By Orianna Soublette
Living in South Florida my entire life, I have grown up around individuals from a variety of cultures. I am a native English and Spanish speaker, and I learned Italian in college. My parents are Venezuelan immigrants and I have witnessed firsthand the importance of language comprehension for connecting with people from different backgrounds. Undoubtedly, the ability to communicate with another person is useful on a day-to-day basis. However, the role that the comprehension of foreign languages plays on empathizing with others on a psychological level is often overlooked. Throughout my life, I have seen how my multilingual peers have thrived in social spaces with people of various backgrounds, leading me to imagine that these individuals are more likely to have successful relationships in the workplace as well. That being said, I decided to pursue two majors (psychology and Italian) because one of my goals is to study psycholinguistics, specifically the mechanisms of language acquisition in children and emotional expression in monolingual, bilingual, and trilingual children and adults. Language studies in the U.S. often involve Spanish and English speakers and, although I am interested in studying those languages, I would also like to incorporate Italian speakers into my studies. There is a rapidly growing Italian population in South Florida, which I have learned from my involvement in Florida Atlantic University’s Italian Program (the most complete Italian program in the Southeastern United States). Aside from conducting research, my goal in the long-term is to establish multilingual academies for children grades K-12.
My love for Italy began when I moved to Rome for my junior and senior years of high school. I attended an international school, where the city became a classroom for learning about ancient Roman ruins, Baroque architecture, and Renaissance painters. There was history to be unearthed on every street corner. I loved learning by interacting with people, trying new foods, and practicing my Italian language skills every day. I also lived in Rome in the midst of the pandemic, and because the city was quiet with very few tourists, I got to know locals and visited museums without the crowds. Despite the difficulty the pandemic caused, Rome’s unique culture and atmosphere shone through. I recently returned to Rome, and it was nostalgic to be there as a tourist instead of a resident. I spent time going back to each of my favorite places—coffee bars, my high school, Isola Tiberina for a picnic by the river, and restaurants where my family had befriended the owners. Visiting Rome renewed my desire to live and work there in the future.