Rome Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Rome Male Conversation

Conversation

This is the Italian Cultural Center in Houston. This is where the Italian community in town meet. They meet for cultural event. We have lecture about Italy. We have cooking classes. We have, you know, group of ladies meeting here once a month. We have the mass in Italian on Sundays. And of course, we also have an Italian language schools for those who want to go back to their culture, to their roots, or they just are interested in Italian language and culture. We have classes for beginners, for just conversation classes and we have also children classes. They meet usually once a week, mostly after working hours. We have a wonderful group of students, mostly, you know, adults from thirty to eighty years old people. They want to, in a way or another connect to their Italian culture.

I was born in Rome. Of course, there’s only one place where you can be born, if you are Italian, you want to be born in Rome, the most beautiful city in the world. I was born and raised in Rome. My family is still there, part of my family of course, my brother and my sister-in-law. And I lived in Milan as well and in Sicily for a while. I travel all around the world, and then I came to the States in ninety-four, at the end of ninety-four. You know, I was supposed to come to States for a couple of years and then from one assignment to another, I’m still here, going back to Rome every now and then at least twice a year to meet my family and go back to my country. 

You know, I think Houston is a beautiful city because of people, because of their, you know, it’s a friendly place. But I still miss the, you know, the history of the culture and the sophistication that sometimes you can find in Rome. I think every place is its own, you know, the signature. They say that in every small city, town, or village, this one church had this one piece of history. And that’s true. I mean, there are thousands of thousands of small towns in Italy, north, south, center, and everywhere there are beautiful, beautiful signs of the history of the culture. And then of course, food and wine is great everywhere.

I don’t know about people. They say that people from the south and the center are great because they are always friendly and that may be true. Rome is a great city of course. Is international city. So, you know, Rome can be anything like Milan or New York or Paris. But if you go – if you stay into the provinces, these are beautiful because you still find the real old, ancient family style which is the real Italy that I really I like. You know, going back to my origin because you know, this is where I was born and raised so sometimes if you stay in the large city, you don’t feel the taste of the – of the country anymore. But if you stay at the little villages, you still do today. 

Yeah, you know, in the small village is just – the family is still the most important – the cornerstone of the – the cornerstone of the – of growing up and of being together. While in the large city, you know, for the new generation, this is getting over. You know, the new people – the young generation is they live apart. They maybe – they don’t visit the family anymore. But in the small villages, you still find the same culture and history. And the family is the, you know, the center part of your life. And still generations, they live together, the grandmother, the mother, and the daughter still live. They get – even if they get married, they stay together. It is an important support and you know that whatever happens, you still have the family somewhere.

Naples Female Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Naples Female Conversation

Conversation

I was born in Naples in 1978. I have always grown up in Na – in my city. I love my city. Is a beautiful city and it’s very ha – happy people. There are a lot of happy people. It’s very alive. I came in Houston one year ago and for me, it’s a bit difficult to live here because it’s too big for me, this city. And sometime, it’s not very easy to know new people. I am married. My husband is Italian. He’s – he works here in Houston. This is why we came together. He’s a doctor and he works here as a researcher. I don’t have any brother or sister. I am only child. And it’s a bit sad for my parents because they live in Italy and they are alone now. But they will come here for Christmas, and this is the first time they will be here in Houston. And I am a bit worried for these because I don’t know if they will like it, but I’m very happy they will come because I want to show them where I live and my new friends. In any case, I’m very happy to stay here now because I found a lot of new friends and I have – I’m having a very good experience here so I’m very glad to stay – happy to stay here. 

I like about the US. I like the people. It’s very easy for a lot of things. You have a lot of thing to do. Here, I can visit a lot of new place. You have beautiful and natural parks. So, I like to go around to do some trip. I don’t have children, any children yet but I hope to have some children. And I hope to have two or three children because I am only child and it’s not very nice to be only child so I hope to have more than one child.

I like fast food not so much. I love in Houston, I love Mexican food. It’s great. Steak, it’s good. But I prefer Italian food actually. I miss about Italy, the people, the kind of life we have. It’s more so – you socialize a lot with people. You talk. And what I really miss of Italy is a normal cities, you can walk and you can stay outside. This is what I miss more about Italy.

