Carly tells an account of some of her experiences of moving to Southern Italy from England, her acting adventures and how her life is playing out.

In terms of the English language Jessica asks me to give some insights into emotional phrases, for example 'to feel flat' and 'to feel lost'

Visit us at: https://www.englishonair.com/

Transcription:

Speaker 1 (00:18):

[inaudible] welcome to EnglishOnAir. This is a podcast to help non-native English speakers to widen their

English. We interview nice people. And then we have Jessica's gems where she asks me questions. And I

try to give some insight into the meanings. Early in 2021. I was lucky enough to interview my niece, Carly

Tancredi, who has an interesting story to tell. I hope you enjoy

Speaker 2 (00:50):

You're living now in a beautiful part of the world, so beautiful. Um, but what's the story. How did you

end up in Southern Italy in Lecce? Am I pronouncing that correctly? Okay. Um, so tell, tell the story, how

did you end up being there? Well, I mean, it was thanks to my best friend Glenn, um, who I met actually,

um, at theater school is his musical theater school that I trained at and we remained really, really good

friends. And it was actually, his sister was living in Lecce at the time and it was thanks to him, actually

that I was, I was at a point in my life where I felt after the acting and I did some acting course. And then

it was a low point in, in that, in my career. And I just felt like I needed to change and I was not feeling

great at the time.

Speaker 2 (01:43):

And I said, I really want to do something different. And I actually really wanted to learn Italian because

as you know, the background that I have with my father being Italian, but we never actually learned at

home the language, the Italian language, I thought, Oh, I would love that. I'm going to go to Italy Lecce

where my best friend's sister was living at the time. Coz he actually said that if you want to go, you

know, you can stay with my sister, go there for a month or two months or whenever you want. And, um,

and I, when I've not spoken to you about this before, right? I mean, do you remember talking to me at

that time? I don't think so. That's really funny because I always thought that I might have been the

catalyst why you went to Italy, I was living in Finland. And I remember speaking to you at that time. I

think we Skyped many, you know, years ago. And I remember that you were in this kind of place where

you was not enjoying and you felt flat. And I said to you, you know, what, if I was in your shoes, the one

thing I would do is just take a break and go to Italy and learn the language because you are half Italian.

Speaker 3 (03:00):

You don't speak Italian because your dad never spoke to you in Italian. So I always thought I was

something to do with that, but then you don't.

Speaker 2 (03:07):

Yeah, you were as well more on the teaching side of things. Cause I knew that you've gone off to a

foreign country and you were teaching English. So it wasn't mix of, my friend Glen go, here's an

opportunity. And I do remember always thinking like my uncle John has gone to a foreign country and

he's teaching English and that also gave me the idea. So I think it all, it was all kind of linked.

Speaker 3 (03:35):

It was almost meant to be. Yeah,

Speaker 2 (03:37):

Yeah. Yes, definitely. Um, the fact that my, um, you know, Glen's sister was already here, in Lecce, I

mean, she found out about Lecce. Would you believe? Cause she was teaching no she was studying

Italian on a course in London, studying Italian and her Italian teacher was from Lecce and she went, Oh

yeah. I'd like to go and see Lecce. And it was all thanks that she'd found out about this Southern Italian

city. That really, to be honest, most English people probably wouldn't have heard of before Lecce from

they've got football team. That was quite important back in the day. But yeah, it was thanks to, to her

that I actually found out about Lecce. I've never, never, actually my life, had heard of such a place Lecce

because it's so in the South of Italy that it's not really like when you think of Italy, you go, Oh yeah bro,

Milan, Milan. Yeah. It's automatic. But actually Lecce. Most of my English friends who I text you, I live in

Lecce. They kind of go where's that then you know what part of italy is that Because it's a bit of a hidden

jewel down here in the South it is a hidden gem..

Speaker 3 (04:46):

Okay. So I mean, go back. Cause we're talking quite a few years now. What were your experiences when

you went? Cause that's a big move. That's a big move. And at the time, you know, you were doing quite

a lot of acting stuff you were kind of is Carly going to be a big star kind of thing in the family.

