Italian VS Sicilian: I Speak FULL SICILIAN to You!

[@siculasicana]

I learned Sicilian from my grandparents who immigrated from Palermo (the city) to the US the same year Mussolini marched on Rome. Our household spoke mostly Sicilian which was corrupted by many words borrowed from English and blended into a whole lexicon of creative neologisms I spoke Sicilian at home until I went to kindergarten and on and off until a few years ago when my mother passed. In a few months I will turn 82 and although the Sicilian I learned was “frozen in time “, I still was able understand nearly all of your story. Saluti da Florida.

[@riccardorome]

Wow! I’m italin and couldnt understand anything!

[@Hughmungus2269]

I thought I would do better with the Sicilian, due to the fact that it was spoken at home by family from Bagheria? I understood maybe 70 percent of the Sicilian, and 95 percent of the Italian. Certain phrases I didn’t get completely in the Italian was but able to figure it out. What part of Sicily was your dialect reflective of??

[@jamesmule3035]

Let's not jump to the wrong assumption that all, or even most, Sicilians speak the same way! There are ,mostly slight , differences in words, meanings but some are way off. Sicilian is mostly a spoken language- dialect with a simpler grammar and without a future tense. I always suggest to learn the five vowels, and since it is another phonetic language, like the main Italiano, it will be easier to understand it when and if you're reading it.. Several words have more than one meaning. A Palermo native, yes, from the city. Minni vaiu.

[@ars6187]

My father will be 82 this year, his mother born in Palermo (the city) and also raised by his grandparents with Sicilian as his first language. His cousin Rose later taught him to read and write it, and decades later, he taught me. We visited Sicily some years ago now, even saw the church they were married in over 100yrs ago now in Francofonte. My mom tells me I spoke fluent Sicilian with my dad as a toddler, but as I grew older and he didn’t/couldn’t consistently speak Sicilian with me (where we lived there were barely any other Italians, never mind Sicilians 🤦🏾‍♀️), I began to lose it… I can still read it aloud though not always understanding what I’m reading, while I still say and can understand other things… it’s funny what stays with you.

[@kaizersose7437]

@@riccardoromeI’m Italian from Milano and I understood everything 😂

[@JP-vj7fp]

I’m Italian, from Umbria, and I did not understand hardly anything of the Sicilian! 😆

[@WalterLoggetti]

The next time he should try Tuscany dialects vs Umbria :D

[@PedroOozeMan]

Fuoco mio

[@cond.oriano4945]

If you learn the basics of Sicilian it’s pretty easy to learn Sicilian. I speak pretty good Italian and can understand most of Sicilian after learning basic words because with more intermediate/advanced Sicilian words are just Italian words but conjugated a bit

[@finmat95]

Praticamente arabo.

[@PedroOozeMan]

@@finmat95 Calabria e peggio

[@sunshinegurl3632]

I am Neapolitan, I speak a very old version of this language. I'm also fluent in three different languages. When you spoke Sicilian, I did not understand all the words, however, I understood what the story was about. Personally, it's the intonation, gestures, facial expressions are my main clues as to what was going on with your story. Interestingly, your intonation, gestures and facial expressions changed when repeating the story in Italian and English. This was a fun video to watch. Thank you for sharing.

[@santiglot]

nnapuletano viech? Addò si tu fra?

[@khalilveronessi4819]

there is a program presented by discovery channel that when you are speaking different languages your personality changes a little, but not much, the cause for this is, you are re wiring your brain to talk and express yourself with different ideas. we have to remember that the language is an expression of ideas and situations, and the defined cases in one language vary to the others and sometimes information is lost in the process of transaltion.

[@30secondsflat]

The threats sound so much more powerful in Sicilian than English or standard Italian

[@zapoi67]

Cosa Nostra 😂

[@danielec8106]

Yes definitely much more scary in Sicilian

[@MaraDiMaria]

😂🤣

[@LEO_M1]

It helps that he affected a more gruff demeanor while speaking Sicilian.

[@65fhd4d6h5]

I speak Catalan and Spanish natively, and Portuguese, Italian and French just about fluently. When you spoke Sicilian, I could only understand that you wanted to eat something the Sicilian way, and then something about the family. That was it! 😂

[@bededaventiquattro2073]

Aren't we Italians all about food and family anyway?

[@philomelodia]

@@bededaventiquattro2073 my absolute favorite thing about your culture. 👍🏼

[@Ggdivhjkjl]

Do you speak English too?

[@BlackZWolf]

Brazilian here and exactly the same. I don't speak Italian but at the very least, I understood most of what he said in Italian but almost nothing in Sicilian.

[@65fhd4d6h5]

@@Ggdivhjkjl No.

[@dimiaraujo90]

Even though I didn't understand a single word of Sicilian, at least I can say it was by far, the most intimidating version of the story

[@R4t10n4L]

That's why they became the Mafia

[@SweetBananaDigital]

This was a fun exercise for me as someone trying to improve my understanding of Italian. I didn’t really understand any of the Sicilian, apart from a couple words that sounded close enough to Italian. I understood almost all of the Italian, but I had a little trouble understanding the threats in the story until I heard the English version and then went back to the Italian version.