Rome Female Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Rome Female Conversation

Conversation

As I was trying to say – I mean, I wrote that I was born in Rome but it’s a partly, a lie, and I was using Rome just as a reference because I was born in a city, in a small city south of Rome. I wrote Rome because the influence particularly, dialect, food, culture comes mainly from – from Rome so whoever comes from another part of Italy will immediately recognize my accent as – as Roman. 

How was it to – to be raised in this – this town? It was okay. The city was fairly flourishing, you know, fairly rich city. So, we had a lot to do, places where we could meet. That was the good. That was the good. Unfortunately, it was also a very – well, at least in Italian, we would call provincial. I don’t know if you have the same – everybody know everything about everybody else and you know, you would always see the same people and you felt that there was no real diversity between people. So, that – that I never – that I never liked. And I was glad that for my upper level education, you know, to go to get my bachelor degree, I actually moved to Rome. So – and I – I lived, you know, let’s say, since when I was seventeen in the city of Rome with – with my twin, Aura. I have a twin sister and our father rented for us a small apartment and even though we were – we were studying at two different institutions, you know. I was in a public university, La Sapienza and she was in a private university in Rome but it was – it was a lot of fun to be – to be in the big city. And you know, we had access to museum, all kind of ethnicities, all kind of food, even though we were fairly poor and our father didn’t allow us to – to have a car. We tried. No, he said that it was – it would have been too dangerous and we would have stayed late at night for too long and we were there to study. And so, he had to keep us on schedule. So, we – we tried. We pushed it and you know, in Italy, it’s very typical that younger kids that is fourteen and above, they ride motorbikes. And so obviously, in – in our hometown, we had these motorbikes. 

The town where I was originally born is Latina. It’s not small, not too big. It comes about a hundred thousand people and it’s a town, to a degree, notorious because it’s a fairly young town. It was built in nineteen forty and it was founded by Mussolini. So you know, the city art is still these days is very, if you want, fascist or I mean, you see it right away in the architecture, you know. The architecture of my hometown is rather neoclassical and I don’t know if – if you know something about architecture but you know, Mussolini wanted to create buildings in a very rational way. You know, trying to maximize the space, you know. So, he loved all kind of geometrical shapes. But then he also liked to add inspiration from the past. So obviously, all kind of neoclassical motifs with arches and columns and the bigger the better. 

It was- but you know, in my town, Mussolinian architecture can be interesting to a degree, when it’s large scale, when it’s done on – I mean, if you go to Rome, the – I guess the southern – when you enter into Rome, the southern part of the town was also built by Mussolini or I should say, rebuilt. And to a degree, this – you know, it’s a very powerful architecture and can be okay. But in a small scale, it’s pitiful. So, my hometown it’s not a particularly beautiful nor impressive example of Mussolinian architecture. But you know, he is the one who dried the – there used to be – what do you call it, a swamp. It was infested with malaria mosquitoes and – but he dried up and he called all kind of people particularly from the north to colonize the city. 

And in fact, you know, if you come to Latina, some people, you know, have preserved the dialect of their, you know, parents or grandparents and so, they will sometimes speak with a northern dialect. But this was really not my case because my father is from the south and my mother was born, you know, in that region, in the Lazio region. So, my father always really try to speak as good an Italian as he could because obviously, his wife was not from the south and that’s why, you know, the children, us children didn’t pick up any southern dialect at all. And so, we eventually picked up the Roman or some people might say, we don’t have a dialect.

Chianciano Terme Female Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Chianciano Terme Female Conversation

Conversation

I was born and raised in Italy. I-- So I grew up in Italy. My family's Italian. I went to school to Italy. I graduate University of Florence. I am an Italian professor. I teach Italian. And I move here long time ago. I still have my strong accent in Italian. I think it's gonna come from me for the rest of my life. And I don't mind at this point. 

I went also to school to UCLA and I got my Master in Italian from there. I've been teaching here at University of Houston for five years now. And before I was teaching at Italian Community Cultural Center and Houston Grand Opera. I love teaching, I love my students and I love grammar. Italian grammar, obviously. And I speak Italian most of the time. I speak Italian even classes. Sometimes my students don't like me. But I think it's good for them to hear a good Italian accent than horrible English accent. And make for me more sense. And also speak Italian with my kids all the time. And I speak Italian with all my friends. So really-- And I'm very involved with the Italian community, with the Italian Community Cultural Center, and other Italian associations here in Houston. Also, I involved with the Italian Consulate and all the events that are here, Italian events or something connected with the Italian. I try to participate and give my support.