Speaker 2 (05:06):

Yeah. I mean, I had a good, you know, five years of doing, I don't, if you remember, I actually went and

worked on the Disney cruise and it was coming back from there. Hitting our home town at the time,

Sutton after going around the Caribbean and America, getting back to Midwinter and just finding myself

at the time there feeling quite lost. And you know, I had gone off and had new experiences and then I

found myself again in Sutton and then it just felt, I felt so like I wanted more at the time. And I think I'm

definitely working on the cruise. It made me realize the beauties of the world that are out there. The

beaches, the sea, the sun. And that is very important. I think for wellbeing, it made me realize that. And I

felt when I got here to lecture, I thought, because they've got a gorgeous area it's called Salento and

gorgeous beaches and it just made me think, wow, what a combination of gorgeous beaches and then a

little historical city center that exists as well, which is lovely as well.

Speaker 3 (06:17):

So you got to Lecce, how did it come? How did you, so you felt good straight away. How did it

Speaker 2 (06:28):

Go? It was a bit of a Bridget Jones moment of at the time I was cycling around on a nice city bike

through the historical center and the sun and the scarf flowing around thinking, Oh yeah, I did it

freedom. I feel good because I was at a fairly low point when I was back in I'm Sutton in and it felt like

wow, liberation at the time. But of course, as you probably know yourself, cultural differences, when

you first get to a foreign country, there are many, many cultural differences that you have to kind of

adapt to. So certain things. Yeah. And particularly learning a language. I didn't know the language when I

got here and just even the South, not many people could speak good English at the time. And we're

talking about 15 years ago. I just remember having a constant headache of trying to understand people

and learning really super quick, a new language

Speaker 3 (07:24):

You did, you did learn. I mean, that's one of my kind of questions that I wanted to ask. Why did you

learn, how did you learn so quickly because you, you, you know, I got, I saw a couple of videos of you at

the time and very quickly, I mean, I don't know how long you were there, but it wasn't more than a few

months. And then suddenly you seemed quite fluent in what you were saying. And also what came was

all the gesticulation. So you turned into this sort of, obviously you look quite Italian, you can blend in

because you are half Italian, but suddenly you spoke with your hands a lot more like an Italian. So you

really, like a chameleon you really sort of embraced the language from my perspective of the videos, I

was seeing, the things I was hearing. And then you suddenly looked more Italian. So it brought out this

Italian side of you. Do you think, what was your secret to learning a language? So, so quickly I actually

Speaker 2 (08:25):

Made sure that I was around Italian people as much as possible, just the whole time with Italian people.

And, um, I think that was the key. Just listening, listening, listening, and repeating. I always found myself

like once I'd repeated a word three times where I was trying to just survive and get through it and

converse with people when you realize that, Oh, once I have, you know, you say that a few times, it kind

of eventually sticks. So I think it was just one being around a lot of Italian people. And two, obviously I

was, um, writing down things, keeping a log book, new words, but I think actually really learn by ear. The

language is being around people being here in the country and not having much choice, but to actually

converse in Italian because, um, I had no choice I had to survive. So that's what I did.

Speaker 3 (09:19):

You got two brilliant ingredients straight away, one, you couldn't just resort to English all the time. And

two, um, you know, you work, you made sure that you were around Italians, which is not so easy if

you're struggling with the language, kind of feel the odd one out or the slow one. But also do you think

that your training in music and musical theater helped with you picking up the sounds of the language

because I'm really into this phonetics thing for teaching English? I think it's really important. Um, do you

think you had an edge because of the musical theater and picking up sound?

Speaker 2 (09:58):

Definitely so, I think, um, the musical ear really helps cause it is, I mean, you know, the Italian language

is very, very musical anyway. Um, and then yeah, definitely that helped a lot. Um, I do feel also I was

around Italian quite a lot as a child. So I've got a feeling that I had quite a lot on a brain cell, anyway,

hidden somewhere on a brain

Speaker 2 (10:21):

Cell. I

Speaker 2 (10:23):

Couldn't speak as, you know, as a child, but as soon as I was kind of here did start or if I was pulling off a

brain cell, probably a lot of stuff I'd already heard in the past, but going back to the musical side of

things that really helped. And I realized also when I teach students who have a musical background as

well, they play musical instruments. They tend to be good at learning languages as well.