[@i-craftsdesign3175]

I don't speak Italian nevermind Sicilian. Out of the first one I only understood, "do you understand?" in the end. And, "he works arduously all day to give food to his family" and "do you understand?" on the second one.

[@anthonylenti7410]

Great! I’m 70 years old and Italian-American from NY. Granted, I studied the major Romance languages and I heard “ Calabrian” and “ Neapolitan” as a kid and beyond. I decided to listen to the Sicilian 3 times before the Italian and certainly got the gist of the story and knew why you laughed. With the exception of some words and phrases, it’s very close to the way my father and his parents spoke ( Cosenza, Calabria). I do have a Learn Sicilian book that maybe helped too. Very entertaining!

[@francescofoti3993]

I'm Italian born and raised in Sardinia but my father is from Reggio Calabria, i am fluent in Reggio dialect which is considered to be an offshoot of the Sicilian language on the main land. Even if the pronunciation is different between reggino and palermitano I could understand every world that you said. Nice video, keep it up mate💪🏽

[@zapoi67]

The same for the Salentino, also considered offshot of Sicilian

[@unarealtaragionevole]

Thank you...I love Sicilianu. My mother was Greek, but migrated to Sicilia as a girl. She grew up speaking both Italiano and Sicilianu...then she went to school in Napoli and picked up Napoletano also. It was funny cause my father was from Torino so he spoke Torinese and Piedmontese. They could speak standard but they didn't really like it, they were from a different generation. What I loved about mom is the more angry she got...the more Sicilianu we heard. Oh...our family is from Trapani, but we have a lot of family in Catania also. I understood like maybe 60-70% ;o) You threw me off at first. But as you kept speaking I started to get a feel for it. A few words caught me though. I caught what you were saying, but if you asked me the say the word, I would have said something else.

[@jason5737]

did she speak greek?

[@aris1956]

È una cosa tipica di noi italiani che più ci arrabbiamo e più passiamo dall’italiano standard al nostro dialetto. È difficile arrabbiarsi senza parlare nel proprio dialetto. Ma credo che sia un po’ la stessa cosa anche per altri popoli, di altri Paesi.

[@unarealtaragionevole]

@@jason5737 My mother? Oh yes, she could speak Greek. My grandparents were Greek so it was the language of her house as she grew up here in Italy. But for my family, we didn't really speak it together. I learned words and phrases, and of course learned to communicate with family but I wasn't really a fluent speaker...I had enough versions of Italian and English back then to keep me busy. ;o) I started to speak more Greek when I returned to Greece for uni. I actually had to learn both classical and medieval Greek as I'm a historian with a concentration in Roman/Greek intercultural exchanges during the Middle Ages. But don't get me wrong, I'm a proud Italian...I just like to say I'm Italian with Greek influence. I came back to Italy years ago and have been helping support channels like Raff's here that like to promote languages, history, and in particular...Italian, Roman, and Greek topics to a new generation.

[@jason5737]

@@unarealtaragionevole thats interesting , i am greek thats why i asked haha, we arent very different culturally and geneticaly. Only the language is different , but still i view italians as something very close to my own kind. The genetic similarities are crazy by the way if you study them . Always wanted to visit.

[@robertoriggio117]

I’m of Sicilian origin, born in México, and fluent in Italian, having studied it in university and beyond. I was somehow able to get part of the gist of the Sicilian, but could not say I really understood it until I heard the Italian version. However, the overall sound of Sicilian seemed familiar to me inits musicality. (I am also a musician.) Interestingly, on the morning of the day that my mother died, I had a dream in which there was a group of anziani that I didn’t know who were huddled in agroup speaking to each other in one appeared to be Sicilian. I didn’t really understand anythong they were saying, but I heard the same music in their voices. I guess, perhaps, my brain, or my soul, knows Sicilian somehow!

[@alkemystica]

Pues eres un hermano Siciliano! 🙂

[@marvinsilverman4394]

tiziano ferro "las mexicanas tienen bigote" xD

[@BerserkerRider94]

You're mexican Sicilian too?!

[@raymondcerv1370]

Eres Casi Argentino

[@Jack_The_Ripper_Here]

😂😂😂 lol. You're mexican mate. You wish you were Sicilian. Hahahaha nice try

[@vinceblasco]

Fascinating. I speak Spanish and have less than one month of studying Italian on Duolingo and I was able to understand about 70% of the Italian, and perhaps 1% of the Sicilian.

[@osvaldobenavides5086]

I understood, Italian 98%, Sicilian about a dozen words!! When I was in High School I had an Italian teacher who was Sicilian, she would teach us sometimes Sicilian poetry! She loved the poetry and helped us appreciate it. I can only remember one. I am not sure of the spelling, but here it goes " Quanta sei bella, quanta sventurata. Cara Sicilia, cula di poeti, ma non sempre sono gli anni tuoi piu lieti" I do remember what it means. I hope you recognize it. There are no more teachers like that! Sometime she would bring Sicilian treats for us to try. I am 74 now, this I learned when I was 17!!

