Giulia Laurenza '25 – Italy
Laurenza discusses how language barriers affect children of immigrants.
Giulia Laurenza ‘25, shared her experience as the child of two Italian immigrants.
“My mom immigrated from Foggia, which is a very small town in Puglia, which is a region of Italy, and my dad immigrated from Naples, which is also in the Puglia region, and so they immigrated to North Carolina 20 years ago, and that’s where I grew up,” Laurenza said.
Laurenza explained that when she was growing up in North Carolina, service workers such as waiters would not understand her mom, even though she was speaking English, making Laurenza the “translator.”
“When I was younger, my mom always pushed that we were able to speak Italian, my sister and I, because it's her language, it's what she knew, it's my grandma, cousin, aunts, uncles, so if I didn’t know how to speak Italian, I wouldn’t be able to communicate with the rest of my family.”
Laurenza explained that when she was growing up in North Carolina, service workers such as waiters would not understand her mom, even though she was speaking English, making Laurenza the “translator.”
A Laurenza family picture in Tuscany. Photo Courtesy of Giulia Laurenza.
A Laurenza family picture in Tuscany. Photo Courtesy of Giulia Laurenza.
Laurenza, her sister, and her mother standing at Amphitheatre of Capua. Photo Courtesy of Giulia Laurenza.
Laurenza, her sister, and her mother standing at Amphitheatre of Capua. Photo Courtesy of Giulia Laurenza.
A Laurenza family dinner in Italy. Photo Courtesy of Giulia Laurenza.
A Laurenza family dinner in Italy. Photo Courtesy of Giulia Laurenza.
Laurenza at the Amphitheatre of Capua. Photo Courtesy of Giulia Laurenza.
Laurenza at the Amphitheatre of Capua. Photo Courtesy of Giulia Laurenza.
The Laurenza family traveling to Italy. Photo Courtesy of Giulia Laurenza.
The Laurenza family traveling to Italy. Photo Courtesy of Giulia Laurenza.
Laurenza at her first communion in Italy. Photo Courtesy of Giulia Laurenza.
Laurenza at her first communion in Italy. Photo Courtesy of Giulia Laurenza.
Laurenza also mentioned her father’s concern about learning Italian and how it would affect Laurenza’s learning in the United States.
“My dad on the other hand, didn’t want us to learn Italian because he believed it would interfere with our learning, and he thought this because it was said by my teachers at my old school that my speaking skills, writing, reading, was affected because I was learning a second language at school.”
Due to Laurenza’s fascination with language, she was accepted into the Global Studies diploma program with a language concentration. Laurenza also got accepted into the Northlands exchange program, where she spent three weeks in Argentina with a host family.
Built with Shorthand