What I learned this semester actually is not strictly related to the program of the course, or better, I learned a about the American election system, but it is not the main point.
Furthermore the exchange wasn’t a real success for me. I belonged to the Potznan group and the girl I met with Skype was very very shy (that means that she didn’t speak and there was no conversation).
Anyway, this semester was positive the same because I’m little improved in my speaking skills. ;-)
There are two reasons for this: the first is that I regularly met my American tandem partner and the second is related to the course, and it’s the fact that in my group there was Nina! It seems a stupid thing but actually it is not because having an Erasmus peer in my group forces us to speak English always, not only when I had to or when Sarah listened to us!
That was very good for me because I’m very shy and I was embarrassed in speaking English, cause I was ashamed to make mistakes. I’m still making them, but now I don’t stop speaking because of them.So this semester my fluency improved and for me it has been a big step forward!
venerdì 16 maggio 2008
domenica 13 aprile 2008
Immigration
Immigration is a complex phenomenon that cannot be discussed in few lines.
Immigration is characterized by 3 steps:
Pioneering phase: when the first immigrants arrive to a country about which they don’t know anything and where they don’t have any logistics support. This is the hardest phase for an immigrant.
Intensification phase: immigrants tend to form ethnic communities, to live all in the same place. In this phase relationships with the other inhabitants, with the authority and the social services
Phase of stability: the stream of immigrants ends, families are reunited, communities begin organizing to express their own culture. (Volontariato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo)
According to Caritas data, in Italy in the last three years the number of immigrants is passed from almost 300.000 to 3.690.000, in this moment we are exactly in the second phase, the most difficult for the host country because it has to reorganize itself according to everybody’s needs. I think it’s not easy, and Italy is not expert in this issue, there’re a lot lacks in our legislation, and prejudice against immigrants. In my opinion it’s a cultural problem.
Personally I understand who says that a lots of crimes are committed by immigrants (my family had a bad experience after having helped a Romanian woman), but I understand as well who comes here full of hope.
I cannot talk about legislation because I’m not well informed, but regarding daily life there’s something that must be present in both sides, and that’s respect. Regard for who has travelled a lot and left its home looking for a better life, and regard for whom take you in.
Ah! I was supposed to write if I’m pro or con the right to immigrants to vote. Well, I’m pro. There’s no reason to cut them of, but only at some conditions: they must have lived here for a period of time, at least five years, and they must prove it. They have to know Italian and, it would be better if they had a job as well.
sources:
Volontariato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo, http://www.volint.it/scuolevis/immigrazione/immigrazione.htm, last retrieved on 13th April 2008.
Immigrazione, http://www.volint.it/scuolevis/immigrazione/immigrazione.htm, last retrieved on 12th April 2008
Immigration is characterized by 3 steps:
Pioneering phase: when the first immigrants arrive to a country about which they don’t know anything and where they don’t have any logistics support. This is the hardest phase for an immigrant.
Intensification phase: immigrants tend to form ethnic communities, to live all in the same place. In this phase relationships with the other inhabitants, with the authority and the social services
Phase of stability: the stream of immigrants ends, families are reunited, communities begin organizing to express their own culture. (Volontariato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo)
According to Caritas data, in Italy in the last three years the number of immigrants is passed from almost 300.000 to 3.690.000, in this moment we are exactly in the second phase, the most difficult for the host country because it has to reorganize itself according to everybody’s needs. I think it’s not easy, and Italy is not expert in this issue, there’re a lot lacks in our legislation, and prejudice against immigrants. In my opinion it’s a cultural problem.
Personally I understand who says that a lots of crimes are committed by immigrants (my family had a bad experience after having helped a Romanian woman), but I understand as well who comes here full of hope.
I cannot talk about legislation because I’m not well informed, but regarding daily life there’s something that must be present in both sides, and that’s respect. Regard for who has travelled a lot and left its home looking for a better life, and regard for whom take you in.