[@joshuamzm]

Fascinating! I studied Italian for many years and could understand the Italian version, but the Sicilian version was very strange and incredible to hear. Looking forward to hearing from you with other varieties of Sicilian. I recently visited Palermo and loved it. Would like to explore other cities in the island next time.

[@anasevi9456]

My fist language is Spanish, I understood about 70% of Italian... but Sicilian, the cadence and words was just too mind blowing for me to understand a thing. It seems like the vocabulary gap between Sicilian and Italian is wider than Spanish and standard Italian.

[@philomelodia]

I speak Spanish natively, French and Italian and Portuguese pretty proficiently and can usually understand most of the romance languages to a degree. Have understood other people speaking Sicilian from time to time and can pick up the Gist in movies that feature it. I was pretty lost with yours though. Maybe 25 or 30%. Fascinating!

[@Alby_Torino]

I'm from northwestern Italy. And I was pretty lost as well

[@philomelodia]

@@Alby_Torino I feel much better now. 😆

[@jamesmule3035]

His Sicilian from Palermo was spot on, maybe a tiny bit exaggerated but as a native from that city I understood almost all of it. His English is bad. Sabbenerica!!

[@Alby_Torino]

Prove that YOUR English is better@@jamesmule3035

[@philomelodia]

@@jamesmule3035 are you busting his balls? Because, let me tell you, his English is flawless. Excellent pronunciation. Very little accent to speak of in his RP English..

[@EstNix]

I always love when you show us the Sicilian language and even more so because you say that your from Palermo, I wish my grandfather would have never gotten sick and passed because I know i'd be showing him videos like this and begging him to teach me some things

[@pamelabasilone5173]

I love this! My grandfather emigrated from Palermo and although I heard he and my grandmother speaking it (she was Irish, but learned it) I could understand some of it but couldn't speak it. When I was learning standard Italian, I was shocked at how different it was! So many Americans have Italian ancestry so you do hear Sicilian and the Naples dialect quite a bit here. Love this video and your work overall.

[@costistuparu1006]

I'm Romanian who studies Italian and is fluent in English and I understood: 5% Sicilian 90% Italian 100% English Great video 🤗

[@flower1990-B]

Daca vorbesti fluent engleza la fel cum scri, e clar. Sterge dreacu comentariul ca te-ai facut de bacanie. O sti pe aia, Prostul daca nu e fudul parca nu e prost destul?

[@rickynoodles2816]

Wow! Adoro il tuo primo canale, però come qualcuno chi è ossessionato con le lingue, questo tipo di contenuto è perfetto per me. Sono americano, ho 18 anni, e studio la lingua italiana da qualche anno. Mi piace poter dire che ho capito circa 70% di ciò che hai detto in Italiano. Ma del Siciliano, sfortunatamente zero lol. Spero di imparare la lingua Siciliana un giorno perché ho famiglia che veniva dell'isola, ma non ci sono le risorse online come per l'italiano. Grazie mille per aver postato questo video!

[@alicetwain]

Imparare i dialetti (le lingue regionali) è divertente, ma ricorda che ovunque tu vada in Italia troverai gente che parla in italiano standard. Ormai il solo dialetto è parlato da pochi anziani e in alcune zone i giovani (sotto ai 50!) parlano solo in italiano.

[@lellab.8179]

I'm from the north of Italy (Lombardy) and I'm very surprised because I thought I would understand very little. I understood, I'd say, 80% or even more. Probably because I read all of Camilleri's books and I grew accustomed to a lot of Sicilian words! LOL

[@kennethventress4832]

I love this. I speak Spanish and only understood words here and there. I really think you could Continue the sicilian Videos. Sometimes I wonder if it should be it's own language on the educational and political level and why it's isn't taught separate from standard italian. I really do love it and hope to go to Sicily one day! Can't wait to hear more of you speaking Siciliano :)

[@bertsparacino714]

King ROGER 2 made Sicilian the official language of his court in 1102 AD .

[@markpozsar5785]

​@@bertsparacino714so what

[@alicetwain]

The linguistic policies of Italy are simple. Italy is a young nation, dating back to only 1861, and we needed to unify populations that were very different culturally, to make a unified country of a very centrifuge population. One of the tools chosen for that is language. Besides, we speak a fairly small language, Italian counts for just over 60 million native speakers counting also the Swiss and the minorities in Croatia and Slovenia. If we pulverise it into some 40-50 dialects we end up in a babbel tower situation. And you would not be extremely happy about having to learn 5 completely different set of basic phrases if you come over on holiday with the intent of visiting Venice, Milan, Florence, Rome, and Naples.

[@st0rmrider]

Pistiare reminds the word hestia (εστία), meaning hearth, that is used for diner εστιατόριο. The goddess Εστία is the equivalent of Vesta in Latin. There's a Greek verb εστιάζω (meaning gather to eat). Anyway, as always, your videos are very interesting and fun (please don't headbutt me).

[@antoninoscro1834]

Pistiari significa mangiare a sazietà,mangiare come gli animali,divorare.

