Italian
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Welcome to Italian
Why study Italian?
Italy has one of the richest cultural heritages of Western Civilisation and over the last 800 years has been a world leader in literature, architecture, painting, sculpture and music. The first University in Europe was founded in Bologna in 1290. Its School of Law was also a first and attracted scholars from all over Europe. Banking and accountancy were invented in Italy in the late Middle Ages.
Italy is one of the eight wealthiest nations in the world and is an essential international tourist destination. More and more Italian tourists are also visiting Australia.
Italian is, after English, the most widely spoken language in Australia. Over half a million Italian Australians use the language every day. You can practise and put Italian to use in your own community. You can virtually "live" Italian in South Australia!
Italian is a pathway to employment and Italy is a major trading partner with Australia and increasingly so in South Australia. A knowledge of Italian can be of benefit in fields such as tourism, music, design, architecture, teaching, technology, science and commerce.
The first Italian in South Australia came to the colony in 1839. Since then, South Australian citizens of Italian origin have made innumerable contributions to the development of this State.
Courses in Italian are taught throughout the entire range of Pass and Honours degree requirements both for students with an advanced (School Certificate level) knowledge of Italian and for students with no prior experience in the language. Postgraduate supervision is available throughout.
The programs of study in Italian have always attempted to find a balance between language and culture. At all levels a variety of language-teaching methodologies is employed. Language materials include grammar-based texts and selections of authentic written, oral and visual material.
This community features works by Flinders academics in Italian in the areas of Italian settlement in Australia and South Australia; Italian and English bilingual lexicography; thirteenth & fourteenth century poetry and poetics, nineteenth and twentieth century Italian poetry; the poetry of Italian migrants in Australia; Italian language teaching, Dante Studies; Italo-Australian literature; women in contemporary Italian fiction; the study of second language acquisition, media studies, translation theory and practice, teaching methodology; twentieth century literature with particular focus on Sicilian writers.
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You can visit the Department of Languages-Italian to find out more about studying Italian, the staff and their particular areas of research.
Sub-communities within this community
Recent Submissions
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Dall'Australia a Caulonia : esperienze di rimpatriati calabresi nel dopoguerra
(Centro Studi Emigrazione, Rome, 2009)This article investigates the return migration experience of a group of Italian migrants from the town of Caulonia in southern Italy who, after living for a period of time in South Australia, decided to return permanently ... -
'Ti voglio raccontare.' Oral narratives of a migration stream from Campania (Italy) to Adelaide after the Second World War
(AM International Edizioni, Italy, 2007)This paper presents selected findings from the oral testimonies of a group of first generation Italians who were born in the region of Campania in Southern Italy and who emigrated to the city of Adelaide, in South Australia, ... -
Introduction
(Department of Languages, Flinders University, 2008-11)Overview of a special issue devoted to aspects of Italian settlement in Australia stemming from an international conference held at Flinders University in September 2007 entitled "Moving Cultures, Shifting Identities". -
El comincio' liberamente a dire': Liberalita' e liberta' de poeta. La lezione di Arnaut
(LYTHRUM PRESS, 2005) -
Review of 'Australians in Italy: Contemporary Lives and Impressions' ed. Bill Kent, Ros Pesman and Cynthia Troup.
(2010-04-29)Review of 'Australians in Italy: Contemporary Lives and Impressions' ed. Bill Kent, Ros Pesman and Cynthia Troup. -
[BOOK REVIEW] Aldo S. Bernardo & Anthony L. Pellegrini (2006). Companion to Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Comprehensive Guide for the Student and General Reader, Revised Edition.
(Department of Languages, Flinders University, 2006-12)This revised edition, at a distance of 38 years since its appearance as A Critical Study Guide to Dante’s Divine Comedy (a volume long out of print), offers useful study aids, including schematic charts, visual representations ... -
"Unrecorded lives": oral narratives of a group of first-generation Campanian women residing in Adelaide, South Australia
(Department of Languages, Flinders University, 2006-12)This study examines issues of identity and cultural maintenance, as evidenced by the oral testimonies of a generational cohort who were born in the region of Campania in Southern Italy and who emigrated to Australia in the ... -
Emotion communication and language socialisation. [abstract].
