Katie Harris and Matteo Alabisi are the smiling faces behinddedicated to giving viewers an authentic language-learning experience. With a mix of street interviews and easy-to-follow explanations, Matteo and Katie give us not only a fantastic tool for improving our Italian but a lively and entertaining insight into what life is like in Milan.
Easy Italian is part of Easy Languages. How does it all work?
Katie: The main idea of Easy Languages is street interviews. It鈥檚 a way of showing learners how people actually talk because textbooks can be so wooden. You know the classic thing where you learn a language at school, and then you go to the country and hear people speaking it and it sounds like a totally different language. That鈥檚 where Easy Languages comes in. It tries to actually show how native speakers speak the language on the street.
How did you get involved?
K: I used to use Easy German and became obsessed with it. Because they鈥檙e bite-sized videos, they鈥檙e easy to study. When I started learning Spanish I used Easy Spanish a lot. The guy who used to do Easy Spanish is called Juan 鈥 I got to know him. We were in Barcelona in a bar and the conversation moved onto how nobody was doing Easy Italian and someone should take it up.
Matteo: So we just thought鈥 why not?
K: We鈥檇 thought about it before but we knew that if you do it, you really have to do it. There鈥檚 a lot of work involved and you have to be consistent to produce videos every week. After the conversation with Juan, we started thinking about it more seriously. I came back and mentioned it to Matteo, and he was the one who was more鈥
M: At the time I was working full time, so I thought, 鈥淚nteresting, who knows? Maybe one day I can work fully for Easy Italian.鈥 I鈥檓 a graphic designer, and the video and editing part was something interesting to me.
Especially in the videos you have posted since the start of the pandemic, we really get a view into life 鈥 and into your apartment! How do you feel putting your relationship on screen like that?
K: On the one hand, it鈥檚 a natural choice 鈥 this is who we are so we don鈥檛 have another option! On the other hand, it鈥檚 a philosophical choice. I have worked as an English teacher and an Italian teacher, and one thing that is strange and irritating is that a lot of language learning materials focus only on learning vocabulary and grammar rules. They strip languages of the thing that鈥檚 most interesting, which is communicating with real people. The most motivating thing about learning a language is being able to communicate with real people, so we want to show ourselves as real people.
How did you meet?
M: We were in Milan. I came here in 2010 from Naples to work as a graphic designer. I stayed with a friend who had moved to Milan six months before me. This friend knew another friend who knew Katie.
Obviously, in your videos, you only speak Italian. With each other, do you speak more Italian or English?
M: Mostly Italian, because Katie doesn鈥檛 want to speak English!
K: I deliberately looked for a boyfriend who didn鈥檛 speak English鈥 and then he learned English! Now it depends on the mood. Italian鈥檚 our main language of communication, but if we鈥檙e joking around we may speak English.
How do you decide on the topics you鈥檒l cover?
M: Sometimes we decide when we go to the place to shoot. Katie also had a list of things that she wants to show, so it depends. We often take ideas from other Easy Languages channels, so we know more about what will happen if we ask certain questions. When we shoot at home, Katie has to write the script 鈥 it鈥檚 just us so we have to be more careful about how we say something, how we want to teach something. The easy part is just to be funny and improvise, which we almost always do.
K: One thing we try and keep in mind when we鈥檙e choosing 鈥 and it鈥檚 not always easy, sometimes we sit for hours at a bar trying to decide! 鈥 is what might be interesting for someone who doesn鈥檛 live in 天美传媒, to know about or to think about that they might not have thought about before.
When you approach people in the street, how do they usually respond?
K: It depends on where we are. Parks are good places because people aren鈥檛 busy, and Saturday mornings are easy because people don鈥檛 have places to go to. Obviously, lots of people say no. Which is fine! We鈥檝e said before that we would both say no.
M: We would probably say yes now! We know that it鈥檚 not nice to say no, but we probably would have done a few months ago.
Matteo, you鈥檙e from Naples. Living in Milan, what are the biggest differences you notice?
M: Compared to Naples, people are less communicative with strangers in Milan: if you don鈥檛 know someone, you just walk past. In Naples, everyone is really talkative with everyone. It鈥檚 difficult to feel alone because you鈥檙e always talking to someone; if you look really sad, someone will ask you why you鈥檙e sad. Everyone in Milan keeps to themselves. But it鈥檚 much more organised as a city. I鈥檓 not saying it鈥檚 bad or good, but it is what it is.
