# Learning Italian (at least partly) for opera?



## Manok (Aug 29, 2011)

I was wondering if there were a common word list for opera out there, I'm going to Italy next February and decided why not take it farther and learn to enjoy my favorite operas in Italian, so I was curious, I'm sure some of you have done it, do you have advice for me?


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## mahler76 (Mar 12, 2016)

Traditore meaning traitor. There is not a single Italian opera without one in it lol


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Reading librettos with translations while listening is useful for learning some Italian while learning the opera as well.

If you can comprehend Italian from the sung voices you'll be doing better than most Italians. When I was at La Scala in January it seemed most of the audience were using the text displays in front of every seat, even though Rigoletto was being performed.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

I have two nieces who lived in Italy for 10 years and when they listen to opera, they didn't understand the whole thing.
Old (opera)Italian is so much different from normal speaking Italian :tiphat:


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## rspader (May 14, 2014)

I lived in Italy for three years and my Italian language skills were "passable" but I still need the libretto or subtitles (in Italian is OK) if I want to understand the words being sung.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

I lived in Italy for six years and so am totally fluent. Whilst 19th Century Italian is somewhat different from modern Italian, the language hasn't adapted anywhere near as much as English has in that time. I find that I really don't need subtitles for operas in English or Italian as I can understand enough of what is being sung without a translation.

N.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

I'm rather fluent in Italian, too, and I'm usually able to understand all the words even if operatic singing is sometimes difficult, of course.

But not 19th or 18th century Italian, alone. Listen to this:


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## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

Manok said:


> I was wondering if there were a common word list for opera out there, I'm going to Italy next February and decided why not take it farther and learn to enjoy my favorite operas in Italian, so I was curious, I'm sure some of you have done it, do you have advice for me?


I did exactly that, or tried to. In advance of my first trip to Italy in 2011, in addition to learning some rudimentary grammar and vocabulary for getting around, I figured I'd study the librettos of the operas I would be attending. The two efforts kind of went hand in hand. For me, those multi-lingual CD case librettos were the best tool, since you've got the Italian and English side by side - plus they are handy travel sized. At first I had to go word by word, but as my vocabulary grew, it got less tedious. I find I have to read through an entire scene first at least once before I try to follow along with a recording.

I also found the older the opera, the more difficult it the Italian is to follow. It's easiest to start with Puccini. In additional to older word usage, I think the librettists in the older works go to great lengths to rhyme, so the word order can be a bit jumbled from what you'd expect for the sake of the poetry.

I've only been in a few Italian opera houses (La Scala, Florence, Bologna), but the good news is that all had supertitles in Italian, so it's not like you have to memorize every word. Just enough to follow along. (La Scala actually has mult-lingual seat back screens like the Met, at least in the stalls - in the boxes you're on your own.)

I have to say, it was and continues to be a worthwhile effort. Being able to follow the lines as they are sung, not in translation has really deepened my appreciation of opera.


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