What is language? What is art? Poetry? Philosophy? Architecture? They are all expressions. Expressions of a mind-set, of either a person or a society. Language shows which path a person will follow to reach to a certain point; if we focus on the creation of a single man, in terms of art, we can draw the main line of his spirit, of his inner philosophy, of his thoughts. If we observe, on the other hand, what a society creates—the shape used, the material used, the religion they follow—most likely we will be able to draw the main line of the foundation that society is constructed on.
It is not enough to simply learn the vocabulary of a new language to be able to speak it. Each language is just a tool to express a mind set and each language has its own way of reaching these expressions. If we consider this diagram as our mind, an Italian will follow a particular road to reach to a point whereas an English speaker will use another path. Therefore, not only the vocabulary must be learned but also the way the thoughts are phrased and formed into sentences.
Studying Italian at the Italian Embassy Cultural Centre, does not only mean to learn a language but also the mindset and the culture behind it. And this is what, in different levels, our students will do: they will learn the italian language and together with it, Italian culture and, why not, the way of living of the ‘Bel Paese’, the so called ‘Dolce Vita’.