Essere premiato da Obama: il racconto di Faggin

What does “emozionato” mean in Italian?

Emozionato is not “emotional.” It’s the flutter before something that matters: excited, moved, keyed-up, nervous, all at once, with context deciding which. An Italian is emozionato before a first flight, on a wedding morning, or while collecting a prize. To call someone emotionally unstable you’d need a completely different word — emozionato is always about the moment, never about the temperament.

The reflexive emozionarsi is “to get choked up,” and emozionante describes the thing that does it to you: un film emozionante is thrilling or moving, not “emotional.” In the clip the interviewer asks physicist Federico Faggin about the American national medal for technology and innovation, handed to him at the White House: “Ti sei emozionato?” — meaning “were you moved?”, not “did you get upset?”