My first impressions of Skype...

Dear all,

here I am, after a few months, with a brand new activity, a new experience – at least for me! - to add to the “-ings” we are now quite familiar with, blogging and wiki-ing: Skype-ing.

The second semester has just begun and now we are all engaged in this online linguistic and cultural x-change with a group of American students. On Monday we had our first Skype conversation and, to tell the truth, it wasn’t so “easy” to maintain as I thought.

First of all, the boy I talked to preferred to speak in English (even though he studies Italian), so that… how shall I put it…?... he handed on the hot potato to me! To be honest, every now and then I had some difficulties in speaking fluently - while talking, I was intent on thinking about what to say or ask – as well as in understanding what he was telling me, because he spoke quite fast.

Therefore, I realized how difficult and different conversing “online” with a native speaker is. On the other hand, I also realized that it is precisely this difficulty what renders online discussions “vital”, spontaneous and stimulating, even more than face-to-face conversations.

In my opinion, the fact that I was talking for the first time to a person I didn’t know through a new (for me) communication instrument, that I didn’t have a visual contact with the guy, that we were both rather “embarrassed” because of the unusual situation, all these circumstances worked together to make this experience demanding and fascinating at the same time.

We talked about recycling – which is the topic of our Tulane-Padua wiki -, in particular:

• whether there are laws obliging citizens to recycle;
• whether American people recycle plastic also to save oil, as we do in Italy, or simply to get other plastic.

The guy told me that in the USA there are no specific laws on recycling and that, consequently, the choice is up to the single person. The same happens in our country. Unfortunately. Yes, because if there were laws and sanctions, maybe we would be better citizens (please note that I included myself in the group!) Then, we talked about our hobbies and interests and he was quite surprised when I told him that I commute almost every day to Padua. It may be a cacophonous expression, but his amazement really amazed me! Maybe because by now I am used to catch the train twice a day (and sometimes more than twice) and I consider myself very lucky, as my train journey lasts just 20-25 minutes...

To sum up, I think that, in spite of my initial difficulties, Skype-ing is quite a positive experience not only from the linguistic point of view, but, most importantly, for all the cultural aspects implied. In other words, Skype-ing is a good way of improving one’s linguistic skills, as well as of enriching one’s extra-linguistic fund.

Maria Chiara