says:“vecio” = “vecchio” (old) = bro (probably used mostly by the young people)putei = ragazzi = guys But I don’t think you have to learn all the words, at all. I think those people will gladly teach you some dialect theirselves, if you ask them. My grandma is actually doing that and it helps her too, being busy and thinking about words and all.Ofc, if you’ll feel better by knowing those words in the video (and the variations from all the other cities she mentions) just ask and I’ll try to write down everything. But I think once you’ll get there and used to the environment and the people, you’ll learn the necessary stuff (if there’s any). :)Just relax, enjoy your time, and let us know how it goes! Good luck!
Sooo, it might be because I am from the region you mentioned (not the same province, but still) and I find that actually, of the various dialects, Veneto sounds more “italian” than other dialects (some people say it sounds like Spanish)
I don’t think we change nouns so much, but we do have different verbs (I’m gonna write a short list of stuff off the top of my head, but @unearthitaly might help more, since she’s a language blog from the region)
So, first, some nouns:
We tend not to pronounce clearly the double consonants. I.e. “dotoresaa” instead of dottoressa (female doctor)
Or to truncate words (in so.e parts of Veneto, not everywhere) I.e. dotòr=dottore
We have some special words typical of the dialect. Some useful ones are:
Carèga=sedia
Moroso/a=boyfriend/girlfriend, very much used even when speaking in proper Italian, because it’s considered less serious than a fidanzato/a
Goto= a sip, usually of wine (un goto d'acqua a sip/glas of water)
(A lot of mixed insults and cursing at God. I really truly hope your name isn’t Mona, because that’s a slang term for the feminine reproductive organ specific to Veneto and you’re never gonna leave it down. It’s also used as an insult for someone stupid: cheo (quello) là xe (pronounced sze, means “is”) mona (an idiot)“. Another common insult aimed at inteligence is “folpo” (literally translated: “polip”)
Once you learn them, though, I don’t think the nouns themselves are really the main problem, because we do have different verbs
(TO BE) Mì son, ti te sì, elo|ela xe/l'è, noi|noialtri (linda like the spanish nosotros) simo, voi|voialtri site, lori i xe
(TO HAVE) Mì go, ti te ghe, elo|ela el gà/l'ha, noi|noialtri ghemo/gavemo, voi|voialtri gavio, lori i gà.
Sentarse= To sit onself down
Crìar (sometimes, not in all parts of Veneto)=to cry
But for the most part we use the truncated Italian ones: dormìr=dormire, cantàr=cantare, …And so on.
There are poems and popular songs (Me compare Giacometo…) online with their respective translations, so I’d really suggest you go looking for them (google stuff like poesia Veneta, and I think there was a literary prize for veneto poetry called something like “premio acque slosse” where you might find something useful).
Something quite old, but maybe easier to find, is the literary work of Goldoni (mind you, he died in the 1790s, so the dialect is kinda similar, but not identical), a dramatist, who wrote mainly in dialetto Veneto (some times in Venetian dialect, which is different from Veneto, but not incredibly much). I think you can find some recordings of said somedies on YouTube and reading them while listening and checking the Italian translation will probably help you loads. Just avoid “le baruffe chioggiotte” which is in the dialect of Chioggia, unintelligibile even for people from Veneto.
Yeah, so, I hope you can find something useful and yes, unfortunately older people do tend to speak dialect as their main language. But I myself did pretty much the same as you this year in Austria with Tyrolean, and in the end, I did learn how to understand it, so I’m very positive you will as well!!
Thank you @bubblycider. Only a note to your first sentece, just imo: no matter how close to Italian your dialect is for you, the way some words (even the closest ones to Italian) sound, the accent and the vocalization + the use of more “complex” words in the middle of an “easy” sentence, might give problems to foreigners or people from somewhere else just because they are used to another sound. Ofc they might still get the meaning, but… it’s still tough. But it gets easier once there and with time and practice. :)
