La Bella Lingua, L'Italiano
"So, how's your Italian?"
This is the first question asked by almost everyone - people we meet when we travel, family and friends who want updates on our life, strangers on the street....
In short, it's ok.
The much longer truth, it's complicated.
Year-ago me would have said it'd be possible to be fluent by now, or at least by the end of this year. Boy, was she dreaming!
And speaking of dreaming, it only took me three months to dream in Portuguese but it took me NINE months to dream in Italian for like four seconds. (though I will say, the other day I had an entire dream in Italian. I was ecstatic.) Is it because Italian is harder? Because I am not integrated as much (in Brazil I was living with a family and going to school every day, and barely spoke English)? Is it because it is 15 years later and it really is harder to learn a language the older you get?!
I have no idea. But let me tell you what I do know - it's a hell of a lot harder than I thought.
So here's what I mean when I tell you my Italian is ok:
* I can get by.
* Most people I talk to think my Italian is good, and are very surprised (and happy) that I have bothered to learn it.
* I can do all my daily tasks in Italian (grocery shopping, shopping shopping, order food, etc.)
* Actually, I can hold a conversation pretty well. It may not be grammatically correct, but this doesn't impede me from getting my point across.
Here's what I mean by "it's complicated":
* It's quite possible that I speak like a child. I can string words together, but the grammar of this language is ridiculous. There are so many rules, but it also seems like there are so many exceptions to these rules that I wonder why Italians even bother with rules at all (in real life they don't. ha. ha.).
* I have no idea what I sound like. In a few days three people told me I had great pronunciation....in the same few days someone told me my Italian was great except for my accent and someone else told me it was clear by my accent that I am American.
Conclusion: I don't know.
* It seems like I almost always put the accent in the wrong place. Sometimes it's frustrating.
4th time
Me: blah blah something blah mat-tina
Teacher: mat-tina
Thought: Woman, what is wrong with you?!?!??!?! For goodness sake, she can NOT correct you again. Her name is even Tina. And morning is matTINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can never talk to her about the morning ever again.
It has been a few months, and I did notice that I talked about the morning with her the other day (after I said mattina I immediately had a brief pause and moment of fear...but there was no correction, so maybe I finally put the emphasis on the right syllable...or she's given up on me... haha JK I think/hope it's the former 😉).
When learning a new language, you're bound to make mistakes. Luckily, the ones I've made here haven't been as severe as the ones I've made in other languages...
Italian Whatsapp conversation:
Me: do you think that's weird?
Italian: but no, Melissa, you're not weird, you're wonderful!
Thought: oooooook that is definitely not what I meant to ask. But apparently I just asked you if you thought I was weird. And really, there's no coming back from that. I can't explain that's not what I wanted to ask because that would be weird. Just move on.
This sucked and was a little embarrassing, but trust me, it wasn't as embarrassing as other encounters I've had in other languages....
Brazilian phone conversation:
Me: Do you want to meet me at [name of restaurant]
Brazilian: laughter
Brazilian friend: you just asked him if he wanted to meet you in bed
(Imagine you are a teenage girl. Dying of sheer horror and embarrassment. It didn't help that this was my crush finally agreeing to meet me somewhere. I still remember this conversation 15+ years later as a happily married and confident woman.)
Brazilian in-person conversation:
Host Mom: What do you like to eat?
Me: bread
Host Mom: walks away
Me: *pure confusion*
Other exchange student: You just told her you like to eat penis
(lesson: watch intonation, and learn slang)
When I make mistakes in Italian, I often think to other mistakes I've made and think (know) it could be a lot worse!
Note: please be nice to foreigners trying to learn your language. It is not easy (and writing is a whole other ball game! Not to mention social and cultural cues!!)
Learning Italian has been a lot harder than I thought. I will say, I thought it was pretty easy(ish) to understand what was going on by listening and watching. It helped that I already spoke Portuguese and Spanish (but then it became harder....there are many words in these three languages that overlap, but other words are completely different so it was actually better to block out Spanish/Portuguese for a while so I could learn without constantly guessing). It was also not too difficult to pick up the basics and become conversational. I learn best by doing, so the best way for me to learn Italian was by going out and talking to anyone (and everyone) who would talk to me.
