Learning Italian - Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks
We are planning a trip to Italy next year. He has family there that he has not seen in many years, and he wants to show me Italy through the eyes of an Italian and not as a "tourist" as he says. We will start in Austria and work our way down through Italy ending up in Sicily. I am very excited about this trip.
So to prepare I am teaching myself Italian as I do not want to insult anyone by not being able to communicate at least a little. I want his family to know that I at least have put some effort into understanding their language.
As the title of this blog states it has been like teaching an old dog new tricks. The audio CD program I purchased is very good and uses repetition which is definitely a great way to learn. The first few lessons were easy and I was able to move on quickly. However, lesson 4 was a bit more difficult and lesson 5 is even more daunting. I find that even when my mind comprehends, the mouth does not always cooperate. Amazing how hard it can be to train our mouth to form the words so they come out sounding like the language we are trying to learn.
I have tried to use some of what I have learned to communicate when he arrives home. Sometimes he smiles and gently corrects me, and other times he tells me how well I am doing. I hope at some point I find myself comfortable enough to have an actual conversation. With almost a year to learn I will diligently move forward. Since it is an audio learning program I can take it in the car with me which seems like a great use of my time. So, if you see some woman driving down the road talking to herself you can smile and know it is just an old dog teaching herself a new trick.
So to prepare I am teaching myself Italian as I do not want to insult anyone by not being able to communicate at least a little. I want his family to know that I at least have put some effort into understanding their language.
As the title of this blog states it has been like teaching an old dog new tricks. The audio CD program I purchased is very good and uses repetition which is definitely a great way to learn. The first few lessons were easy and I was able to move on quickly. However, lesson 4 was a bit more difficult and lesson 5 is even more daunting. I find that even when my mind comprehends, the mouth does not always cooperate. Amazing how hard it can be to train our mouth to form the words so they come out sounding like the language we are trying to learn.
I have tried to use some of what I have learned to communicate when he arrives home. Sometimes he smiles and gently corrects me, and other times he tells me how well I am doing. I hope at some point I find myself comfortable enough to have an actual conversation. With almost a year to learn I will diligently move forward. Since it is an audio learning program I can take it in the car with me which seems like a great use of my time. So, if you see some woman driving down the road talking to herself you can smile and know it is just an old dog teaching herself a new trick.
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