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/lit/ - Literature

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15437099 No.15437099 [Reply] [Original]

Is there any point at all to learning Italian for literary reasons? Obviously the Commedia is a masterpiece, and Petrarch's sonnets are pretty good, but I'm just not sure the bulk of Italian literature is good enough to counterbalance the fact that fucking nobody speaks Italian outside of Italy. If I learn German, I can get around Europe. If I learn French, I can get around Africa. What the fuck is the practical benefit of learning Italian?

>> No.15437103

>>15437099
You can speak with mobsters

>> No.15437176

>>15437099
You cannot go around europe learning german

>> No.15437188

>>15437176
no thanks to that faggot churchill and that kike roosevelt

>> No.15437231 [DELETED] 

>>15437099
italian literature is the richest in europe after the french one. just, it's little known. erudite people are familiar with rochefoucalud or tocqueville , but not with, say, paolo sarpi or leopardi.
also the best artistic critique is in italian, so if you can't say you know much of painting, sculpture and architecture if you don't know italian.

>> No.15437236 [DELETED] 

>>15437231
>so if you
*so you

>> No.15437242

>>15437099
italian literature is the richest in europe after the french one. just, it's little known. erudite people are familiar with rochefoucauld or tocqueville , but not with, say, paolo sarpi or leopardi.
also the best artistic critique is in italian, so you can't say you know much of painting, sculpture and architecture if you don't know italian

>> No.15437258
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15437258

>>15437099
All learned men know the following languages at the absolute MINIMUM: English, French, Italian, German, Latin, Ancient Greek. Just pick one and get started. Move on to the next one after a year or two, depending on how smooth your brain is. You're welcome.

>> No.15437277

>>15437258
Based

>> No.15437288

>>15437242
>but not with, say, paolo sarpi or leopardi.
literally who?

>also the best artistic critique is in italian, so you can't say you know much of painting, sculpture and architecture if you don't know italian
pls don't tell me i'm really missing out that much?

>> No.15437291

>>15437258
>reading Latin after 2 years
Year right anon.

>> No.15437301

>>15437099
italian is the most beautiful and musical of the romance languages, maybe of any language at all. that's reason good enough to learn it

>> No.15437322

>>15437099
They taught the rest of Europe the language of poetry and architecture and painting and music during the Renaissance when England and France and Spain and Germany sent their best to receive the milk from the blessèd mother of the arts.

>> No.15437366

>>15437258
>All European languages

yawn

>> No.15437441

>>15437366
>>All European languages
Yes.

>> No.15437461

>>15437291
I, a retarded monolingual american, learned to read french pretty well in one year, rarely studying more than an hour a day. Even if Latin is considerably harder, I can't imagine gaining reasonably proficient reading knowledge within two years is that hard if you're sufficiently committed.

>> No.15438399

>>15437258
Spanish is more important to learn the Italian, because it doesn't just open up Spaniard literature but the all Latin American literature, which is where many of the important works of second half of the 20th century and beyond are.

Also, by learning Spanish you already know like 60% of Italian, if not more.

>> No.15438416

>>15437258
I know 5/6

>> No.15438572

>>15437461

This, perfectly possible to start reading things with some dedication.

>>15437258

Picking mainstream languages that got all main works translated. You sure figured it out.

>> No.15438595

>>15438399
spanish literature is basically cervantes, south american literature is just borges. both of them would be average writers in any other european literature.

>> No.15438611

>>15437099

Depends on what are you planning to do with your life, anon. There are legit contemporary Italian thinkers, I would definitely learn it if time wasn't an issue.

But I'm going to learn Japanese and French, then probably move to German and Spanish. Mainly for reading, I'm not that worried about writing/speaking.

>> No.15438639

>>15437099
Italian here. Don't learn Italian to read medieval literature, they're written in a completely different Italian. Even native speakers like me need to get accustomed to it, usually after studying a bit of Latin.

About the practical benefits of learning modern Italian, I couldn't say. I guess it would be pretty useless.