Ah! I was supposed to write if I’m pro or con the right to immigrants to vote. Well, I’m pro. There’s no reason to cut them of, but only at some conditions: they must have lived here for a period of time, at least five years, and they must prove it. They have to know Italian and, it would be better if they had a job as well.
sources:
Volontariato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo, http://www.volint.it/scuolevis/immigrazione/immigrazione.htm, last retrieved on 13th April 2008.
Immigrazione, http://www.volint.it/scuolevis/immigrazione/immigrazione.htm, last retrieved on 12th April 2008
sabato 12 aprile 2008
Topic for the project
I think that as topic for our final project we could choose EDUCATION.
This is not the result of a search among all the possible topics that we could deal with, it is simply because it is something I’m interested in! We know very well how the educational system is here in Italy, whereas I personally have a vague idea about that of USA. I mean, for what I know I have to thank all the American TV series that have grown me up!
So I think it could be a good and interesting issue, furthermore who more than our peers in the United States should know about this theme??
This is not the result of a search among all the possible topics that we could deal with, it is simply because it is something I’m interested in! We know very well how the educational system is here in Italy, whereas I personally have a vague idea about that of USA. I mean, for what I know I have to thank all the American TV series that have grown me up!
So I think it could be a good and interesting issue, furthermore who more than our peers in the United States should know about this theme??
domenica 30 marzo 2008
McCain, Obama ...and Beppe Grillo!
In love and in war everything is allowed. Is this “rule” be applied in an electoral campaign too? Sometimes…
Reading newspapers these days I’ve noticed that politicians say and do whatever they can say or do to prompt electors (see the two signature tunes of the two main parties in Italy!). In order to gain a vote everything is used as a proof for this or that idea, sometimes the same fact can confirm two different thesis!! But that’s politics!
In the New York Times there’s a good example of that. (Read article). The fact relates to Iraq, where a fighting broke out last week as Iraqi security forces tried to expel Shiite militias from Barsa. This occurrence was used by McCain to strengthen his opinion according to which the “troop escalation is working”(Friess and Powell, NYT). But Obama said exactly the opposit! To him is the fighting in Basra an "evidence that the American troop buildup has failed to provide stability and political reconciliation" (Friess and Powell, NYT). Who's right?
In foreign newspapers still nobody cares about Italian elections (but there are a lot of Italians that do the same!). But I found an old article in Die Zeit about Beppe Grillo who gave a performance in German (with two simultaneous interpreters) describing Italy the way he usually uses here, and it was a great success!...I don't think that it would be the same success if a German comic actor would do such a performance (in German with interpreters) in Italy!
Reading newspapers these days I’ve noticed that politicians say and do whatever they can say or do to prompt electors (see the two signature tunes of the two main parties in Italy!). In order to gain a vote everything is used as a proof for this or that idea, sometimes the same fact can confirm two different thesis!! But that’s politics!
In the New York Times there’s a good example of that. (Read article). The fact relates to Iraq, where a fighting broke out last week as Iraqi security forces tried to expel Shiite militias from Barsa. This occurrence was used by McCain to strengthen his opinion according to which the “troop escalation is working”(Friess and Powell, NYT). But Obama said exactly the opposit! To him is the fighting in Basra an "evidence that the American troop buildup has failed to provide stability and political reconciliation" (Friess and Powell, NYT). Who's right?
In foreign newspapers still nobody cares about Italian elections (but there are a lot of Italians that do the same!). But I found an old article in Die Zeit about Beppe Grillo who gave a performance in German (with two simultaneous interpreters) describing Italy the way he usually uses here, and it was a great success!...I don't think that it would be the same success if a German comic actor would do such a performance (in German with interpreters) in Italy!
sabato 15 marzo 2008
Newspapers!!!
What a mess this task! I had some difficulty in finding some newspaper articles about the electoral campaign dealing with the same topic. For this reason I focused my attention on the way in which some newspapers treat the political campaign. I made a comparison between USA and Italy and then I looked at a third source, two German newspapers.These are my considerations:
There's a big difference between American online newspapers and Italian ones.