Speaker 3 (10:49):

Interesting. Very interesting. Okay. So, so everything, um, sort of you settled into Italy, you, you, you

sort of enjoyed the culture. You said that you had to get used to some cultural things, but any, any

examples of that? Any, any things that you could actually yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:12):

Um, is when you're walking around in the street, I just never forget this. Like you see someone, you

know, obviously it's the, the Italian way. They would just want to talk to you for ages, which is one is

nice. But at the same time, I never forget that feeling of like I was walking around with two friends and

then you'd see another two friends there just want to stand around and talk for ages. You know, we've

got especially legal and that mentality of you don't really want to talk to people for that long really, but

you got things to do all the time, you know, and the Italian friends just say, and I never forget that

feeling of being so impatient. Oh God, we've got stand here for half an hour talking, you know, come on,

come on. That was one thing. Yeah. And also the slowness, the slow pace, going to a post office, just

wanting to send a simple letter and having to wait for like an hour, hour and a half. Just everything's

very, the pace is actually the pace that was hard to get used to

Speaker 3 (12:12):

When you, when you were living in a suburb of London because the pace, but it's not necessarily like

that down in little villages around England.

Speaker 2 (12:22):

Everything. Like even in the supermarket, I never skipped that. Come on, come on. But actually cashout

girl taking her time. But actually after that, like 15 years obviously have passed. I have really found

myself I've really slowed down as well. Now I've really got used to it. And it's actually really nice

Speaker 3 (12:42):

The other way now, don't you go back to that fast pace.

Speaker 2 (12:46):

Yeah. I feel quite often I go back to London now I get a bit of an edgy feeling. Would you believe because

I've got used to this really easy kind of slow pace life, but when you go back into the city of London, it's

like, Oh my God done. You could hear people tuttimg behind sort of only come on, move, walk faster.

Speaker 3 (13:04):

We see around the world. People are very enthusiastic. Nowadays. You were saying 15 years ago, not so

many people spoke English where you live, but do you think there's been kind of a push to teach

children for example, English where you are?

Speaker 2 (13:22):

Oh yeah. Yeah, really. I mean, the parents now, I mean, it has changed as I say over the years, I've kind

of woken up a lot of the parents and they realized which I've let say the last sort of seven years ago, they

started to really kind of wake up to it. And now parents, I mean, they, for them, it's so important now

that their children learn English because it's part of the curriculum obviously. But the problem, I think,

um, here, a lot of the Italian teachers teaching English struggle and they realized that even the kids

struggle and then they come obviously to someone like me where they need a mother tongue teacher.

Um, so a lot of them, it's almost become a bit, a bit of her fashion now as well. But again, it's the, you

know, amongst the mothers and fathers at the schools and um, yeah, they they're crying out for

mothers and teachers cause they, they know how important it is now. So yeah. It's important.

Speaker 3 (14:18):

Well, it's obviously good to you because you're very, you got the work and down where you are, it's not

so easy to get work.

Speaker 2 (14:25):

No, no, I feel I do always feel fortunate actually. Yeah. That it's kind of like a specialized subject that I can

teach, which not everybody has obviously being my mother tongue and that's what they really focus on.

