As the daughter of a foreign service officer, I grasped at a young age the value of learning a
foreign language. My family moved from The United States, to Rome, Italy, when I was 4 years
old. At such a young age, I was obviously not thinking about the myriad benefits of learning a
foreign language, such as education opportunity, career opportunity, or cognitive benefits. That
realization would come when I was a bit older! But an incident I experienced at age 5 did help
me realize that I could experience joy and connection through language, which not only would
benefit me, but could help others as well.
Even before moving to Rome, I had developed a passion for “calcio” (soccer/futbol). My team,
despite living in Rome, was Juventus. I learned quickly that cheering for Juventus in the stadium
in Rome was not a smart move. Fortunately, I was with my father at that first game. I was pelted
with rotten fruit by fans of Roma! But it was a great learning experience for me, and I was still
smitten with the game. I just learned to cheer quietly, inside my head. But outside the stadium, I
cheered for and loudly supported Juventus. “Forza Juventus!”
My mother and I used to frequent the local produce shop. The owner of the shop was a
somewhat grumpy, old guy, with a wizened face. He was efficient enough, and always greeted
my mother with “Buongiorno Signora”, but he didn’t really smile, as far as I could tell. My mother
had told him that I was a soccer fan, and a huge fan of Juventus. He was a big fan of Lazio.
Lazio? Harrumph! We eyed each other suspiciously. I wondered if it might be best to avoid the
topic of soccer in his shop.
One day, as my mother and I entered the shop, we were greeted in the normal fashion. It
happened to be the day after Lazio had won a big game. The shop keeper didn’t seem any less
gloomy than usual. My mother and I collected our groceries, and paid him, same as always. But
as we left the shop, I turned around and looked at him. I raised my hand and called out “Forza
Lazio!” He did not say a word, but his face broke into a wide smile. That grin lit up his whole
wrinkly face. As we left the shop, my mother kept exclaiming, “I’ve never seen him smile!” Two
words in his language had brought us both joy. That was all it took. We had made a connection.
And an indelible memory for me, all these decades later.
By Laura Boies, English language teacher