I learned quite a lot, but after a while felt like I was at a plateau. There are only so many things you can talk about with random people on the street. It doesn't really widen your vocabulary exponentially nor does it vastly expand the topics you can talk about. For this and other reasons (read: wanting people to talk to) I started going to Italian lessons. Here's how it's going:
Lesson one
Teacher: It is clear that you learned Italian on the street.
(ok, I don't speak properly, but at least I can converse. Let's learn some grammar!)
Another lesson
Me: I'm so frustrated! I feel like I should speak way better by now.
Teacher: You've barely studied. It's a miracle you speak as well as you do.
(huh. I'll take it.)
Now that I've invested so much time and energy into it (and to help my life along here!), I'd really like to speak correctly. So I am trying hard to learn all the grammar.
There's really only one way to describe it - grammar is a b*tch.
I have no idea why there are so many tenses, rules, or whatever, but it doesn't make speaking correctly easy.
So Here's where I'm at:
I'm back at the original school I started at. Honestly, before I moved here I didn't think I'd go to a school to learn Italian. After having trouble learning, I went to this school for one week in December to try and "jump start" my Italian. I took a week-long intensive course and it was hard and tiring. All the students knew more than I did and I was super frustrated. I didn't think I'd ever step foot there again.
After travelling a lot I decided in March/April that I wanted to get more serious about Italian. In search of a good fit, I literally studied everywhere I found in Naples (the US base and two other schools. All courses were 2X/week). Every class was different but none of them felt exactly right. Hello, more frustration.
I decided to try the intensive course again and I am SO GLAD I did! I've been going to school for two weeks and feel like I have learned more in these two weeks than in an entire course at some places. I've come to realize that every class I have taken at every school has been the wrong level and this is probably why I have been so frustrated with learning. It also helps that the teachers are lively and patient! Besides, how could you not learn when class looks like this 😃😍
I'm happy to have finally found something that seems to be working for my grammar needs, and I hope the next time someone asks me how Italian is going I'll be able to confidently say "great!"
This is the first question asked by almost everyone - people we meet when we travel, family and friends who want updates on our life, strangers on the street....
In short, it's ok.
The much longer truth, it's complicated.
Year-ago me would have said it'd be possible to be fluent by now, or at least by the end of this year. Boy, was she dreaming!
And speaking of dreaming, it only took me three months to dream in Portuguese but it took me NINE months to dream in Italian for like four seconds. (though I will say, the other day I had an entire dream in Italian. I was ecstatic.) Is it because Italian is harder? Because I am not integrated as much (in Brazil I was living with a family and going to school every day, and barely spoke English)? Is it because it is 15 years later and it really is harder to learn a language the older you get?!
I have no idea. But let me tell you what I do know - it's a hell of a lot harder than I thought.
So here's what I mean when I tell you my Italian is ok:
* I can get by.
* Most people I talk to think my Italian is good, and are very surprised (and happy) that I have bothered to learn it.
* I can do all my daily tasks in Italian (grocery shopping, shopping shopping, order food, etc.)
* Actually, I can hold a conversation pretty well. It may not be grammatically correct, but this doesn't impede me from getting my point across.
Here's what I mean by "it's complicated":
* It's quite possible that I speak like a child. I can string words together, but the grammar of this language is ridiculous. There are so many rules, but it also seems like there are so many exceptions to these rules that I wonder why Italians even bother with rules at all (in real life they don't. ha. ha.).
* I have no idea what I sound like. In a few days three people told me I had great pronunciation....in the same few days someone told me my Italian was great except for my accent and someone else told me it was clear by my accent that I am American.
Conclusion: I don't know.
* It seems like I almost always put the accent in the wrong place. Sometimes it's frustrating.
Example: Mattina (Italian for morning)
Conversations with my teacher (and always mispronouncing mattina)
Conversations with my teacher (and always mispronouncing mattina)
1st time
Me: tomorrow mat-tina I am doing this
Teacher: oh, you're doing that tomorrow mat-tina?
Thought: huh, I guess you pronounce it with the emphasis on the second part of the word
2nd time
Me: something something mat-tina
Teacher: something mat-tina?
Thought: omg she already corrected you on that. Hope she doesn't remember she already corrected you and move on.
3rd time
Me: blah blah blah mat-tina
Teacher: blah blah mat-tina
Teacher: blah blah mat-tina
My thought: ok she for sure thinks you're an idiot. You can't make this mistake again.
