Learning a new language can be a difficult thing to do expecially at my age. I started my language lessons prior to my arrival and I thought it would be beneficial to have a head start on the language. Shortly after I arrived and started to listen to people around me speak I soon realized that what I had learned in Toronto meant nothing here in Italy. Dialect is so widely spoken in this part of Italy, not sure why? maybe its because speaking dialect is easier. If the person I am listening to is not speaking dialect they are speaking super fast so I am not able to understand, how frustrating is that?
When I walked into my Italian class on the first day I wasn't too surprised. I was one of the many immigrants registered in the class. Many of the students in my class are from Eastern Europe. There are four English speaking students in the class, two from N.America and two from the UK. The four of us all sit together and speak to one another in English when we are not able to understand what the teacher is saying. The teacher often calls on us to translate a word into English when she doesn't know or when she finds that some of the students are not understanding her.
I am somewhat satisfied with how the lessons are being taught. I find it a little slow for me as I have already learned quite a bit grammatically when I was in Toronto however its a nice refresher at the moment. I wish the teacher was a little bit more vocal when the other students are talking during her lessons. I find myself being the one to tell the interrupters to shhhhhh or SHUT UP!
I am now one month and a bit into my lessons and have 8 more months to go......uuuggggghhhh.
Those of you here (Italy) learning the language, do you find it hard to build up your confidence to speak? This is my problem, I am afraid to make mistakes and be laughed at which always happens when I say something wrong.
alla prossima!
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5 comments:
Be brave love and just speak! Make as many mistakes possible and you will soon figure out how it should be said. I also studies Italian as a foreign language and yes it can be daunting at times. Just remember that the people you are speaking with understand that Italian is a foreign language for you and will be more forgiving. Have courage and use the language - you will be surprised how many doors it can open up for you!
italian in the beginning is not easy, and after 2 years here in italy it still difficult at times. i felt the same as you did in the beginning and at times still feel intimidated but if you don't start speaking you'll feel even worse. so don't be afraid "just do it" i know easier said than done. good luck. C
its going to be a bit longer. my situation is a bit different, because i still (after 1,5 years in italy) speak with my partner english (not my mother language and not fluent before i came here) and italian outside home. so i have/had to learn two languages at the same time, of course on different levels.
in my experience, its really not easy to start actually spekaing italian. mostly because many italians dont speak a foreign language (or "only" something like spanish, which is quite close) so they dont really know what it means to sart a language from the basics. so a lot of italians gave easily up at the beginning and i had to be quite insisting to convince them, that they just have to talk s-l-o-w-l-i-e-r and i will quite likely understand them. i learned some sentences like "please repeat again the same sentence but a bit slowlier" or "i just started to learn italian but i can already understand a little bit" and things like that. it was for me always much easier to talk to immigrnats and foreigners in italian. and of course to italians who speak foreign languages as well.
and making mistakes.. you know you have to do them? but these short sentences you hear so often, these will come fast (and without mistakes). they can break the ice and you will start to build creative own (and often funny) stuff. the people im talking to normally enjoy my mistakes and they also start to correct me (after i asked them).
and last but not least - italian is such a nice language and really a pleasure to talk and listen and sing. its great you do courses, i never did.
greetings, anna
I have taken course here. I can read and write Italian much better than I can understand it or speak. I don't think that will change for me until I move to a place where it is actually spoken.
I do clam up even in class. I now know I just have to go ahead and make mistakes. It's the only way I'm going to learn.
Good luck with your classes.
Thanks for the comments. Slowly, I am building up my courage to speak.
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