Italian is a beautiful language and well done for wanting to learn some before you go. However operatic language is different from ordinary spoken language and the words don't sound the same. I have difficulty understanding the words in an English opera.I'm learning Italian for an upcoming trip to Italy, and after about a month, I realized I might start to be able to listening to opera, if I learned the proper words. Now I'm not to that point, I just realized hey there will be a point that I don't need subtitles anymore. My question is, how do I go about finding the words I need to be able to understand it properly? Just listen for them, or is there a common opera phrase book lying around someplace I could pick up? I have noticed that singing is a good deal harder to hear than just spoken, in any language, are there any tips for listening?
This fact threw me off when I was first getting into Italian opera. I can follow written or normally spoken Italian reasonably enough based on my general knowledge of Romance languages that I have studied (Spanish, French, though obviously there are significant differences). But I could never follow along with the singing, and I was confused until I realized there were all sorts of elisions going on, etc. I still like to listen and learn by having Italian subtitles on the Italian operas I watch. (In fact, if I want to know what's going on in English, I usually read an English translated libretto first, then watch the opera.)However operatic language is different from ordinary spoken language and the words don't sound the same.
. My French is at a low level of fluency, I've managed to make some friends online in French, and have noticed many similar words, though the grammar is quite different.
The good news is that, of the three Italian opera houses I visited, two (Florence and Bologna) had projected supertitles in Italian, and La Scala (at least in the stalls) had seat-back subtitle screens in multiple languages including Italian and English. That should tell you that even Italians need a bit a help following operatic Italian.I'm learning Italian for an upcoming trip to Italy, and after about a month, I realized I might start to be able to listening to opera, if I learned the proper words. Now I'm not to that point, I just realized hey there will be a point that I don't need subtitles anymore. My question is, how do I go about finding the words I need to be able to understand it properly? Just listen for them, or is there a common opera phrase book lying around someplace I could pick up? I have noticed that singing is a good deal harder to hear than just spoken, in any language, are there any tips for listening?
How about father, daughter, son, traitor, and of course, heart, which is practically every fifth word in an Italian opera?... among others
Heh, I almost edited my post again to add traitor, and it's corollary:ungrateful. And of course God, gods, and cursed. And I guess it shouldn't be surprising that Italian has a special word for wedding bed and that in opera it rarely has pleasant connotations. One word commonly sung at the height of passion needs no translation:Vendetta.How about father, daughter, son, traitor, and of course, heart, which is practically every fifth word in an Italian opera?
After a few months of Italian opera, you too will be able to express with utter fluency your very great disappointment with your children...