You know, they want someone like me to be able to teach them the pronunciation. Um, the listening

part of it, the speaking part of it

Speaker 3 (14:50):

The other day. And I don't know if you'll remember, but you were saying that, um, one of your girls

came home from school and she was having, um, an English lesson from an Italian teacher. And then she

said something in a, in the wrong way or

Speaker 2 (15:10):

Yeah, it was learning about toys. And one of the words was kite and she come back and said, look,

mommy Kay. And I had touching because obviously I was how the Italians would pronounce it as they

read 'kay' . And I have to kind of say, no, no, no. Yeah, kite, you know, so I mean

Speaker 3 (15:33):

Out of the phonetic symbols, which, you know, the British part of the international phonetic alphabet,

they just got one symbol wrong and that's what can change the whole pronunciation of a word. That's

how tricky it can be. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:48):

The way they read words in Italian is it's more or less how you pronounce it. So I think they really

struggle part of language learning, Hey, especially learning English is of the many words, how you read is

not particularly how you pronounce it, pronounce it. So that's definitely a struggle. And I can imagine in

many other countries as well, that is a struggle.

Speaker 3 (16:11):

I mean, for Finns, the Finnish language is phonetic. So what you see you, what you read is pronounced

to every letter. So you go from a phonetic, purely phonetic language to a completely non phonetic

language. And things could kind of laugh because native English speakers still use dictionaries, whether

they're online or paper, but because they don't understand how can you not spell a certain word in your

own language where the answer is because it's so strange. And for some words that are more difficult

words or less used to check them even, and they find that strange, but it's because they, they use their,

they've got a purely phonetic language. So they don't have any problems with spelling if you can sell

Speaker 2 (16:58):

Hi, sorry. That's quite similar to Italian as well. Yeah. Kind of how I was, which is how it said the most,

really how it's spoken.

Speaker 3 (17:07):

I don't know if you know this, but, um, fins apparently if they read Italian, even if they don't know

anything about Italian, they sound really good and it might have something to do with this phonetic

stuff. There might be some, some relationships somehow with where Italian is more phonetic than let's

say English and Finns do really well. If they just pick up a sheet of paper and start reading and the same

with the Italians when they read, Finnish.

Speaker 2 (17:40):

Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 3 (17:42):

But what was the story that you didn't speak Italian with your Italian Dad? Have you ever thought about

that?

Speaker 2 (17:50):

Yeah, I have. Yeah. Um, yeah. So I think, um, obviously, cause dad obviously arrived in England when he

was seven and he became very English. Really. You know, we, you know, you said when you speak

things, if she hasn't gotten it talent, he was a child. And then obviously meeting my mom. Um, I think he

felt very English actually once when he was a teenager, he wanted to be English. And I think naturally we

just all spoke in English. Cause I think mom, not obviously knowing any Italian, it just became natural for

them to speak in English. The person who actually did sit down with me sometimes and repeat some

words was my Italian granddad. Nono. And, uh, even when I was a child, I remember at the table picking

up little things that you know, for, for knife and telling me a few things and it did start from there. And I

was probably only about five or six and he would sit there and repeat things in Italian with me.

Speaker 4 (18:47):

So listen to the second part of Carly's interview where I've managed to persuade her to sing in the next

podcast.

Speaker 2 (18:54):

But now it's time for Jessica's gem

Speaker 4 (19:58):

[inaudible]

Speaker 2 (20:01):

Okay. All right. So you've listened to the interviews and you've come up with some questions. Yes. For

me. And we can discuss some things. Of course, the first question for you is in your opinion, what is the

difference between these expression to feel flat and to feel lost? Okay. To feel flat, to feel loss. All right.

There's definitely a difference. There's definitely a difference. Um, the way I could try and explain it is

that if you feel flat, generally speaking, um, there may not be anything particularly wrong.

Speaker 3 (20:48):

There might not be a reason for that. It might just be that, um, you would like a little bit more things

going on. Maybe, maybe, maybe things just seem a bit routine. Maybe you would like to have something

to look forward to like a trip or something. And you're sort of just having your general life and you feel a

bit, a bit low, but not that there might not be anything particularly wrong. It's just a sort of feeling that

you're not particularly excited at the moment, you know, got anything to particularly feel excited about,

but it's not, it's not something too drastic. I think we all feel flat from time to time sample when you feel

lethargic, it's the same sensation.

