So many people have been asking me lately, “How did you learn to speak Italian?”.
If you ask my Italian friends they’ll probably tell you that I haven’t learned, very well, anyway. But I try. When I’m in Italy I speak Italian, and though I’m constantly mixing up words and raising eyebrows (Why is it that I am inevitably mistaking a word for a dirty word? Maybe there are just too many dirty words in Italian), I get by. And I enjoy myself at the movies in Italy.
So how did I learn? I studied. I know that sounds like a joke but it’s not. I teach a 6 week “Italian for Tourists” class and it’s pretty funny, watching the expressions of the faces of my students change arriving happy and excited and then leaving disappointed and frightened. I mean, I’m sorry, but it’s hard to learn a new language. You have to work hard. Didn’t they know that? When I started learning I spent my evenings studying while we watched TV. I started dreaming about verb conjugations.
I began studying with a private tutor and for me, this was the only way. Programs like Rosetta Stone and Fluenz were just wastes of time and money because I need someone to interact with and someone to hold me accountable. My teacher was Signora – that’s what she made me call her and I was never invited to give her anything but “Lei”, the formal “you”. It’s not as cold as it sounds, because she was the teacher and I was the student and it was my introduction to the somewhat formal world of speaking Italian. In Italy you don’t get informal unless you’re invited to or you’re someone far younger than I am.
After I studied with Signora for a year, my husband gave me a present: two weeks at a language school in Florence. It was great, but he was very surprised when I called him on the second day and asked if he minded if I dropped out.
“I’m in Italy on my own for two weeks and I don’t want to spend the whole time in a classroom!” He said, “OK, whatever” and I headed for the train station. I spent my time exploring new cities and meeting people. It was a blast.
But the next year I figured I should actually go to language school, so I found the Scuola Leonardo da Vinci in Rome and I took a 2 week class without dropping out. It was wonderful! In this immersion school I met people from literally all over the world. I have the happiest memories of going out to lunch and speaking (really bad) Italian with people from Japan, Argentina, Russia, Denmark, and Germany. It was a great experience and my Italian really improved.
From that point on, every time I had a few weeks in Rome I’d go back for a refresher. I know that not everyone would consider school a vacation, but I also know that there are those of you out there like me, who love that stuff. I can’t say enough good things about Scuola Leonardo da Vinci and highly recommend it if you are serious about learning the language.
When I arrive in Italy next week it will take me a few days to feel comfortable speaking. I don’t get much of a chance to practice at home, but I try to keep up with it WATCHING MOVIES (of course) and reading novels. I love reading easy, fun novels like Sophie Kinsella’s Shopaholic books – they call them I Love Shopping in Italy.
If you have questions, let me know. You don’t have to speak a word of Italian to enjoy Italian movies, but it really does make it more fun.
Dai! Provaci anche tu!
I Love Italian Everything 