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Simply..Italian January!

14/1/2016

14 Comments

 
I should say italiano gennaio ..

I have found my BIG IDEA.

My Italian class has started again and I wasn't looking forward to it. (The thought did, briefly, cross my mind to give up.) I feel I am slow in learning Italian. I am not a natural at languages but I like to try. I did Latin at school, have school French, a little smattering of Swedish and Greek, and in preparation for our month in Venice I am doing this very good and very challenging course at Glasgow University.

SO. Instead of despairing at my slow progress I shall try some extreme Italian. I shall talk to Barry in Italian as much as possible (I know, poor Barry), listen to CD's in the car, label things around the house in Italian with post it notes, listen to Verdi, read blogs about Venice in Italian first then in translation, try some Italian recipes, some new Italian wines, oh the possibilities are endless and suddenly January seems more fun.......

I found some of the advice here and the little video here really helpful in getting me motivated again.

I am listening to this charming one over and over picking out the words I understand and am pleasantly surprised that I understand quite a lot of it.


(I did actually think of the idea of Extreme Italian as I was writing yesterday's post....Oh I do love blogging!)
14 Comments
Julia
14/1/2016 07:27:26 pm

Good luck with your total immersion!!!...:-)

Reply
Freda
15/1/2016 12:02:34 am

Thank you Julia!

Reply
ChompyChipmunk
14/1/2016 08:56:17 pm

Great idea, Freda. Go for it! It will add so much to your stay in Venice.

There are decent YouTube videos of Jonathan Antoine and Charlotte Jaconelli doing songs like "Il mondo e nostro" with Italian subtitles -- the bonus is that their voices are amazing. I find listening to music and reading novels one of the best ways to pick up language. I sometimes also do things like read pamphlets from the municipal government in Chinese to flex the muscles although I was a lot more hard core about this kind of thing in the years just after university!

Reply
Freda
15/1/2016 12:05:18 am

Thank you so much for the tips and the encouragement. I am sure it is easier than Chinese - wow!!

Reply
Lotta link
14/1/2016 10:35:34 pm

Good plan! I'm wondering, can Barry speak/understand Italian?! If not already, then it sounds as though you may both be fluent by the time you go to Venice! I did the same with French once and eventually started thinking in French... it does work, although I've reverted to English thinking now!

Reply
Freda
15/1/2016 12:07:28 am

Barry has no Italian (yet!) It's encouraging to know it worked for you Lotta. Thanks.

Reply
swissrose link
15/1/2016 12:18:45 am

Cara Freda, ti voglio tempi felici in Venezia!
Prova questo blog italiano sul idee minimaliste :) www.minimoblog.it

I found magazines helpful (home and gardening!), as well as listening to radio and watching TV/films (youtube?). Do you ever watch Montalbano on BBC Four, which has subtitles when things get rather fast (and they do occasionally use Sicilian dialect and have local accents, but it's still good immersion!)? I had the advantage that my Italian teacher used to give me a lift home and I could practice on her when things had percolated a bit and questions arose or I wanted to try something out :).

I also wondered if you were able to give Donna Leon a try? Not in Italian (she won't let them be published in Italian!) but they are a great observation and astute and affectionate analysis of Venice and the many-faceted Venetians!

Reply
Freda
15/1/2016 02:14:11 pm

Mille grazie Swissrose. Mi piace il blog e prova Donna Leon!

Reply
cath
15/1/2016 01:12:53 am

Allora, oggi 'vivere semplicemente, semplicemente vivere' è un luogo
d'incontro italiano. Wow. Buona idea.
Una fotografia per favore?

Reply
Freda
15/1/2016 02:16:33 pm

Ciao Cath! Mille grazie. Presto vi mostrero fotografie. x

Reply
Sarah link
17/1/2016 12:01:42 am

Ciao Freda, I am impressed with all your efforts in learning Italien. They talk so fast in the video about the dog, you must be doing so well to understand it some of it! Sarah x

Reply
Freda
17/1/2016 01:06:46 am

Ciao Sarah! I may be wrong but it seems to me all Italians talk fast and the trick at first is just to be able to pick out key words...nice little video though!

Reply
Christine McIntosh link
18/1/2016 03:12:58 am

I'm so impressed that you make the journey to Glasgow for your class - I'm so put off by regular huvtaes! But I'd love to learn more than the snippets of Italian conversation I can cope with - my mother went to extra-mural classes for years and I grew up with her practising on us. (Andiamo ...)

Reply
Freda
19/1/2016 09:44:14 am

I don't mind one regular huvtae a week and this is it! I make a day of it and enjoy a little city buzz.

Reply



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