[@philipsalandra3525]

I speak Italian. And my family is from benevento so my comprehension of Neapolitan is pretty good. Sicilian was basically unintelligible at first. But after I listened to the Italian I listened to the Sicilian and understood. Interesting when you know what one is trying to say

[@altralinguamusica]

I absolutely loved this! When I started to learn Italian at university, I found a coursebook on Sicilian written by an Italian-American. I've not been able to find it again since and I'm still gutted about it. It had a blue cover and used the grammar-translation method. Anyway, I'd love to know the words all Sicilians use in common and then delve into the differences. Looking forward to your future videos on Sicilian. Grazie mille!

[@marcocarlson1693]

This Sicilian you spoke definately struck me as being Palermitana. My roots are from Palermo and Agrigento. I always heard though, and understand, quite a lot of the dialect spoken in and around Agrigento. I certainly noticed it was quite a bit different than the way you spoke here. It was really great to hear. Thx.

[@caral-m9i]

I was born in Palermo and emigrated with my parents to Canada when I was nine. Although my parents were from different parts of Italy (Abbruzzese and Veneto) we spoke Italian/English at home. My grandmother, who was born in the Veneto region and moved to Sicily after marriage, learned to speak the true Sicilian and that's all I heard for my first 9 years. I am 75 years young and I can understand the "basic" Sicilian, and when I do I get this warm familiar feeling of being home. Never forgot my roots. 😢

[@josieprivate1489]

I have lived in Berlin for years, but I was born in Sardinia to Sicilian parents (father from Catania and mother from Ragusa), from whom I also learnt Sicilian. I recognised the typical Palermo accent and noticed some differences from the Catania dialect in some words, but I understood everything. However, I would like to say that it would be nice if other themes were chosen to tell stories about Sicily, since the cinema already exports only an image of mafia and crime. Sicily is so much more and offers so many topics!!! Anyway, thank you for your work!

[@chucknpt]

I could have understood more of the Sicilian if it was spoken a bit slower but I recognized some words and certainly got the gist of the story. I understood the Italian. Sono Americano ma la nostra famiglia è della provincia di Messina.

[@LuizfTri99]

Fascinante ! Tenho sangue siciliano, minha família os "Trigona" vem desta linda ilha ... faça mais vídeos sobre o idioma, não entendi nada hahaha mas é muito interessante ❤

[@oreradivojevic837]

Today is my last day of Sicilian vacation.😢 This is my first day on the island, and I am blowen away. Regarding language. I've understood 100% of Italian aldo I have never learned it. That's something that I picked up from films, popular culture and from 2 years of Latin in gymnasium. Sicilian on the other hand is terra incognita or Spanish village as we in Serbia would say. In the last 10 days I heard one old man speaking Sicilian at bus station with driver, and in my hotel there are 2 waiters who often speak Sicilian to each other, and it is amazing. Metatron, I can't wait for more Sicilian language videos. PS word that you use instead of mangiare is great choice. It is like difference in Serbian between jesti i ždrati.

[@darknexusknight]

I'm Brazilian, could understand about 60% of the italian, enough to get the gist of the story, even the words whose meaning I don't know I was able to differentiate between verb, noun, pronoun...after listening to it in english it became even clearer, a lot of the words have similar sounding counterparts in my language with just slightly different or more specific meanings. As for sicilian, I understood almost NOTHING, about 3 words only. Keep up the good content! ✌️✌️

[@theresamimnaugh1190]

My great grandmother was a LaBarbera from Sicily. Hearing her and all my great aunts converse when I was young, I was able to pick up the “idea” of the story. The Italian, which I studied in High School, I wasn’t able to grasp as easily. Strange what the brain recalls from childhood. (Btw, I’m 66 now).

[@paulocavalcanti5330]

I am Brazilian and both my father and my mother are from Italian families. I do speak Italian and I got the Italian part without any problem, but the Sicilian part I've only got a couple of words. It's completely different from other latin languages.

[@pseudomino3]

If you are form an Italian family that has arrived in the 19th in Brazil, probably your family speaks Venetian or another dialect from Northern Italy, while Sicilian is from the extreme South of the country. Those dialects can be quite different.

[@TheAtomoh]

​​@@pseudomino3They are both separate languages (Venetian and Sicilian)

[@pseudomino3]

@@TheAtomoh Yes. Although they are traditionally called dialects, they are in facto two separate languages.

[@isaacbruner65]

​@@pseudomino3it's interesting that you say that Italian immigrants to Brazil usually came from the north of Italy. Here in the United States, the vast majority of Italian immigrants came from the south. I wonder why this difference would exist between the US and Brazil.

[@sonodiventataunalbero5576]

The whole body speaks with! Makes easier to understand for me from Ticino, as well as having read Andrea Camilleri and watched the series made out if his books 😊

[@Ace-Lee]

Even the gestures change. Fascinating video Sir.

[@majj2427]

Italian is my second language. It seems, at least on the surface, very fair to consider Sicilian a separate language (although that's probably for natives/linguists to decide). I barely understood anything when you spoke Sicilian. I heard a few phrases but the impression I got was that you were having a meal and got into an argument with someone at your table. Then you spoke Italian and I started to laugh, realizing how inaccurate I was lol. Sicilian sounds really cool, still though I think I'll always hold Italian as the most beautiful language in the world.

