While we were designing the new gift certificates (I hope to have some artwork or photos on the site shortly), I researched various sites for a quotation to put on the back of the certificates. Something that captures the reasons for learning another language (ideally, Italian!).

I didn’t find one that precisely fitted what I wanted to say, but I did nonetheless find quite a few that were eloquent, fitting, or simply humorous. Of those, I liked these three:

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”
- Nelson Mandela

“Own only what you can carry with you; know language, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.”
- Alexander Solzhenitsyn

“To have another language is to possess a second soul.”
- Charlemagne

We chose the third for the back of the vouchers; Mandela’s quotation is also wonderful, but strangely, Charlemagne’s seems to fit the Italian language more aptly. Of Italian quotations, unfortunately, I found only one on that particular site (although there are plenty elsewhere!)

“Lingua toscana in bocca romana.”

Translations welcome below (and no Googling for the answer!)