What else do you want to know, Melissa?

Female: Tell me about your kids.

Ah, yes. I have two kids. Leonardo, he's thirteen. And Ludovica, she's eight, almost eight. And as I told you I speak Italian with them all the time. And then Leonardo right now, since he's a teenager, he doesn't want to speak Italian because it's not cool. And, but he understands everything. And Lulu, she speaks good, very good Italian.

My kids are-- They were born here but I tried to raise them with an Italian background even though sometimes it's difficult here because the Italian community is not that big, it's not very large. So they don't have the friends to play that speak Italian. And that's why I'm force myself to speak only Italian with them. 

And we go back to Italy every summer, so that means they have an opportunity to speak Italian. And when they come back, usually--not now, but when they were younger, definitely, they--it was harder for them to switch back to Italian. The first few days in school they always had problem. I'm looking at the long way, you know? Long shot. In the future will be good for them to know another language because of the grammar system that they have in their mind.

As a matter of fact, my son is very good in Spanish and he's learning French as well. And is doing very good in languages. And my daughter, she's learning Spanish and she's doing very good in Spanish, even better than my son. And I think that, because of the exposition to foreign language, you know? That your, really, your brain has two different systems. So they can switch back and forth. It's easier for them.

And I love to teach here, I love my students. I really enjoy teaching and it's-- I want to try to be fun in class and, you know? And to give my students the idea that I enjoy what I’m teach, what I'm doing and hopefully inspire them to do the same. Whatever they gonna do in their life, you know? Whatever they decide. But bring some joy in their jobs, in the work, in their work. And that's my goal. You know? Besides teaching Italian and really teach them Italian grammar. That sometimes is boring and is difficult. The more I teach the more I find out Italian is really difficult. And the attitude, I try to bring always a positive attitude in class and see that can be-- And show them that even grammar can be fun to learn. So you can have fun and you can enjoy your job, whatever it is and wherever it is. You know? In a foreign country, within a family and-- Yeah, because I don't have any family here besides my kids. But that's enough.

I am from a small town. The name is Chianciano Terme. It's south of Sienna. So it's really in the middle of Italy. It’s one hour south from Florence and one hour north from Rome. So really in between Florence and Rome, just to give you an idea. Tuscany, that's very well know, famous. And all my family is there.

Rome Female Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Rome Female Conversation

Conversation

Well, I was born in a very small village fifty kilometers from Rome. And actually, I spend the vast majority of my adult life in Italy, so I studied there and I moved to the States as an adult. I moved many years ago, but I won't tell you how many because by now I should be able to speak better or at least without an accent or less of an accent. So I came to Houston to work, initially to do research in the Texas Medical Center. I'm an MD, PhD and so I did research for quite some time, but then I get a little tired of it. I really wanted to practice medicine. So I went back to residency and I did my residency in internal medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. And after I finished I joined Baylor as a faculty member and then I moved to U.T. So, very briefly, this is what I have done. But I came definitely as an adult. I mean, after medical school and everything. Yeah.

And when I came, actually--I don't know, maybe that has been part of the problem--I studied German when I was in Italy. I really didn't study English. And I took a little crash course in English just before moving. And when I moved, I joined a research lab full of foreigners. So we had people from China, Korea, India, Germany, Spain. And really, I mean, nobody spoke with a, let's say a real American accent, a standard American accent. Also, because I was so busy working, my goal was to, well, let me learn the language as fast as I can. But I never paid attention to the pronunciation. And I never went for formal training anymore because, I mean, I was too busy working on my research projects. So I, over the years, that's what happened. I never paid any attention to the way I was pronouncing words. Nobody around me, again, had a "proper pronunciation" and I just had other priorities. You know? Getting the data, publishing, and sure of being able to communicate, which really wasn't a problem. People would still understand me, occasionally with some minor, you know, problems. But-- And that's what happened. 

Then I, you know, again, I went into residency and there, too, you find all sorts of people. Again, people from Pakistan, India, and a lot of foreigners. And so there are a lot of accents. So my exposure as being to the language has been veried, you know, so-- But then when I decided later on to, well, you know, I really like to do some acting and-- Well, it had always been a dream of mine since I was really a child. And I realize that, hey, this is too strongly. You know? And so I started taking accent reduction classes. And I'm telling you, I mean, you may think I have a strong accent. But if you heard me one year ago, oh, it was really much stronger. Yeah. So, I made some progress but I'm not, I think what I should be. So, but I think that that's really what happened. I never paid attention. I never paid attention and I never was really surrounded by people who spoke what I want say properly, you know? I mean if I understand there are different accents even here.