[@mircorizza5609]

è impressionante il livello di credibilità che hai in queste tre lingue che hai parlato: appari madrelingua sia parlando inglese britannico, italiano e siciliano, complimenti, sei fortissimo!! A me basterebbe riuscire ad arrivare alla decenza con l'inglese americano che mi piace di più per il suono. Italiano a parte, io parlo il ciociaro che dalle mie parti è ricco di termini e modi di dire napoletani nonché un po' anche l'accento, MA ci sono altrettanti termini napoletani che in Ciociaria non si usano e non sappiamo nemmeno cosa significano perché ne abbiamo dei nostri che almeno apparentemente non derivano né dall'italiano e né dal napoletano. Se parlassi ciociaro stretto, chiunque non sa il ciociaro capirebbe pochissimo di quello che starei dicendo, talmente è diversissimo dall'italiano il ciociaro (con una parte di napoletano, pur tuttavia essendo diverso dal napoletano).

[@alicetwain]

Oh, nano, madrelingua italiana lo siamo tutti, eh! Ormai pure Jannk Sinner parla in Italiano corrente e corretto, te prova a sentire le interviste ad Armin Zöggeler o a Gustaf Thoeni (che però era Ladino) di quella volta là.

[@kennetth1389]

Hearing the differences between italian and sicilian was so very cool. It's similar to hearing different groups of filipinos speaking in their different languages. It is so much fun watching from the outside as groups will sit separately and purposely speak so other grpups cannot understand each other for the most part. Then when they all join together everyone speaks a tagalog/english hybrid. I understand more than I can speak of the tagalog, and thanks to my wife can almost follow cebuano. Then they mess with me and switch to visayan, totally lost.

[@shaider1982]

Yeah, what they call "dialect" here in the philippines is more akin to different languages.

[@JOHNNY-LEG]

You’re a legend ! When you speak veramente Siciliano more to the point Palermitano! You bring me back to a great time ! God bless paisano beddu ! Dio te benedica!

[@ilzambongo1401]

Hi Metatron, wow... I was barely able to understand a couple of words in Sicilian. Whilst with Italian, well... I'm a Spanish speaker so it was easy to understand around 80-85% of what you said. Keep up the good work. Ciao

[@MattUrsino]

Wow that was difficult to understand even for someone who speaks basically fluent Sicilian. My parents were from Sicily and I speak both standard Italian and Sicilian but my parents were from the Eastern side of the island. Metatron's cadence seems closer to the Napoletano cadence....with very soft vowels at the end of words. Looks like the cadence is very different East to West of the island. Let's just say I understood 100% of the Italian and English version of the story. Metatron could you do a video on cadence? Ciao da Boston

[@hnhl2770]

As a native Catalan speaker, I am obviously a lot more used to hearing Italian, so the first time I watched the Sicilian story, I didn't get much (interestingly, the parts about eating and the fighting words xD). I got 100% of the Italian, then revisited the Sicilian again and finally understood a lot more.

[@DavldeCandita]

I am Italian from Brindisi and, perhaps because of the similarities with the Salento dialect, I understood 95% of what you said in Sicilian. Very interesting.

[@alexbruni1127]

I would love to see a dedicated video about the Sicilian language and it’s varieties. There is so little content on the dialetti and even so there is like 100x more now than 5 years ago

[@stronglytyped]

Native spanish speaker. I can also understand a large amount of italian, portuguese, and various other romance languages including grandpa Latin. I basically couldn't understand any of the Sicilian. Amazing.

[@TheShurikenZone]

It felt like I was being spoken to by Don Fanucci, Clamenza, and GF2 Michael, respectively. It was quite an experience! Bravo, sir! A most interesting departure! 👍👍 P.S. I understood nothing specific from Fanucci or Clamenza, but I could still tell that my life was in danger.

[@learnsicilianwithnick]

Cumpà, troppu forti!!! Thank you so much for making this video, would love to see more content in sicilianu strittu, especially your beautiful palirmitanu ncarcatu accent! Also, glad to hear you use pistiari hahah granni sì!

[@retronoobtech8551]

I hail from Palermo, and I must say, not many would have grasped your meaning... your politeness was excessive for that situation! 😄

[@santiglot]

I've learned both Italian and Neapolitan (+ many other romance languages) and I still found this story to be very very hard to understand... only after hearing it in Italian and going back to listen again the Sicilian version I was able to get around 10% of what you said lol.

[@Valicore]

I am Sicilian-American, my relatives came from the Palermo area - Mezzojuso, Corleone, and Marineo, and even though transmission of Sicilian stopped with my grandparents' generation, I recognize very viscerally the intonation and gestured you use. Really reminded me of being a little kid at my grandparents' house.

[@antoninoscro1834]

Si Marinisi?Comu ti chiami?

