Italy: half the language is not in the words
Ordering coffee taught me the rest. A caffè is an espresso, drunk standing at the bar, in about ninety seconds, usually while talking to someone you already know.
My favourite word is "magari": if only, maybe, I wish. Tone decides which one you mean, and there is no safe neutral reading of it.
Italy is where I started teaching intonation deliberately instead of hoping students absorbed it. You can say the right sentence with the wrong music and be understood as rude.
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