I read the New York Times and USA Today for American elections and Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica for Italian campaign. The first impression one may have, opening an Italian newspaper (as for politics) is of a situation that he/she doesn't understand. I mean, if you don't raed the newspaper every day, you don't follow what happens in the political campaign, you can't totaly understand the articles. That's because there are a lot of references to previous facts or declarations that journalists suppose the reader knows.
There isn't a comparison between all the parties based on issues or whatever else! So, if someone buys the newspaper in order to know the points of view of the parties and clarify his/her ideas, I'm sure he/she will understand anything!
American newspapers are well organized under this point of view. A part from the ordinary politics news regarding the candidates, both in the NY Times and in the USA Today there's a section in which the reader can understand what the candidates think about the most important topics of the political campaign, such as health care, Iraq, immigration, Education, Economy and so on.
German newspapers don't absolutely care about Italian electoral campaign, surely because it isn't as important as the American one. Talking about US election both Der Spiegel and Suddeutsche Zeitung have an entire section with interviews, opinions of the readers but also explanantions, videos and histories about the delegates.
domenica 9 marzo 2008
American vs Italian elections
In these days Italy and Usa have something more in common: they are both in full of electoral campaign. On the other side of the ocean the most captivating battle is between the two democratic candidates (Clinton and Obama), whereas the conservative representant has already been elected: it's McCain.
The situation in Italy is different, here there are (more or less!) 2 main parties that run to form the new government.
This week we are supposed to analyse the way in which the rightist leaders of each country speak in this electoral campaign to their potential electors.
In the way of leading the electoral campaign there is a main main difference between Italy and USA. In the USA the attention is focused on the person; the candidate is seen first of all as man, and secondly as representative of a party, while in Italy this aspect has less importance.
As for McCain, I noticed that in many videos he appears like a brave man, there are many images of him, where, as young man ha served the navy.Or the interview to his mother, who describes her son as a man born to lead America. In his speeches words like COURAGE and FAITH are very frequent. He dwells on the contept of America as the nation with a big responsabitlity towards the world.
RELIGION is something presents in both American and Italian rightist candidate. McCain ends every speech with "God bless you", while, even if in Berlusconi speeches this is less evident, in his case there are other implicit messages that convey this concept (for example the picture behind him during an interview mande in his house).
In his case one of the k-words of his speeches is: FREEDOM (presents almost everywhere! it is part of the name of the party too).
Usually he starts every speech in the same way: saying what the previous government did wrong or dindn't do and then telling the slogan of his party: "Italy stand up and free yourself etc."
FAMILY, SECURUITY are other recurring words, together with the idea of the way in which Italy is considered in the world.
The situation in Italy is different, here there are (more or less!) 2 main parties that run to form the new government.
This week we are supposed to analyse the way in which the rightist leaders of each country speak in this electoral campaign to their potential electors.
In the way of leading the electoral campaign there is a main main difference between Italy and USA. In the USA the attention is focused on the person; the candidate is seen first of all as man, and secondly as representative of a party, while in Italy this aspect has less importance.
As for McCain, I noticed that in many videos he appears like a brave man, there are many images of him, where, as young man ha served the navy.Or the interview to his mother, who describes her son as a man born to lead America. In his speeches words like COURAGE and FAITH are very frequent. He dwells on the contept of America as the nation with a big responsabitlity towards the world.
RELIGION is something presents in both American and Italian rightist candidate. McCain ends every speech with "God bless you", while, even if in Berlusconi speeches this is less evident, in his case there are other implicit messages that convey this concept (for example the picture behind him during an interview mande in his house).
In his case one of the k-words of his speeches is: FREEDOM (presents almost everywhere! it is part of the name of the party too).
Usually he starts every speech in the same way: saying what the previous government did wrong or dindn't do and then telling the slogan of his party: "Italy stand up and free yourself etc."
FAMILY, SECURUITY are other recurring words, together with the idea of the way in which Italy is considered in the world.
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