She kept journals written in Italian, scribbling new vocabulary words on every page, and struggling with verb conjugation. Lahiri originally wrote it in Italian while living in Rome. In Other Words is printed in Italian and English, side by side. By signing up you agree to our terms of use The book includes two short stories written by Jhumpa in Italian.Thank you for signing up! Keep an eye on your inbox. She describes her feeling of overwhelming joy when her her work was first published in Italian.

She also believed this lack of comfort with Italian would spark and rejuvenate her creative process. Still, she kept going because she wanted to test her creative powers in Italian, a language that she loves. She struggled so much with her writing in Italian that she believed her goal may be an impossible one. Her writing in Italian was constrained by her limited vocabulary. One day, while sitting in a library, Jhumpa conceived her first short story in Italian.įrom this point Jhumpa begins discussing with her reader her insecurities with language in more depth. She realizes that change had come about because she was finally hearing Italian in her head. Jhumpa surprised herself by one day beginning to write her diary in Italian. She gathered words she wanted to learn and remember as she went about her day-to-day business. She describes the way she reads a book in Italian and then went back to identify unfamiliar words using a dictionary. Part of her decision to immerse herself in Italian included her decision to read only in Italian. Many years later Jhumpa decided she must live in Rome in order to immerse herself in the language. She felt, however, that she was in exile from the language she loves. Jhumpa began learning to speak Italian using tutors who lived in America. She fell in love with the Italian language when she and her sister visited Italy in 1994. Jhumpa details her developing relationship with the Italian language from her first encounter with it through the completion of her book. Another major theme in the book is identity, as Jhumpa bases a good deal of her identity on language.

In her story Jhumpa discusses her relationship with the Italian language as well as the languages of English and Bengali. It is presented in both the Italian and English translations. The book is Jhumpa’s first major work in Italian. In her book “In Other Words” Jhumpa Lahiri shares her struggles and breakthroughs as she learns to both speak and write Italian fluently.

In other words lahiri