Speaker 3 (21:42):

Um, lethargic is when you feel really tired and you haven't got much energy that, that doesn't

necessarily, that's not necessarily the same as feeling flat, feeling flat. You could actually feel okay in

yourself, but you would just probably like a little bit more excitement. You know, we all go through

routines and there are, I think most of us, um, in our lives, they, they become a bit repetitive on certain

days. Fine. But if you feel a bit, um, you know, it's, that's the feel flat. Okay. And, and what was the other

one? You said it was to feel flat. Okay. To feel lost now that's different from feeling flat. Okay. Because

to feel loss generally when we feel lost, we often we have like, um, a plan, a basic plan in life where

you're going wherever you're, you might be studying for something, or you might be working to save,

save money for something to get to, uh, you know, sort of maybe somewhere where you want to be.

Speaker 3 (22:56):

If some, if something occurs where it changes your plan, let's say, for example, this COVID thing. There

must've been lots of people that wanted to travel or they have plans to travel, let's say, and then

suddenly the COVID thing comes along. So it kind of completely upsets their plans. Therefore in that

transitional period, when you have to make new plans because of an event that is a kind of, some

people go through feeling lost, where they don't quite know what to do. They've been working for a goal

working for target for so long. And if, if suddenly something happens where they can't achieve or do

what they've been planning, suddenly they can go through a very lost space or stage. And I think, you

know, for example, I felt very lost when I left university. I just didn't still didn't know what to do. So I had

this kind of feeling of what do I do, but you know, often in, in a feat, in a feat, when you feel this loss,

you'll be asking yourself in your mind, what, what should I do now?

Speaker 3 (24:05):

What should I do now? What's the next plan so that I, can you understand that? Just so that they're

completely different things that it doesn't mean to say that you can't feel the two emotions at the same

time, of course you can feel flat and lost. They, they kind of go hand in hand, but they are different

things. Yeah. Um, are there other English expression to describe when you feel stressed or anxious?

Yeah. Yeah. Actually Jessica, because, you know, w we, we all feel emotions. That's part of being a

human, I guess. And it goes from one extreme. It's like spectrum on a spectrum on one side of the

spectrum would be the most awful emotions, you know? And I I'm going to go extreme, but obviously

there's language to kind of communicate those feelings. And if you go on one side of the most negative,

you could possibly think of, and you won't hear people say this, I've never heard someone say this, but

in theory, someone could feel suicidal, which would be, they, things are so bad that they can't live

anymore.

Speaker 3 (25:25):

It will be better not to live. That's like the most negative extreme, or you go to the other extreme where

you've just won a gold medal for something that you've been planning for and training for, for like most

of your life. And then you win a gold medal in the Olympics for it. That's the other extreme. So you could

say something like, I feel ecstatic or I feel amazing. Um, so it's just, so there's a spectrum all the way

from feeling ecstatic, which is brilliant, as good as it gets to feeling suicidal, which is as bad as it gets

almost. So there's lots in between lots and lots of things in between, you know, between the two. So

you could feel, I don't know, you could feel nervous or you're worried, might be about something you

could feel, Oh, this is what I get. You could feel doubtful.

Speaker 3 (26:19):

You start doubting everything. And I get this, Jessica. I don't know if I've said this before, but, um,

because I take epileptic pills like drugs, um, in the mornings, if I wake up about four or five in the

morning, I feel really like I've got doubts about everything, very negative. And I think it's physiological. I

think it's something to, with the medication. And then by the time I get up and I'll have a coffee, I'm fine.

But you could, you know, other things you could feel frustrated, you could feel annoyed, you could feel

old, you could feel worried. You could feel overwhelmed. There's so many Jessica between, you know,

there's so many ways of expressing emotions and I'm guessing if anyone wants the full range from, um,

you know, feeling suicidal, to feeling ecstatically happy, there must be things on the internet where you

could just go on and go, you know, emotional phrases in. And I'm sure there are, but yeah. So there are

lots, there, there, there must be an Italian. There must be an every land. It never come through. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:52):

[inaudible] you have been listening to the show. We hope it was okay. And you follow us for lots of free

learning material, visit our website and visit us again all the best.