MELBOURNE - Julia Chaperon and a small group of university students have distinguished themselves for their achievements in studying Italian and were duly awarded by The Dante Alighieri Society of Melbourne at the end of 2024.
Chaperon, studying an Exercise and Sports Science degree at Australian Catholic University, has completed her first year, during which she decided to choose Italian as her minor.
“I started learning Italian when I was eight years old, in after-school classes,” she explained.
“Then, in high school, I took part in my school’s immersion program at Gladstone Park Secondary College.”
Chaperon added that continuing her studies at university felt like a natural choice. Italian on her mother’s side and Mauritian on her father’s, she grew up hearing both Calabrian dialect and French from her grandparents.
This profoundly influenced her relationship with languages. “My culture is an important part of who I am, and that’s why I wanted to study Italian, which also allows me to communicate with my grandparents and relatives,” she shared.
“At home, we continue to embrace the culture by cooking traditional foods and speaking the language. All of this helps me connect with my identity, even though I’ve never been to Italy.”
Languages are a family affair in the Chaperon household, to the point that Julia and her twin sister practise conversing in Italian, which is the area in which Julia feels least confident. “When I speak, I have little time to think about grammatical rules or verb conjugations,” she admitted.
To help herself, she watches films and TV series - “but always with subtitles because they speak too fast for me”. She also reads books and listens to Italian music, largely thanks to her mother, who passed down a love for the songs of Eros Ramazzotti and Il Volo.
The news of winning one of The Dante Alighieri Society of Melbourne’s awards was met with great emotion and surprise by Chaperon.
Accepting it in front of her family, especially her grandparents (with whom she always tries to speak Italian), was a deeply moving moment for everyone, marked by her nonno’s tears of joy.
Her young age has not stopped Julia from mapping out a clear plan for the future; in whatever career she pursues, she wants to help others “even in their own language, if necessary”.
The knowledge of a second language is fundamental in a multicultural society, “to connect with people different from us, see things from another perspective, step out of our comfort zone and support one another”.
Studying Italian has also changed Chaperon’s approach to studying, allowing her to develop her own method.
“Since I’m not a native speaker, I have to pay close attention to follow and understand a conversation in Italian. This has helped me develop the ability to concentrate in other subjects as well, overcoming laziness and training myself to listen,” she explained.
Chaperon hopes to one day visit Italy, perhaps with her mother, and immerse herself in the culture she has always breathed within the walls of her home.