Massafra Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Massafra Male Conversation

Conversation

I'm from Massafra, a little town in the south of Apulia in Italy. I was born in Taranto and I lived all my life in Massafra, my home country. I study at university translation and interpretation. Foreign languages are my life, my passions. And I really like travelling abroad, finding out new cultures, meeting new people, and see what the differences are between my culture and theirs.

The languages I study at the university are the following: English, Spanish, and Russian at interpretation and translation level. And Portuguese, only grammar course. I only-- I also know lang-- the French because I studied it in the college. And I was abroad a lot of time. In-- I was in Denmark for a project with my school. I was in France for a French course, a language. And I was in Spain, where I worked three months in an hotel to as a receptionist. And in October, when I finish my university, I'll go to Brazil to teach English to children. I'll be there for seven weeks. I hope this experience will be helpful for me, for my study, for the-- for working in the future. 

And I'll go, I think in the New Year, abroad again in Russia because their Russian languages are very difficult language to learn and I need practice to improve my level, and to improve my skills. So I think I will be working there in January or February. And then I don't know if I'll do next year master or something to improve my skill at university level.

Bari Female Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Bari Female Conversation

Conversation

I'm from Bari, Southeastern Italy. I've recently moved to Friuli in Northern Italy to study interpreting. And living away from home is making me realize how much I love my city, although I've always thought I hated it because it's dirty and people are very rude and disrespectful of other people, of rules and of the environment. 

It is commonly believed that people from Southern Italy are nice and welcoming, but this is not the case. People from Bari are quite-- are quite narrow-minded and very suspicious of foreigners. And what's more, they have a sort of a mercantile mentality and will interact with you only if they can potentially get something back. However, despite everything, Bari is and always will be home.

I decided to move to Friuli because there is a very important interpreting school here and my biggest dream is to become an interpreter. I like the idea that one day I will be able to help people build bridges and overcome language and cultural barriers, no matter the differences that may divide them. I am particularly interested in juridical interpreting and I will love to work as an interpreter in court.

At university, I study English and Spanish, which are two beautiful languages, and will probably start Arabic next year as my third language. I discovered my love for languages when I was around twelve. But before that, there was series of jobs I thought I would love to do. My biggest dream as a child was to become a florist.

In my spare time I like to play the piano and listen to music. I truly believe in its healing power and couldn't imagine how a world without music would be. I study in a sort of music university that here in Italy we call Conservatorio. But what is great about music is that it is able to speak to anybody's heart and I think it doesn't necessarily need to be studied to be actually perceived and appreciated.

Rome Female Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Rome Female Conversation

Conversation

So I was born in Rome, and I live in Rome. I’m in London only for one month to improve my English, because this was my plan to live in another place, but I can’t do it before. And I’m very happy for this experience. By the way, my family is Sicilian, and I’m the only daughter that is born in Rome and so for this reason, I don’t… I speak Romanesco and Sicilian too, like dialects. But at the same time, I don’t feel a strong relationship with Rome and with Sicily neither, because I born and grow up in a different place of my relatives. And it is strange because you have an accent with my relatives I speak Sicilian, with my friend I speaks Romano, and I feeling to me though, I can say. I live in a little town near Rome, and exactly near a barrack, so I’m happy to live in a street full of soldier. And at the same time, since very free-like place because it full of trees and full of gardens. So this is a gift for me, because I’m happy to something like integration. I don’t know it’s a true English word. You know when you are happy to do different things, and this touch me twelve different point of views and understand that my point of view is not ever right, I could say. And this is only thanks to my relatives and Sicilian people and Romano people.

