I'm new on this board. My family is from Dorio, Italy..... just on the other side of the border, at the very top of the upper part of Lake Como, the Lario. It's down below the Engiadina and the Val Bregaglia. The Valtalina is just above to the north a short distance.
I visited the Lia Rumantscha when I was there 2 years ago. I spoke with them, and they said that they believed that my language was close to Puter/Ladin. I have a bible in the Puter/Vallader of the Engiadina, but it's not exactly the same as what I speak, certainly MUCH easier for me to read than Italian, but still not what I use. I notice that RTR has different people who use different idoms from time to time. I can notice when it's one from the south, as it's closer to what I'm used to hearing.
Recently, I found some websites for Ladina on the Italian side of the border, in the South Tyrol Belluno, Trento, and Bolzano. They are closer to what I speak. I can't decide which one is the closest, because I can pretty much understand them all on an equal level...... not perfectly, but about the same level of understanding. I listed to some speech on streaming audio, and it sounds SO MUCH like what my mom and grandmother speak... similar words and a kind of french accent added to the Italian.
Are any of you familiar with these languages? If I wrote to you, might you be able to give me an idea of what I am speaking? Althought my family is located at the very top of Lombardia, it does not seem to conform to what they speak in Milan. I also visited an institute of diolectology in Bellinzona, and had a chance to look at their extensive Ticinese Dictionary. When I looked at the dialect translations, it was not what I spoke. It was far closer to Italian. Mine uses words like Nagut (nienta), which is the same as Rumantsch, Bun Notch, again, same as Rumantsch, and quite a few other words that are either the same or close to rumantsch.... so, I'm confused. If anyone thinks that they can help me, please let me know.
Grazia Fess (similar to Rumantsch's Grazia Fitg)....
A warm welcome to the Forum. Your post was very interesting - I think you might get more help with the Rumantsch questions in the bit of the Forum that deals with languages. The folk who are most interested in the topic will be more likely to keep an eye on what is new there. Your greeting is clear enough in retrospect, but when I first read it, I thought 'Bun Di from America' was a post from Diana in the USA who has a sweet tooth. Perhaps other folk thought the same too!
If you don't know where to put this to get more relevant answers than mine, perhaps one of our friendly team of Mods who keep the Forum tidy could give you a hand...
Thanks for the reply, and the helpful suggestions. I'm new, and not aware of all of the features of this system, but in time I hope to be.
So, there's a section for language or cultural oriented conversation? I'll have to see if I can find that. Right now I have to get back to my studies. I'm a university student, and I'm preparing myself for managerial work as an interpreter for the Deaf.
Hello Dorio and welcome! Longbyt is talking about the part of the forum that is named "Language Corner", but I think we don't have native Rumantsch speakers on the board. Still it's worth a try. It is however notable that you as a native speaker of a Northern Italian dialect find some Rumantsch dialects closer to your language than Ticinese Italian! Maybe you can test this impression on a Ticinese forum?
Thanks. I will check that out. I know that the Rumantsch is not very common. I went to a website that has the Lord's Prayer on it, and I found the Italian version Very Difficult to understand, the Rumantsch was so-so, I could figure out the Frulan, but the words would have not been what I would have chosen, the Piemontese was Very Beautiful and very French-like, the Lombardese had many familiar words, but others that I had never seen or used before, same for Bergamasque, and even more different was what they use in Venice. I would have to say that none were exact, but I found that almost all versions of the Ladin to be fairly close. It is possible that my dialect is pretty much dead.