[@MrMiguelChaves]

I'm Uruguayan, and speak Spanish and Portuguese (almost as a native), English fluently, and I've studied French though I forgot most of it because it was a long time ago and didn't have to use it. I understood maybe 3 or 4 words from Sicilian. In Italian I could understand most of the story, but I could understand it completely only when you told it in English.

[@ΠατούληςΦίλιππος]

Hello Metatron. Great videos. I am subscribed to all of your channels and I enjoy them all. I am from Greece. Would you find interesting to make a video about Chalcidian alphabet and its connection with Etruscan and Latin alphabet? Also I have a question about how much the latin vocabulary and ancient Greek vocabulary have influenced one another. Greetings from Greece my friend and wish you the best

[@miguelalmeidalima2690]

Hi, I'm from Brazil and also speak french pretty well, but I was lost in sicilian, except for a word here and there. Interestingly, I could understand you in italian.

[@rosaliegalasso791]

Native American English speaker, studied Italian all of my life, have relatives in Sicily and I understood all of your Italian but hardly any of your Sicilian. When I am with family in Sicily, they seem to speak Italian and Siclian (Agrigento) inter-mixed, so I seem to follow them better. I only heard Sicilian growing up, no one spoke it to me.

[@sapien82]

didnt understand a word but it sounded and looked cool , the gesticulations and facial expressions were excellent, I could listen to people speak to me in foreign languages all day even if I dont understand a word. I wish I'd paid more attention to languages in highschool, as a lowly Scot I've got English and speak Scots and some Gaelic but thats it. I had a girlfriend from Catalonia in university and she would speak to me in Catalan and I never understood a word but it was nice just to hear her speak it.

[@talscorner3696]

I had only a vague inkling of the Palermitano (I understood that the protagonist was going to Palermo to work, then got hungry and went to the shop to buy something, then got mugged, had an understandably indisposed reaction to the attempt and threatened to cut the mugger's face open... and then you lost me xD), but absolutely LOVED the academic Italian translation xD Oddignene, Raffa ;)

[@japflap7868]

As a native Romanian speaker, I understood: Sicilian: 5 % Italian: 65 % Sicilian was much harder to understand than I imagined! I understood only a couple of words. I would say I understood a lot of your Italian, perhaps most of it, but I did not understand that you were talking about a mugger and then I did not understand the exact sentences that were said to the mugger in the story, hence why I give myself a lower score of understanding not more than 65 %, perhaps even lower, but I think that is approximate. I really appreciate your channel that is so rich with a lot of knowledge! Very interesting to learn more about Italian and Sicilian! You create very authentic language videos, unlike many of the other language channels out there, so the choice to subscribe to your channel was not hard at all! :) Keep up the good work and I hope you will make more videos! :) PS: Just a suggestion, I noticed you make videos where you try to understand Spanish from various countries. My suggestion is, could you do a Romanian language challenge again, but this time trying to understand the Romanian language from Moldova? Then, it would be very interesting if you also for instance tried to understand Istro-Romanian, Megleno-Romanian and Aromanian :)

[@fmdocx]

Native Sicilian speaker from the southwestern coast here. I could understand ~90-95% of the story. I struggled to understand certain words and also the accent made it harder to understand other words which are common also in my area.

[@anthonymarino79]

I speak Calabrian (cosentino variety) and I could understand 80-85% of the Sicilian.. but have had a lot of exposure to Sicilian (from Enna and Agrigento) .. Italian 100% and English 100% (native speaker) .. great video ! Loved it !

[@vins_chidsm8195]

My parents are from Carini, near Palermo, i speak sicilian (somewhat, lol), and that was almost spot on, I could hear some slight region differences, but easily understandable. Learning Italian in school wasn't easy, there were different words, though some thought I had it made

[@felipegome1]

Such a beautiful language! Please teach us more about it! Also, it can be noticed how you gesticulate differently while speaking it.

[@sergiofann6654]

Man I luv this video of yours...thank you for sharing. And I also do love the etymological explanation about words you used. I definitely will follow and learn from you. Un abbraccio dalla California!!

[@TheCasualHazeFox]

I don't speak either of those but when I heard you speak in Italian compared to Sicilian, I noticed the grammar and even enunciation was different. So different that I knew they were vastly different. You saying the other dialects is staggering to think of seeing as how they might not comprehend either other despite being natively the same area. The other influence I heard is exactly what you said of it sounding more Latin. I only know this because I heard you speak Latin and got used to hearing your voice enunciating it. So hearing the changes from your native tongue to Sicilian was so confusingly different. Awesome video Metatron, appreciate these videos.

[@esti-od1mz]

The grammar of sicilian is almost the same as in italian, though

[@PandaHernandez23]

Sicilian went straight over my head but I'm learning standard Spanish and was able to gather that you were buying something listening to standard Italian.

[@seed4081]

My family is from Sicily, Patti, (Messina dialect) and i understood kinda everything apart from a few words. Fun fact about Sicilian Dialect: Uva (Ita), Raisin (Eng), Raisin (Fre) Rascina (Messina Dialect but i'm not sure if is only from Messina or from all Sicily to be honest). BTW beautiful video, thanks!

