Apologies! I probably can't speak most of them anymore either, not with a passable accent...
Dialects are one of those things emigrants like me tend to romanticise. It is true that they're an actual hindrance in many cases (in places like Veneto you're shut out of most business communities if you can't speak the local lingo) and tend to be loudly represented by the most xenophobic elements. Still, they're part and parcel of the Italian culture and reflect local history much more than the artificial Italian language itself. Bolognese, for example, still maintains traces of Napoleonic soldiers (e.g. "avec" is used in Bolognese exactly like you'd use it in French), Southern dialects have Spanish and mooresque influences, and so on.
Dialects are one of those things emigrants like me tend to romanticise. It is true that they're an actual hindrance in many cases (in places like Veneto you're shut out of most business communities if you can't speak the local lingo) and tend to be loudly represented by the most xenophobic elements. Still, they're part and parcel of the Italian culture and reflect local history much more than the artificial Italian language itself. Bolognese, for example, still maintains traces of Napoleonic soldiers (e.g. "avec" is used in Bolognese exactly like you'd use it in French), Southern dialects have Spanish and mooresque influences, and so on.