Nuances

OK, so I'm really not very good at speaking Italian. I'm getting better ... slowly, but my comprehension leaves a lot to be desired. One place that has me fairly flummoxed is the greeting. What do you say when you meet someone and when you leave? The guidebooks and phrase books would have one believe it is all cut and dried. Imagine my bemusement when I discovered it was not. There are variations and nuances. I'm just catching on to the fact that these subtleties exist - I have yet to figure out what they are.

According to the phrase book buongiorno = hello. You can't really go wrong saying it when you meet someone or walk into a store. Then again, it literally translates as good day. Good day is followed by buonasera, which is good evening. So, when does day become evening? Sometime in the afternoon. Depending on who you are talking to, as early as 4 pm and as late as, well ... never. Then there is the ubiquitous, ciao. But, ciao is quite familiar. Say it to the wrong person, such as someone older than you or someone who requires your respect, and you have made a potentially serious blunder. When does buongiorno become ciao? I really can't tell.

Well, you made it through the greeting phase, filled in all the stuff in between and now you are ready to leave. According to the phrase book, arrivederci is your choice. It really does translate as goodbye. But you can also head out the door with any of the hello greetings: buongiorno, buonasera, or even ciao. Italians don't just have a single aloha or shalom, they have 3 interchangable ones. Then the fun gets compounded with buona giornata, which is "HAVE a good day". The proprietor of a store might say that to you as you leave. Buonanotte, good night, is comparatively easy. You don't really say it when you are leaving as you would in English, even if it is night. Instead, think an Italian John Boy Walton and you pretty much have it ... Buonanotte, John Boy. Buonanotte, Erin. Of course, it is REALLY rude to just leave without saying ANYTHING, so I am currently stuck in the mode of picking something out of the air and accepting the puzzled stare I almost always get. The sad part is, even if I stay in Italy a lifetime I may never figure out the nuances which would have become culturally ingrained in me had I grown up speaking the language.

Ciao!