One of great things about working with (mostly) international clients, is that I get to learn about their culture and, at times, get to pick up on a few words in their native language. Over the years, the amount of Italian clients I worked with, however, has grown exponentially. Although my English is fluent, my Italian was far from it. For a client to have to translate from, in this case, Italian to English, especially when it’s about sensitive topics, can take the ‘flow’ out of a session and make it more of a mental thing than a natural conversation with as little filter as possible.
One day, I decided it was time to start studying Italian. And what better place to do so than the eternal city of Roma. As with anything, it’ll take a ‘passo per passo’ (step by step) approach and I’m embracing this -at times- very humbling and exciting experience. Am loving being a student again. And slowly but surely I am able to apply newly learnt vocab to my sessions, as an additional service.
This year, as Roma is celebrating it’s Jubileo, I’ll visit the ‘nonnen in Vught’; the place in The Netherlands to learn a new language, provided by native speakers.
I wish I could offer the service of speaking to all my clients in their native language, however, that would be taking it un po’ too far. This is a start! And who knows where this journey will take me next..