Specials

Dr. Katherine LaGuardia is an accomplished physician and granddaughter of three-term mayor of New York, Fiorello LaGuardia. She upholds her grandfather’s legacy as co-founder of the Fiorello H. LaGuardia Foundation. The Foundation fosters health, environmental, and cultural projects between the U.S., Italy and Brazil (among other countries). It recently honored Mayors Michael Bloomberg of New York and Letizia Moratti of Milan for their efforts towards improving environmental conditions in their respective cities.

Dr. LaGuardia, what is your personal relationship with the Italian language?
“I speak very little Italian. Really, I speak Portuguese. I have a strong cultural belief in my family and language, but came to Italian late in life. My 20-year-old daughter, on the other hand, spent her junior year of high school in Italy, through the School Year Abroad program. It sends kids all over the world, including China and India, but for my daughter, Italy was the obvious choice. I identify with being Italian, my husband is Italian American, and in my family we embrace Italian culture. My daughter is fluent in Italian now.”
You must be really proud of her for having learned it so quickly.
‘In general, my husband and I are enormous advocates of learning a second language early on. If a child learns another language it opens up these language centers in the brain and will make it easier for him or her to pick up another language later on. My daughter has spoken Portuguese since she was a child because we were living in Brazil.”
Why do you think Italian hasn’t been a popular a linguistic choice, like French and Spanish, especially for Italian Americans?
“I’ve never understood why Italian has never been accepted into the American curriculum. It probably has to do with this “cultural inheritance” issue, of walking away from the generation that came here from Italy. For instance, my husband’s father understands Italian but doesn’t speak it”.
It’s all the more special then that your daughter decided to learn Italian.
‘I know! She’s a fourth-generation great-granddaughter of immigrants that came to Ellis Island. The point is, in this era of globalization, the more languages you know the better. Her study of Italian has made me even more interested in learning the language, because I’m very dependent on her when we go to Italy! I really think studying Italian is an important issue.”
How is your Foundation involved with promoting the study of Italian?
“Our foundation really works to create relationships with Italy. When I said I was dependent on my daughter when we go to Italy, I was referring to many business trips we take there together. We have an office in Cortona, Italy, and partnerships with major Italian foundations. We’re in the process of formalizing a program with SYA (School Year Abroad), the organization my daughter studied with, and the Italian Consulate. Graduates of SYA in Italy who have managed to learn Italian at a proficient level will be able to get internships at Italian consulates around the country. Sometimes the graduates lose their Italian after a while, and I think this will create a wonderful incentive and help them maintain the language.”