| Hello everyone! |
| Welcome back to ItalianPod101.com. |
| My name is Desy. |
| Mi chiamo Desy. |
| And in this video, we're going to talk about the Italian family. |
| la famiglia italiana |
| I did this because, as you know, family, as much as this, |
| it's a symbol of Italy and Italian in general. |
| In fact, family, la famiglia, famiglia, is something really important for Italians. |
| It has a key role during the whole life of Italian people, |
| not only, probably, but especially Italian. |
| You can find bigger families in the south, |
| while a bit smaller in center and north, |
| the nucleo familiare, |
| nucleo familiare, so the family, |
| which is usually made of, let's say, parents and kids, |
| so genitori e figli only in north, |
| and then genitori, figli e parenti, so other relatives. |
| Careful about this false friend. |
| Parenti is not parents, but relatives. |
| So more relatives on top of the parents. |
| It could be maybe the mother-in-law, |
| or like an uncle and so on. |
| Get reunited at night around the table to discuss what happened during the day. |
| So that's an important moment for the family to have. |
| Even in the north, though, so it's something that it's all around. |
| Italy family tries to stay close by. |
| So even if there is actually another family, |
| let's say that you move out and you make a family of your own, |
| you try to be close by the other family. |
| So la vicinanza is really important, |
| not to mention that if some, let's say, grandparents, |
| so nonno or nonna, |
| if one of them is widow, for example, |
| vedovo, it's really common for them to go and live with a son or a daughter. |
| Also, I don't want you to focus too much on differences between north and south, |
| so just think about a thing that is general, |
| but it's just harder to have it in the north. |
| Because think, for example, about a lot of people that go to the north for work or studies, |
| so they are far from family. |
| So that's also why in the north you can find smaller families |
| and then the bigger ones in the south. |
| Also because people that are studying again or working in the north |
| then go back to their hometown in the south for vacanze, |
| so holidays and big celebrations like Christmas, |
| Natale or Pasqua, Easter, Pasqua. |
| Even though people are getting married when they're older and older, |
| like around 30s and before it was way younger, |
| even though that happens, it's common for people to live with their parents |
| until they get married or not even. |
| There are people that actually live with their parents for all their lives |
| and when they get married they go out, |
| but if they don't, they don't really feel the need to be on themselves. |
| Of course, it's not for everyone, |
| but here in Italy it's common to see, let's say, older people with family. |
| I guess someone may call them mammoni or cocco di mamma, |
| which is usually referred to a guy, a male person that is really close |
| and really attached to his mother |
| and that's also why they don't leave the nest, let's say. |
| Even for people who leave the nest though, |
| the mother and son relationship is really strong |
| and that's why you may also hear a lot about your suocera, mother-in-law. |
| Because even if at home at night you reunite with your family only, |
| then there's Sunday lunch. |
| il pranzo della domenica |
| It's a general tradition where people meet with la famiglia allargata, |
| so the larger family, let's say, |
| not just the small ones or not just kids and parents, |
| but also other relatives as well. |
| And sometimes if you have childhood friends or partners, of course, |
| they also get into this family, so it's more people than meet for lunch. |
| And again, spend time together and talk about lives, |
| they just enjoy eating and drinking. |
| And in these lunches, and not only, but especially, |
| nonna, nonna, grandmother is really important |
| because she may be helped by other women of the family |
| because let's say that it's still in the traditional family, |
| the father was the one that worked and the mother the casalinga, casalinga, |
| so housewife, casalinga. |
| So with women cooking and men, let's say, |
| being at the table, playing with kids and so on, |
| the nonna, the grandmother, has a key role in choosing the menu, |
| for example, because she's the one cooking, |
| then people wait for everyone to be at the table before eating, of course. |
| But also as much as spending time inside houses with family, |
| for big celebrations such as matrimoni, matrimoni, weddings, |
| compleanni, compleanni, so birthday parties, |
| or like battesimi, baptism, and I don't know, |
| anything really that you want to celebrate, |
| it's common to go out for lunch or dinner. |
| So the one who's inviting and actually celebrating something |
| pays for the rest of the family, |
| not always, it depends on families, of course, |
| but that's just to say that it's not only about eating inside, |
| but also going outside to celebrate, just all together. |
| In Italy, even though the babysitter, |
| so it's the same word, babysitter may be used for some hours, |
| the nanny culture is not a thing, |
| so there is no such tata, tata is nanny, |
| that takes care of the family for like the whole day, |
| more days of the week, |
| because it's usually the grandparents, i nonni, |
| that take care of children, of i nipoti, |
| because as I was saying before, |
| if not just like inside the same house, |
| they live really close by, so they can help. |
| In case they're not autosufficient, |
| so you cannot take care of them instead, |
| so you of your parent, |
| it's common to use case di cura, nursing home, |
| so where you put the elderly, so they can be taken care of. |
| As you may know from movies and books, l'orgoglio, |
| so the pride of the family is really important, |
| and that's why there are so many sagas and so on, |
| even in the past, right? |
| Just think about literature, |
| but yeah, I would say that it's still a thing nowadays, |
| even though the traditional family may have changed a bit, |
| because nowadays, of course, we talk about family, |
| even when we're talking about just cohabitating, |
| so la convivenza, |
| or there's civil unions, |
| unioni civili, |
| or adoption, for example, |
| genitori adottivi, |
| foster parents, |
| genitori adottivi, |
| and also, lastly, let's not forget that |
| animali domestici, |
| animali domestici, so pets, |
| are also a big part of family. |
| This is just a general idea of how an Italian family works, |
| and Italian family culture in general, as I was saying, |
| but please let me know in the comments how it is in your country, |
| and if you want to learn even more about Italian culture and language, |
| just click the link in the description and download our PDF lessons |
| to learn Italian in the fastest, easiest, and most fun way possible. |
| Thank you for watching, I'll see you soon. |
| Bye bye, ciao ciao! |
Comments
Hide