[@emmanuelwood8702]

Awesome video. The Sicilian dialetti sound so beautiful to me even though I don't understand them at all.

[@acintoli]

I lived in Catania from 1964 to 1977 and I can definitely say that your story was in perfect Parlermitano. And besides the different words, it is the intonation that makes it instantly recognizable.

[@AlexFeldstein]

I am very proficient in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. My Italian is decent and I understood everything. Sicilian? Not more than a few words here and there. First time hearing Palermo-Sicilian. Fun to hear. Thanks.

[@Nehauon]

Sicilian is a beautiful, and unique language, I hope to learn it.

[@MsGemma456]

I was so happy that I understood most of this story on the first try. After years of going to Sicily and hearing Sicilian spoken by my friends, I was able to get it, even while not understanding every single word. I am just so impressed with the Metatron's linguistic abilities. E' un mostro quando si tratta di capacita' linguistiche! I'm curious to know at what age he transferred from Palermo to London because his English is also phenomenal. I'm guessing that it was at a fairly early age.

[@alessiomauceri5564]

Io sono di Catania e ho capito il 98% (1 o 2 paroline mi sono sfuggite) di quello che hai detto in Siciliano. Non ti nascondo però che ho dovuto prestare molta attenzione, soprattutto quando hai detto: (lo scriverò in Catanese, tanto è molto simile) "su t'ancagghiu ammenzu a strata t'accavaddu na tistata nde naschi ca, pi sentiri u ciauru, a ciaurari ca ricchi". (Mi hai fatto morire dal ridere 😂😂😂) Questo lo dico per chi non è siciliano: secondo me, la maggiore difficoltà nel capire le diverse varianti del Siciliano ha alla base le diverse intonazioni di queste ultime. Il lessico è molto simile, anche se con qualche differenza. Complimenti per il tuo inglese Metatron 😊

[@no1basser]

As a non italian or Scicillian speaker from the U.S. I thought the Sicillian sounded more gangster. The mannerisms and facial expressions were very similar to what we have in the media for Mafiosos. I thought this was sterotyping due to the popularity of gangster films. Then I heard the english version of the tale lol

[@Scbalq]

Scicillian 👹

[@riccardocaprizzotti1112]

I am from northern Italy, specifically Brescia, and I understood most of the Sicilian narrative. But I have an advantage because I have spent a lot of time with people from Sicily :D

[@MissaOftheDawn]

Wow I understood like ZERO of the Sicilian 😂 Was very interesting to hear the difference between it and standard Italian, thanks 😊

[@davidparker9676]

I only picked up eating and family, the rest had me lost. I am a native American English speaker that can understand Spanish fairly well and use that as the basis of Romance language comprehension. I enjoy hearing these deep dialects as a challenge.

[@antoniolalicata5846]

Proprio un bell'esempio per diffondere un'immagine positiva e pulita dell'Italia e della Sicilia.

[@alicetwain]

Quando voglio fare un esempio di Milanese faccio ascoltare Porta Romana. "In via Filangieri gh'è ona campana / 'Gni volta che la sona l'è 'na cundanna". Plus honestly he reminded me of good old Alex Drastico.

[@Iuculano]

Your Sicilian, English and Italian are quite good. Three souls in one person.

[@SalvatoriusMyspace]

I am from the central southern coast of Sicily, I understood everything except 1 or 2 words we don't use such as pistiari for example to say to eat. Then of course 100% Italian and also 100% English. I find it interesting to read the comments from speakers of other latin languages telling how much Sicilian they undestood , also what everybody think how sicilian sounds to them speakers of any other laaguage. Nice interesting video as usual! Ma dimm' na cosa, ma u testu tu scrissi Tony Sperandeo? hehehehe

[@TheRealGhebs]

As a Brazilian, native Portuguese speaker, without any training in either language I was able to understand 80% of the Italian and 0% of the Sicilian 😮.

[@giuseppecalderone9014]

The Palermo dialect is beautiful but very difficult to understand, then there are dialects like Messina that are easier to understand and closer to classic Sicilian and Italian. Example: Messina dialect : Io annai a Putia mimmi cattu u manciari e mi fimmau unu chi mi vulia rrubbari i soddu , io invece mi mi pigghiu i scantu ci rispunnia chi si non si luvava davanti cun pugnu ciavissi scassatu u nasu e poi pi sentiri i ciauri avia usari i ricchi Classics sicilian--) lautru iornu mentri iva a ccattarimi lu manciari mi firmau nu balordu Ca mi vuliva futtiri li picciuli .....etc etc

[@markjohnson4053]

This was very good. I'm Italian American and can speak Italian pretty good. I have relatives on both the north coast and south coast of Sicily. I can only understand only a small aount Sicilian.

[@grafinvonhohenembs]

Mentre parlavi siciliano, capivo solamente tre parole. 😆 Fantastico! 😄

[@gunslinger8781]

Spanish speaker here, never studied italian yet I understood like 80 - 85% of the story, I was pleasantly surprised. The Sicilian, however, may as well have been arabic or polish to me if I had to guess 😂

[@nazarnovitsky9868]

It's very interesting video ! Thank You very much ! 😊

[@claudiavictoria3929]

That was great! You're absolutely amazing! Love from an English/Genoese fan

[@auroravianadesa5119]

I'm from Italy, but I was born near Milan (Tradate). I could understand Sicilian about 30~40% of what you were saying at most, honestly. Even if I were to speak only in Italian and the other person to speak in Sicilian to me I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to sustain a conversation with them.

