Have you ever started language study with great enthusiasm and then dropped it? I'll bet most of us have, with resulting guilt feelings . Starting on the journey to learn a new language is one of my life's greatest pleasures. I dream of a new system of communication, a fascinating vocabulary, and even the possibility of traveling to an unknown country. But it doesn't take long for euphoria to disappear and reality to set in.
I recently enrolled in a once a week, twelve-week Italian class at a local learning institute.
Italian wasn't on my bucket list of languages to learn, but it was the only foreign language course offered this term. Having a solid background in other Romance languages, I hoped that Italian would come fairly easily and that I could make quick progress. Wrong!
Today's class is mid-way in the course, a good time to take stock in what I have learned in the Italian language so far.
I am becoming acquainted with the Italian sound system. It took a while to remember that "ce" and "ci" require a beginning sound like "church." Similarly, "g' takes on the beginning sound of "judge" before "e" and "i." Italian has double consonants that have a longer sound than a single consonant (compare Italian for "cup," tazza with Spanish tasa). The rhythm and intonation of Italian are also starting to become distinctive to me.
The structure of Italian gives me a comfortable feeling. It is an SVO (subject, verb, object) language, with verbs requiring agreement with subjects and adjectives requiring agreement with nouns. I'm sure some idiosyncratic grammatical features will pop up with time, but they will be intriguing rather than incomprehensible. I can read simple Italian already.
The vocabulary of Italian is proving to be more elusive than I would have imagined. I forgot to take into account the confusion that studying several Romance languages at the same time may bring. Am I saying a word in Italian, or is it Spanish or Portuguese or even French? My Italian language study has not progressed enough to say with confidence!
And can I understand spoken Italian? Not very much! My husband, Wayne, and I were watching an old WWII movie recently where the action took place in Italy. A Walk in the Sun was the title. Quite a bit of Italian was spoken (with no subtitles), and I know Wayne expected me to be able to translate. All I could understand was a random word or two. (I guess I should have lied and made up a credible translation!)
Language acquisition is a relic in the modern world of lightning fast knowledge through technology. So much of the world comes to us so quickly. We expect language learning to happen overnight. After all, if we need to know how to do almost anything, can't we just google it?
Barring the unlikely circumstances that I will be spending a year in Italy or becoming best friends with a chatty Italian, I had better resign myself to the slow road to Italian. Maybe I should stop worrying and just enjoy the journey?
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