>> No.15438649

>>15437099
Learn Spanish. One of the richest languages, cultures and literatures in the world. Their language is the base of their old empire, one of the greatest ever, though now in ruins. Plus lets you communicate with millions and is really similar to italian

>> No.15438659

>>15437258
>learned
>minimum
>no Spanish
retard

>> No.15438668

>>15438399
Based

>> No.15438687

>>15438595
Unapologetically illiterate & stupid

>> No.15438710

>>15438649
Extremely based. Also one of the nicest peoples

>> No.15438715

>>15437099
only germans speak german you dont get around anywhere else other than in germany with german

>> No.15438724

>it's a /lit/ pretends to speak 8 languages and be well traveled episode

>> No.15438770

>>15437441
baste

>> No.15438789

If you don't know Chinese you're a subhuman

>> No.15438803

>>15438789
fuck you mean?!

>> No.15438870

>>15438789
no reason to learn ching chong. their demise wont be long

>> No.15438875

>>15438789
Ching chong too difficult. literally a waste of time. In half the time and effort you can learn an actually useful language like Spanish or German

>> No.15438898

>>15438789

This, probably more useful than a lot of other languages listed. Plenty of untranslated things to read.

>> No.15438952

>>15438789
^-1

>> No.15438958

>>15438789
so literally 6 billion subhuman

>> No.15438964

Leanr spanish not too difficukt and access to europan spanish goddesses and soufamerican latinas

>> No.15438965

>>15438789
Chinese people don't care for gweilo who learn their language. Same with Arabic. No reason to learn them.

>> No.15438973
File: 2.85 MB, 5000x3337, litspirationspringgrass5000px.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
15438973

>> No.15438991

>>15438965
>gwelio
lmfaoooooooooo i didnt know this term

>> No.15438997

>>15438973
who tf has time for this?

>> No.15439011

>>15438997
nanowrimo folks dont mind

>> No.15439021

>>15437099
Yes, Dante is worth it from what I hear. However, I find plenty of value in the translation; there's enough power in the story and thought to transcend its immediate linguistic community, obviously.

>> No.15439040

>>15438399
>>15438668
>>15438649
>>15438659
>>15438687
>>15438710
>>15438964
thread about italian langauge/culture, 50% of the posts are from fucking butthurt spaniards thinking they are somewhat relevant in the history of the european history, just because muh romance languages

>> No.15439086

>>15438789
Not if you know Greek or Sanskrit.

>> No.15439157

>>15437366
The only ones that matter apart from Chinese, and you don't want to talk to the Chinese.

>> No.15439173

>>15437099
>If I learn French, I can get around Africa
lol
and if you know any african languages, you can get around france

>> No.15439225

>>15438991
What the fuck is so funny everyone has a term for this you spastic retard

>> No.15439272

>>15437366
Yes?

>> No.15439307

>>15437461
Hot take: Latin is not inherently harder, but two things make it seem like it is.

The first is that most of the reading material that was preserved is highbrow literature, philosophy, history, oratory, etc. Imagine if English could only be taught by having students read Gibbon or Milton.

The second is that since it is a dead language, you can't just do "immersion" for 4 years only to be able to repeat some phrases like "HELLO, HOW ARE YOU" and "A GLASS OF WATER, PLEASE". You either sit down and memorize the inflections and shit so that you can read you Cicero, or you quit. It forces you to actually, seriously learn the language instead of letting you just float by half-heartedly like most students of Spanish or French do.

>> No.15439320

>>15439307
*so that you can read your Cicero

>> No.15439475

>>15439225
it's still funny. be mad about it lmfao

>> No.15439485

>>15439040
not even spanish but if you want to ignore history be my guest. you probably think spain is the capital of mexico

>> No.15439899

>>15437258
>no Occitan
never gonna make it

>> No.15439927

As a native italian speaker, I can assure you learning italian will make it possible for you to at least understand the whole picture of texts not too complex in the latin languages. Portuguese, Spanish, mainly. Italian is not too complex too.

>> No.15440256

>>15439927
italians, well mediterraneans, are nice asf too

>> No.15440281

>>15437099
Italian movies are based

>> No.15440287

there's barely any 20th century italian history in english which is a shame because postwar italy is absolutely crazy to read about. CIA-funded terrorism on both the right and the left, the mafia and vatican in cahoots, the kidnapping and assassination of a prime minister, corruption and conspiracy everywhere you look. it's a really rich time and i'm sure there's a lot of great fiction and nonfiction about it that, not speaking italian, i have no access to.

>> No.15440344

>>15440256
Thanks, friend. We shall meet someday and discuss everything person to person.