Local languages and the Salone del Gusto in Turin: Bambara, Piedmontese, Sicilia

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    28 October 2008

    Yesterday night I came back from Turin where I was with a local wine
    producer at the “Salone del Gusto” which aims to promote regional
    products from anywhere in the world trying to protect varieties which
    eventually are endangered. Regional and endangered products are very
    much connected to regional languages. The results I got from
    discussions with various people are plenty and so I chose to just tell
    you three of them.

    One thing you have to be aware of is that I am German and speak
    Italian and Neapolitan and with anyone from the Italian territory I
    used deliberately a Neapolitan-Italian mix so that what I said was
    understandable but made clear to people where I lived. 

    The sadest answer I got from a stand from Mali (I had to speak
    French, something I really do not do all too often and I am always
    astonished that I seem to know more than I tought Smile
    ): when I asked these people about their mother tongue they told me
    that it was French, then I said, well, it actually cannot be French,
    because it is not an African language, so what is actually your mother
    tongue, the one you speak at home, the one your mother speaks.  They
    really looked a bit particular at me and then they told me it was
    Bambara. We went on talking a bit and it was really strange for them
    that someone actually was really interested in their local language. I
    hope I made it to make clear that they must use their language, that is
    Bambara, because otherwise not only their language would die, but also
    many of the local products they still produce.

    With Piedmontese there were of course various situations, because
    being in Piedmont you can imagine that there were plenty of people
    speaking that language. I went to the exhibitors one by one, looking at
    their products, taking photos, talking with them about traditions and I
    really learnt a lot. (I did the same for many different places). Then
    when I looked at the brochures I found that they were in Italian,
    English and sometimes also German or French. I always took some time
    “reading” the brochure and looking at it as if I was searching for
    something, but without saying nothing – when they tried to understand
    what I was searching for I said, well, there is something missing on
    this leaflet – so they asked: what is missing – and I: well, you have
    the text in Italian and English, but not in your language. In many of
    the faces then you saw that big question mark. So I said: I would
    expect to have the description also in Piedmontese, but it is really
    strange that I could not find any. For many of them it was some kind of
    shock – they never expected a German speaking Italian with an obvious
    Neapolitan accent to tell them that they need to write Piedmontese …
    many of them said that most people would not understand, that is most
    Italians and foreigners, only one of them immediately said: you gave me
    a great idea, my next brochure will also be in Piedmontese (well it is
    obvious that I will promote him 🙂 I then explained (not only to the
    Piedmontese people of course, but all I had the chance to talk to) that
    using the local language is like using local products: it underlines
    the diversity and the being unique of the region and the products of
    the region. If anybody did this it would be a very positive economical
    signal, because people love the “really special products” and by
    distinguishing not only the product with visual aspects but also using
    the local language they make it even more local and special and
    therefore more attractive to potential customers.

    The only region I found which actually used a longer text in local
    language was Sicily. In a brochure about oranges and lemons they had a
    whole page of a poem about these fruits in Sicilian language. I had
    conversations with various people about the language and actually using
    it also in business, also for international business. And at this stage
    the Sicilian producers and also official people I talked to were the
    most open ones to using their language. They REALLY are considering it
    their mother tongue and they are proud of it, like it should be
    anywhere in the word. With “they” I refer to most of the people I
    talked to during the last days. So thank you Sicily and Sicilians to
    show how things should be and that it is really possible.

    Generally considering we have the situation that most people seem to
    avoid to show that they use their local language and many, when you
    tell them not only to talk but also to write say: but that is far to
    difficult. My reasoning then was: “do you speak English, French or any
    other language and write it” and very often I got the answer: of course
    we speak and write English (well actually that was what I expectedSmile
    and so they opened me a door to say: well when you start to learn
    English, you don’t know how to talk, but you learn it and then you
    learn how to write and you are able to communicate by speaking and
    writing. When it comes to your mother tongue you only have to learn how
    to write it, so if you are able to learn English, you are also able to
    learn your mother tongue … The strange thing is that this is
    something people never consider: for them their language is something
    strange, difficult to write, because this is what people tell them over
    and over again when they grow up. 

    When it comes to local culture and educations, the sector we as Vox
    Humanitatis work in, we believe that it is relevant not only for people
    to speak, write and use their own culture to maintain it for the future
    generations, but it is also necessary to teach it and furthermore it is
    to be used in business as a way to distinguish their products. Local
    culture including products, food, music, language and so much more are
    a mayor motor for economy which nowadays is not considered at all. Well
    … considering the actual economical situation wouldn’t is be
    something to think about?

    Sabine Emmy Eller

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