Southern Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Southern Male Conversation

Conversation

So I was born and raised in Italy. My father is from Sicily, so from the South of Italy. My mom is from Aiti. At the moment, I am a bit annoyed at how my English sounds, because I seem to have lost control over it. When I was in high school, I used to… I was really into American culture, and I consumed a lot of American media. I mean, I still do, but back then it was exclusively that. I would watch a lot of movies, TV shows, etcetera, and that was the only English I was exposed to, beside, you know, the English I was taught at school. And I spoke with an American pronunciation, and I was actually quite good at it. I mean, maybe I guess I liked to think that I could pass for an American person, maybe not to an American, but definitely to someone from another country. Then after high school, I was studying for English proficiency exam, and I became convinced that it was necessary for me to learn how to speak with a British accent. And I guess I also changed my mind. I preferred that… preferred it back then, so I put an effort into learning how to speak like a British person and result, I could never pass for a British person. But also I seem to not be able to go back to speak with an American accent. Let’s see, I mean, now I feel like I sound like a mix of the two, not in the best way. I mean, not that there is anything wrong with not sounding exactly like a native speaker. I mean, the important thing is that I can communicate and get my ideas across. But yeah. I don’t know. And I’m also studying many other languages, which makes it even difficult because… makes it even more difficult because sometimes, you know, I can hear myself speaking in German while talking in English. I don’t know, does this make sense? Even though, to be fair, it’s more the other way around. It’s more English that influences other languages, because yeah, English comes quite easy to me and automatic. So.

Sorano Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Sorano Male Conversation

Conversation

So what can I tell you about me? I grew up in the city called Sorano, which is in the surroundings of Milan and the suburban area of Milan. I am Italian. I grew up in Lombardy in the north, so I have like a Milanese kind of accent, a northern kind of accent. What can I tell you about me? I studied languages, foreign languages at the University of Milan. I studied English literature and Spanish literature, along with English and Spanish. And nowadays, I am working as a customer service specialist for Booking dot com in Milan. So I have to deal with a lot of angry customers every day from all over the world, so I’m usually use English and Italian on a daily basis to deal with them. I love reading. I love like studying. I’m studying a lot. I’m studying languages. Nowadays I’m studying Japanese and I’m preparing for sitting for like a Japanese test, which is called Japanese Language Proficiency Test. I am like a keen reader of like literature books, story, history books. I’m fond of like cultures from all over the world, and I don’t know. What can I tell you more?

Rome Female Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Rome Female Conversation

Conversation

Okay. I was born in Rome. I was raised here, and I always lived here in Rome. I’ve been abroad for just short period of times. I’ve been to a few countries like France, England, the United States, northern Africa like Tunisia, and Morocco, and to Cameroon. Because my husband was from Cameroon. He is unfortunately dead now. So I started studying English when I was eleven at school, but I didn’t learn really very much at school. I learned… I really learned English when I went to university and studied languages. I also studied French at university, and just when I was starting university, I met my future husband, who as I said was from Cameroon. And he spoke French, so I practiced French with him. And my French, my spoken French is quite good. For English, it was quite difficult to reach a good level of competence. And now I have an A-two certificate, Cambridge certificate, proficiency certificate in English, so I think my English is quite good. I work as a translator, not as an interpreter, and therefore I’m not… I do not practice spoken language very much. I most practice written English and of course, written Italian for I mostly translate from English into Italian. Well, what else? Well, people in my neighborhood usually don’t speak good English. In my family, we do speak good English. My children, I have two children who are now twenty-three years old and twenty years old, and they both speak good English because they studied abroad. My son studied in the United States for six months, and my daughter studied in Australia for six months, too. Well, I… What else? I like running. I started running when I was forty-two. So not, I was not young, but well then I went home and I would run a few miles in this as well. And I continue training. I train three to four times a week, and I run a few races. I like eating well. That is, eating healthful food. I don’t eat much meat. Like no meat at all actually for the last few years. But I do eat fish, eggs, and dairy, and but I eat a lot of vegetables and fruits and legumes, nuts. All these things that you might say people who care about healthy nutrition eat. Currently, I’m studying German. I’ve been studying it for two years and a half. I had passed my A-two exam and I’m studying for the B-one exam. Well, German is quite challenging, but I like challenges, and I think you always have to find challenges and try new challenges even when you’re not young anymore. To keep your brain young and fit, as well as your body. That’s what I do when I run. Well, I think that’s all.

Calabria Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Calabria Male Conversation

Conversation

Well, I was born in Calabria, which is a region in the South of Italy, and I’ve lived all my life here. And I’ve traveled a little bit when I was a child. I went to Naples and Pompeii, but then I went back to Calabria. And I also visited London a couple of years ago, and that’s when I started learning English in a serious way, I guess. As far as my interests are concerned, I really like learning foreign languages. I study English and German at university, but I also study Spanish and Russian on my own. And in my free time, I also like playing the ukulele, playing chess, hanging out with friends. But really, I consider myself to be introvert person, so I actually prefer staying home and just reading or listening to music.

