I have always lived in Italy, surrounded by my parents' mother tongues: my mother's French and my father's Italian. When my maternal grandparents came to visit, as they did not speak Italian, I accompanied them as a mini-interpreter on their outings. I quickly came to understand how much a language could isolate those who did not speak it and how this could be overcome: speaking in their place. A connection with the exterior world could be recovered and communication restored.