[@salvo9718]

I was born in Palermo, but left Sicily when I was 9 years old, naturally my parents took me away😢 But I still understood almost every words, besides some. But I must say your English is remarkable goog, as well your sicilan and Italian.

[@m4rloncha]

Native Spanish speaker here, I'm going to comment how much I've understood the situation in those different languages (I haven't study them, except English). 1:22 Sicillian: Nothing? Like, absolutely nothing, maybe by gestures? Not even a clue, I knew something (About the tense you're using) that you're going to eat something and someone is going to do something bad to you or you to them? It's unclear. 2:11 Italian: The first half was Easy Peasy, I understood 80% of the words and by context the 100%, but the second half was confusing and I didn't understand that much, maybe 20%? Overall, I could easily understand the context, but not every single detail. 3:16 English: (Not fair because I've studied and speak it so 100%) If I couldn't understand the language, I'd say that the only thing I could understand is "Family", that's literally eat. Not even the gestures work here. Overall an interesting view about that awesome and complex language!

[@ellenripley4837]

I'm a native Spanish speaker. I understood 2 words in Sicilian and 70 to 80 percent of Italian.

[@akaRicoSanchez]

A few years back I saw an italian film and thought I could get by watching it without subtitles as I can somewhat understand italian. It was called Anime Nere and most of it is spoken in calabrese so, just like the parlance from Palermo in this video, my understanding went from 70% to 2% 😅

[@matteotortorici]

I learned to speak Sicilian from my parents. They immigrated to Montreal, Canada, and are from the small town called Cattolica Eraclea in the province of Agrigento. I understood about 70 to 80% of what you said and Cattolica isn't even far from Palermo. I always joke with my Italian friends over here when they say they don't understand me. I tell them sometimes we Sicilians don't even understand each other 😂.

[@matteotortorici]

It's also sad that most Sicilians don't know how to write in Sicilian. My parents have no idea.

[@MorganScorpion]

Almost no Sicilian, a little of the Italian, and... all of the English. But what was most fascinating is the way your hand movements change: they change enormously when you switch from Sicilian to Italian.

[@MrPaoloMic]

Da Palermitano che vive in germania, non posso che apprezzare la ricca e profonda tradizione e storia della nostra lingua. Proverò ad insegnarlo ai miei figli, pur sapendo che non vivendo in sicilia sarà difficile appropiarsi appieno dei tanti dettagli legati alla pronuncia e all'uso. Grazie per questi video che, in un modo anche divertente come in questo video, rappresentano ciò che è essere siciliano. Salutamu!

[@lluisvilalta1139]

I'm shocked! I could barely understand just a few words - and only after having listened to the Italian and English versions! 😵‍💫

[@kl342000]

I'm first generation American. Both my parents were born in sicily (Messina province) I love your Italian and Sicilian. Your British accent on the other hand, drives me nuts as an American.

[@hirsch4155]

Can’t explain it but I get this feeling of Byzantium heritage in the Sicilian language , that I don’t hear at all in Italian, or at least a lot of its ancient residue has been sanded over in the modern Italian language.

[@flavioradomski]

Eu sou do Rio de Janeiro e já estudei francês e espanhol. Nunca estudei italiano, mas consigo entender talvez uns 40% do italiano falado (a língua escrita dá para compreender quase tudo). Por outro lado, entendi zero de siciliano! rs Acertei, por dedução, apenas a última frase "Did you understand?". Vou procurar um texto escrito em siciliano, mas acho que vai continuar difícil. 😅

[@papageorge9950]

I am American born raised in a Sicilian/Tuscan speaking home. I can not understand spoken Portugese, but I understood your written comment 100%. I speak Eastern Sicilian (Ragusa), and understood little of the Palermitan spoken in the video.

[@romanblooded]

Ciao compà, tanto rispetto per i tuoi video sempre accurati e professionali Secondo me sarebbe interessante un video sulla storia del Regno di Sicilia sotto Richard II, è una parte importante e estremamente interessante della nostra storia che spesso purtroppo viene ignorata eng Hello, much respect for your always accurate and professional videos In my opinion a video on the history of the Kingdom of Sicily under Richard II would be interesting, it is an important and interesting part of our history that unfortunately doesn't get that much recognition

[@JuanKGM]

I´m from Colombia, so my main language is Spanish. I didn´t understand anything in Sicilian. But in standard Italian I understand the story from putting words in context (I don´t speak italian). Great exercise!

[@giovanni9187]

The Sicilian is spot on my family is from Agrigento and we live in NY still to this day Sicilian is spoken Thank you!!

[@robertperry9636]

My wife's dad was from Palermo and later this year I will be taking her back to look for family. I speak some Italian, but I see I have a lot of work to do! Thanks for the video.