Apulia Female Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Apulia Female Conversation

Conversation

I was born in Southern Italy in the region Apulia. It is the heel of the Italian boot. I am being lived there for nineteen years. Then I moved to Turin to, for my studies. I studied computer engineering at Polytechnical University. And well, I think my accent sounds really strong, ‘cause I can feel myself, my accent, while I’m speaking English right now. I like football. I go for Juventus. I like ride my… riding my bicycle, hanging out with my friends. I like doing crosswords. I like preparing cocktails and beer. In fact, I collect beer cards. I hate TV. I prefer staying at computer and surfing in the internet.

Licola Female Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Licola Female Conversation

Conversation

I was born in Naples, but I was raised in Licola, which is a small city in the countryside. But since I was often sick, my parents decided to move to Naples, which is a big city in Campagna, a region in the Southern Italy. Actually, I go to university. I study political science and international relations, and I really like it. I like many different things. For example, I love playing the drums. I love hiking, climbing. I like discovering new things. I like going to museums. I just think that life is wonderful. That’s why I try to do as many new things as possible. And I also like meeting new people. I often join international events in order to improve my English fluency, but also because I love learning about different countries and different people. I think that my life purpose is traveling and be a kind person, and I hope that I will never lose my enthusiasm and interest for life and for other people. 

I have tried many sports. The one that I practiced for the longest time was gymnastics. Then I tried hip-hop, modern dance, pole dance. I tried rollerblading, but I didn’t like any of these. Actually, I’m going to the gym, but I find it a bit boring. If I could, I would go climbing every day, but it takes too much time. That’s why I just do it like rarely. I am also passionate about extreme sports. This summer I went paragliding, and two years ago, I bungee jumped. And I’m planning to skydive soon. Scaring me the most is failure, that’s why I study really hard in order to pass all the exams with high results. Also, because I’m trying to win an internship to study abroad, and that’s why like I’m really trying to put all my energies in studying. And it’s working for now, I have to say. And I hope that one day I will be living and working abroad since… I mean, I like Italy, but I want to, I don’t know, see new places.

Brindisi Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Brindisi Male Conversation

Conversation

I was born in Brindisi, fifty-two years ago. My home town is in Puglia, on the Adriatic Sea. It’s a town that between one thousand eighteen hundred seventeen and one thousand nine hundred fourteen, was an important port of the Indian Mail. Indian Mail, it was a maritime rail system, that carried mail and passengers from London to Calcutta in India by mix of ships and trains. Well, now after twenty years of disorders and criminality between eighties and nineties. In fact, my hometown was called… was famous in the world, like Marlboro City, because the contraband, mostly of cigarettes but also weapons and drugs. And many gangs around in town that shot almost every day. Well, as I was saying, now after twenty years of criminality, now is become a calm, boring, and poor town. Well, the main activities are farming, chemical industries, polluting industries, and fishing. Here, the climate is quite mild, windy. During the whole year, with the tempestuous winter around ten degrees. Almost never under this value. So what can I say about me? I work as a employer in a national public institute, a pension institute. And I study English mainly because I like the language. 

Viterbo Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Viterbo Male Conversation

Conversation

I was born in Viterbo, a town in the center of Italy. I grew up in the countryside of a small village. Here I knew my wife. After our marriage, we moved in the North of Italy to look for a job. We stay there for six years. After that, we moved back in our fantastic village. We have two children, a daughter who lives in England and a son that lives with us. I study music and information technology. I have a lot of different hobbies. I am a runner, a cyclist, and a rock climber. I am learning English, too. When I’m retired, I will go about to Europe to learn and understand other cultures.

Rome Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Rome Male Conversation

Conversation

I’m live in Rome, Italy. I was born in Rome and I’m raised here. Actually, I have lived all my life in the city, but at least ten years, I travel a lot in Europe, and sometimes also in the U.S.A. And I’m in business. I am married. I have two children. And I like traveling. I like to exercise and spend times with friends, going out. Stuff like this. I’m here just to help you in your job hoping that this could be something useful for you. Okay?