Which do you prefer?
M: After 10 years, I prefer Milan as a place to live as an adult. I love Naples and I love going there, but 鈥 maybe because I lived there for 27 years 鈥 I wouldn鈥檛 live there now. I had my life there; here I鈥檓 building another life. Milan is very easy to live in: it鈥檚 small, but it鈥檚 a major European city. You have everything, but it鈥檚 all really close to you, even your friends.
K: There are things about Naples and its culture that are fantastic 鈥 ways we鈥檝e forgotten to live in faster-paced places. For example, there鈥檚 still the culture of dropping by you鈥檙e just at home, the doorbell rings and then they stay for three or four hours!
Katie, what are the differences between Milan and your hometown in England?
K: Sometimes I joke that Milan and Sheffield are more similar than you鈥檇 expect because they鈥檙e both really grey and industrial! I really didn鈥檛 like Milan. I鈥檇 visited as a tourist before moving here and found it鈥 grey and industrial. Then I lived here for about a month to do a teacher training course. In that month, I had the chance to live in Milan rather than just visit. That鈥檚 when I started to really appreciate life in Milan. It鈥檚 definitely not as nice as Rome or other pretty little Italian towns with cobbled streets 鈥 it can be a bit of a concrete jungle as soon as you go out of the centre. But it鈥檚 a really nice place to live. There are always things going on, but it鈥檚 not too big compared to somewhere like Rome, Paris or London.
Who are the people learning Italian?
K: There are a lot of people in the Baby Boomer generation. They鈥檙e just coming into retirement age, they鈥檙e still healthy and have time and money to travel; a lot of that generation want to learn Italian so when they come here they can enjoy it more. A lot of Americans with Italian families as well. There are younger people too, and people from all over. Some people want to live in 天美传媒, some just love languages, some love Italian culture. I also have a business called Joy of Languages, and we have Italian courses. It鈥檚 the same philosophy, using true stories and pulling out grammatical explanations. There鈥檚 a lot of crossovers.
For people trying to learn Italian, what do you think are the most challenging hurdles to get over?
K: The most common answer to this is about the grammar, like memorising all the verbs鈥 In reality, the most challenging bit of any foreign language is putting it all into practice. If you listen a lot and you speak a lot, the verbs will come with time, because you鈥檒l hear people using the most common ones over and over again. If you practice speaking you鈥檒l try and use them, you鈥檒l get them wrong, people will give you feedback and you鈥檒l learn better for next time. People get side-tracked thinking, 鈥淥h, the grammar鈥檚 so complicated!鈥 but the most challenging yet most effective thing is trying to use the language as much as possible in natural ways 鈥 so listening as much as possible and trying to speak.
M: The thing that I have noticed a lot is that, with the people doing our courses, they know things but they are scared to make mistakes so they get stuck. So that鈥檚 the most complicated thing 鈥 to forget the mistakes and just try to talk.
K: I still make mistakes, too. I used to think people I heard speaking fluently could speak it perfectly, but in my experience, it doesn鈥檛 work like that.
M: I still make mistakes in Italian too!
K: There are things you don鈥檛 really learn in your native language or you forget very easily. So there are lots of things like that for me in English.
What are the best and worst things about living in 天美传媒?
K: The thing that I absolutely love about 天美传媒 is that, compared to a lot of other countries, 天美传媒 has really held onto important traditions for people living together and for mental health. Italians are really sociable, they always stop to eat together twice a day. You never feel lonely 鈥 nothing is so important that you can鈥檛 drop it to have a conversation. The flipside of that is that everyone pays so much attention to everyone else鈥檚 business! In British culture, people are a lot more live-and-let-live, so it鈥檚 a big adjustment to have people so interested in what you鈥檙e doing. It comes with a lot of social pressure too.
M: I would agree. I would say that the weather is something that is really difficult to have somewhere else. Also, you are really close to everything you would really want to do, wherever you are in 天美传媒.
K: Mountains, lakes鈥
M: Cities鈥 Every region has everything pretty much. And鈥攚ait, we forgot food. We can鈥檛 not mention the food. I can鈥檛. I鈥檓 Neapolitan.