(2006)In this paper, we wish to discuss ways in which cross-cultural pragmatics research can contribute to a language socialisation perspective in second language teaching and learning. We provide some background to our research ... -
Socialising learners into emotion communication in a L2: Establishing a link between research data and classroom-based activities. [abstract].
(2006)In this paper, we explore ways in which the results of our studies on emotion communication across cultures can be used as a starting point for material and activity design, within a language socialization approach. Starting ... -
"Unrecorded Lives": Oral Narratives of a Group of First-Generation Campanian Women Residing in Adelaide, South Australia. [abstract].
(2006)This paper will focus on issues of identity and cultural maintenance, as evidenced by the oral testimonies of a generational cohort who were born in the region of Campania in Southern Italy and who emigrated to Australia ... -
Italo Calvino: Attentive Observer of Life, Experienced or Imagined. [abstract].
(2006)The Italian writer Italo Calvino, who died in September 1985, is remembered as a fabulist and essayist. His writing spans a range that reflects the diversity of his cultural interests but shows a basic consistency of ... -
Adopting and adapting: Italian settlement in South Australia in the 1950s and 1960s. [abstract].
(2006)The biggest influx of Italians to Australia, including South Australia, occurred during the 1950s and 1960s as a result of the Australian government’s post-war immigration programme, which attempted to meet the perceived ... -
Viva il Duce: The Influence of Fascism on Italians in South Australia in the 1920s and 1930s
(Historical Society of South Australia, 1993)The first big increase of the size of the Italian community in Australia occurred after World War I, due mainly to the tightening up by the USA of its immigration laws, including the application of a quota system, and also ... -
"Helping People Has Been My Happiness": The Contribution of Elena Rubeo to the Italian Community in South Australia
(Lythrum Press, 2004)Elena Rubeo, who was born in Rome in 1896, was the first woman in Australia to be appointed to an Italian consular post. This chapter will look at her life, her involvement in the Italian community, and the determination ... -
Learners' Perceptions of a Web-enhanced Learning Environment: Insights from a Longitudinal Study
(2003-09)This article presents the results of a longitudinal study on the perceptions of a web-enhanced learning environment by a group of beginning-level students of Italian. A website was specially designed and implemented as ... -
L’ordine delle somiglianze nel "Sorriso dell’ignoto marinaio" di Vincenzo Consolo
(Dept. of Italian, University of Melbourne, 2003)In this paper the analysis of the symbolic and linguistic structures of Consolo’s text reveals its political message, specifically the role of language in constructing, and deconstructing, history and reality. -
Cornudese rustico e cornudese di piazza: stratificazione socio-fonomorfologica di un dialetto trevigiano
(The Italian Discipline, Flinders University of South Australia, 1992)Il comune di Cornuda che da Treviso porta a Feltre, s'incrocia con la strada che, partendo da Castelfranco Veneto, si congiunge poi con la 348 sopra Onigo. Il centro dell'abitato è invece situato un poco più a nord ... -
Italian in South Australia: Successes and Failures
(The Italian Discipline, Flinders University of South Australia, 1993)The question of the teaching of Italian in South Australia can be viewed from a number of different perspectives. Comin's approach in this paper is from the point of view of a tertiary educator. -
"Tra mille abissi e precipizi": The Contribution of Algarotti, Bettinelli and Gozzi to Dante's Critical Fortune in the Eighteenth Century
(Dept. of Italian, University of Melbourne, 1986)The eighteenth century holds a unique place in the history of Dante Studies, especially with regard to the criticial evalutaion of the 'Divine Comedy'. After the sensitive exegesis undertaken in the fourteenth century and ...