Skip to main content

The Italian Job




So, every year I set myself various challenges. This I do primarily to stop myself from getting bored and also to give myself something to do in between writing, reading, teaching and dancing.  This year, as readers of this blog will know, I’ve decided to learn Italian.

Step 1:          Come down from my crazy Christmas high which was created by spending way too much time with fantastic friends, eating great food and generally imbibing outrageous quantities of mulled spirits.

Step 2:          Run around the house screaming in panic as I realise I’ve set myself yet another insane challenge.

Step 3:          Take several deep breaths of lavender aroma therapy oil then trawl through the internet to find a site to help me complete my challenge.

There was of course Babble. I shied away – the biblical image the name invoked was too strong and made me envisage failure even before I’d begun. Then there was the very useful Foreign Office site which provides a wealth of resources but contains a lot of information about official names for foreign office staff and the types of uniform worn by the armed forces, as well as formal and informal forms of address for these particular people. I decided this was possibly not the right site for me. So I went on another search and finally found Duolingo.
Duolingo kindly informs me of my progress on a daily basis. Now, 3 months along, it tells me that my knowledge of Italian stands at 34%. I distrust the algorithm as I’m certain my knowledge is nowhere near that capacity. In my estimation it’s probably more like 25%. The hardest thing I’m having to deal with is remembering vocab. Thank heavens for the flashcards.
For some reason my brain refuses to learn question words and I’m constantly referring to my set of post-it notes. Duolingo has a system which allows you to translate from Italian to English and vice versa. I can do this fairly quickly but cheat as I can check word meanings. I'm also an ace at the multiple choice component on the site. But the minute I attempt the timed exercises I bomb out. The days of the week elude me. So far I’ve only managed to secure Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Mmmm, I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that together they make up the weekend. I leave you to decide.
Am trying to self-test as I go, but I’m not very strict with myself. I bet my students would be a whole lot tougher on me and direct me to LEARN all that vocab I keep forgetting.



One of my favourite sentences to date involves a monkey and jam which I just know I’m going to be using a great deal when I next travel to Italy. Another tells me that a snake is eating a spider – the law of the jungle played out even in an Italian lesson. But I’ve also learnt a crucial directive in Italian and I put it to you now folks.


Leggi I miei libri.


I don’t need to say much more. As an author it is the only Italian sentence I need to communicate my desires. I confess I’m tempted to leave the lessons at this point and not bother any more. However, I plan on persisting since I’ve still got to learn how to ‘blow the bloody doors off’.





Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. It's much appreciated as is the time you take to write a comment.

Popular posts from this blog

Faetaera: A Triumvirate

  A Triumvirate Brairton’s minions slipped through a barely noticeable fissure.  The tear would close shortly.  Despite the increase in their regularity the breaches rarely stayed open very long.  To the three insidious spies, the stink of the new world was almost unbearable.  But in time the triumvirate would each become so used to it they would scarcely notice it at all.  That it poisoned them they did not know.  Brairton was not in the habit of informing his operatives of fatal consequences.  Their programming precluded any thought beyond the mission they must complete.  In this Brairton had been exact and had performed the necessary rituals himself. Each had their mission branded into their being.   They would travel together for some time but then slip off to their secret destinations one by one, never to see each other again. The threesome latched on to their individual targets and began their particular brand of individual mis...
Post a Comment
Read more

Guest Post: Creative Recharge

Lindsay Bamfield started writing fiction about 10 years ago. She has written a number of short stories and flash fiction pieces and has been published in Greenacre Writers Anthology , Voices from the Web 2012, The Best of Café Lit 2012, Mslexia, Writers’ News and Writing Magazine.  She has won prizes in Writers’ News , Writing Magazine and Words with Jam competitions and has been shortlisted in others. She is currently re-working her first novel with advice from an editor and has a second novel on the back-burner.  How do I recharge my writing batteries? I’m not sure I’m the right person to answer this as my batteries are still somewhat depleted after illness and debilitating treatment, but my writing activity, although still less than ideal has bounced back to some extent. It was only after being ill that I understood just how much energy writing requires. Exhaustion does not engender creativity. After a frustrating dry-spell when I wanted to writ...
5 comments
Read more

#Indie Intro

#Review: RED DESERT by Rita Carla Francesca Monticelli 4 Star reading I must confess a certain attraction to the inhospitable red planet ever since I saw Total Recall . The Arnie version of course. There simply is no other. As many of you know, I’ve even squeezed a mention of Mars into my very own little eco SciFi number. So I was delighted to come across this translation of Deserto Rosso. It is written in diary format from the perspective of Anna Persson, an astronaut landed on Mars together with several colleagues. Together they are hoping to set up a primary colony. The opening is dramatic as use of the present tense and the narrator’s situation draws the reader in. The story line switches between events on Mars and flashbacks, in the past tense, in which we learn a great deal of backstory. I found these details and the relationships Anna has with other characters very engaging. I wanted to read on and in fact finished the book in only 4 sittings. Anna's compl...
Post a Comment
Read more