Me: blah blah something blah mat-tina
Teacher: mat-tina
Thought: Woman, what is wrong with you?!?!??!?! For goodness sake, she can NOT correct you again. Her name is even Tina. And morning is matTINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can never talk to her about the morning ever again.
It has been a few months, and I did notice that I talked about the morning with her the other day (after I said mattina I immediately had a brief pause and moment of fear...but there was no correction, so maybe I finally put the emphasis on the right syllable...or she's given up on me... haha JK I think/hope it's the former 😉).
When learning a new language, you're bound to make mistakes. Luckily, the ones I've made here haven't been as severe as the ones I've made in other languages...
Italian Whatsapp conversation:
Me: do you think that's weird?
Italian: but no, Melissa, you're not weird, you're wonderful!
Thought: oooooook that is definitely not what I meant to ask. But apparently I just asked you if you thought I was weird. And really, there's no coming back from that. I can't explain that's not what I wanted to ask because that would be weird. Just move on.
This sucked and was a little embarrassing, but trust me, it wasn't as embarrassing as other encounters I've had in other languages....
Brazilian phone conversation:
Me: Do you want to meet me at [name of restaurant]
Brazilian: laughter
Brazilian friend: you just asked him if he wanted to meet you in bed
(Imagine you are a teenage girl. Dying of sheer horror and embarrassment. It didn't help that this was my crush finally agreeing to meet me somewhere. I still remember this conversation 15+ years later as a happily married and confident woman.)
Brazilian in-person conversation:
Host Mom: What do you like to eat?
Me: bread
Host Mom: walks away
Me: *pure confusion*
Other exchange student: You just told her you like to eat penis
(lesson: watch intonation, and learn slang)
When I make mistakes in Italian, I often think to other mistakes I've made and think (know) it could be a lot worse!
Note: please be nice to foreigners trying to learn your language. It is not easy (and writing is a whole other ball game! Not to mention social and cultural cues!!)
Learning Italian has been a lot harder than I thought. I will say, I thought it was pretty easy(ish) to understand what was going on by listening and watching. It helped that I already spoke Portuguese and Spanish (but then it became harder....there are many words in these three languages that overlap, but other words are completely different so it was actually better to block out Spanish/Portuguese for a while so I could learn without constantly guessing). It was also not too difficult to pick up the basics and become conversational. I learn best by doing, so the best way for me to learn Italian was by going out and talking to anyone (and everyone) who would talk to me.
I learned quite a lot, but after a while felt like I was at a plateau. There are only so many things you can talk about with random people on the street. It doesn't really widen your vocabulary exponentially nor does it vastly expand the topics you can talk about. For this and other reasons (read: wanting people to talk to) I started going to Italian lessons. Here's how it's going:
Lesson one
Teacher: It is clear that you learned Italian on the street.
(ok, I don't speak properly, but at least I can converse. Let's learn some grammar!)
Another lesson
Me: I'm so frustrated! I feel like I should speak way better by now.
Teacher: You've barely studied. It's a miracle you speak as well as you do.
(huh. I'll take it.)
Now that I've invested so much time and energy into it (and to help my life along here!), I'd really like to speak correctly. So I am trying hard to learn all the grammar.
There's really only one way to describe it - grammar is a b*tch.
I have no idea why there are so many tenses, rules, or whatever, but it doesn't make speaking correctly easy.
So Here's where I'm at:
I'm back at the original school I started at. Honestly, before I moved here I didn't think I'd go to a school to learn Italian. After having trouble learning, I went to this school for one week in December to try and "jump start" my Italian. I took a week-long intensive course and it was hard and tiring. All the students knew more than I did and I was super frustrated. I didn't think I'd ever step foot there again.
After travelling a lot I decided in March/April that I wanted to get more serious about Italian. In search of a good fit, I literally studied everywhere I found in Naples (the US base and two other schools. All courses were 2X/week). Every class was different but none of them felt exactly right. Hello, more frustration.
I decided to try the intensive course again and I am SO GLAD I did! I've been going to school for two weeks and feel like I have learned more in these two weeks than in an entire course at some places. I've come to realize that every class I have taken at every school has been the wrong level and this is probably why I have been so frustrated with learning. It also helps that the teachers are lively and patient! Besides, how could you not learn when class looks like this 😃😍
I'm happy to have finally found something that seems to be working for my grammar needs, and I hope the next time someone asks me how Italian is going I'll be able to confidently say "great!"
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