Rome Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Rome Male Conversation

Conversation

I was born in Rome, Italy, and I grew up there. Then I moved to Milan when I was nineteen, and I started to study mechanical engineer. I got my bachelor degree in mechanical engineer, and then I move, I switch to biomedical engineer. So my master degree, it’s on biomedical engineer, and I hope I’m gonna finish soon in one year with my ___, that I’m gonna start soon. After that, I hope I will move to California ‘cause I know that there are so many companies acting on the biomedical field. So that would be the best for me. Otherwise, I’m gonna stay here in Milan probably, ‘cause it’s really good place and it’s a really rich city. About my English, I studied of course in school, but I wasn’t really good. I actually didn’t like it so much. But then I need it for my university when I study the master, so I had to improve it really a lot. So I studied by myself, you know, like watching series and movies in English. Trying to read as much as I can off English books and so on. And then I started to look for people to talk with in order to improve my speaking skill, ‘cause I was very bad in it more than other things. Now I’m currently satisfied of my level, ‘cause I don’t need more. But if I wanna move in America for instance, well I will definitely need to study more. Moreover, as you take some certificate, ‘cause they are requested. So in this moment, I’m not studying too much. I’m still, actually, I’m still watching everything in English. I study with English books. My teachers got classes only in English language, so I’m dealing with English every day. The next move should be get better accent, because now it’s really messy. Is mixed of… mix of everything I heard, everything I watched, and so on, so it’s not a proper accent. So this is my experience with the English language. You listened to my accent. I hope you enjoy.

Comunanza Marche Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Comunanza Marche Male Conversation

Conversation

I’m from Italy. I live in a very small town called Comunanza. The center of Italy. Well, I was born in a nearby town called Amandola, ten minutes away from here. I have been living here since I was born. So I grew up here. I studied here, and I’m working here now. So like I said, I have always lived here except for a short period of time. Three, maybe four months when I lived and worked in Ancona, the biggest city around here. I moved back in Comunanza and start working here. I have been working as an employee for six years in an accountancy firm. What can I say? I have many hobbies in my free time. For example, I like reading, playing sports, watching movies, TV series, traveling. I like football. Playing football and watching football as well. Yeah, that’s me.

Torre del Greco Female Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Torre del Greco Female Conversation

Conversation

I was born and raised in Torre del Greco, a small town near Naples. So it was I grew up with my two siblings. They are both younger than me. I have a brother and a sister and two dogs, a small poodle, black poodle and a bulldog. Well, I have lived in Rome now for three years, because for my like for starting high school, I went to a boarding school here in Rome and now I’m, well, I’m still here. I’m very interested in different accents because I actually, I study English for like ten years now, because I’ve been studying it since I was at elementary school. So I’ve always been really interested in various accents, and well also because I’d really like to be an actress, to become a professional actress. So, well, accents are I think something you must learn to master in order to, well, achieve this goal of becoming a professional actress. Well, it was very interesting to hear from you about this project, and I’m really happy to take part in it, because I think it’s something very useful to, I don’t know, to study different accents and inflections using like something genuine and original.

Abruzzo Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Abruzzo Male Conversation

Conversation

Speaking to you from Rome at the moment, but I was born in a little town, a little village in the center of Italy, in a region called Abruzzo. And my town is called Tagliacozzo. I have a scholastic accent, I guess, simply because I never went in English-speaking countries like America or United Kingdom for a long time periods. That means my English is just related to what I’ve learned with internet and in my school. Actually, I also have been one whole year in Antarctica region, South Pole. If you are curious about, you can go on internet and searching for, sorry, Concordia Station. And so I spent fourteen months there, and I’ve used English like main language inside the station. So of course, my accent is not perfect, and I’m trying to work on it. Even if I think that the best things to do is to spend at least six months abroad in real English-speaking countries. So at the moment, I’m working at university, so sometimes I also have the opportunity to speak more English with someone. Especially with students and foreign professor and so on. But I have to improve it a lot, I know. So having a language exchanges can help me a lot. I hope that this job I’m doing for you, this little recording I’m doing for you, can help you in your job as well.

Somma Vesuviana Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Somma Vesuviana Male Conversation

Conversation

I was born and raised in Somma Vesuviana. That is a small town close to Napoli. People here talk Napoli-tongue dialect, and of course, Italian. And I lived in Milan. That is in the northern part of Italy. Grosseto, that is a small town in Tuscany close to Florence. Then I lived in Spain in Seville, and I lived in Wales.