Why is it that we Americans aren’t required to learn another language from the time that we are young and our brains have the capacity to grasp the nuances that elude us when we’re older? Of course, many students take the obligatory Spanish or French in high school and some even venture further by taking a few more college level classes, but how many people here really learn to converse in another language? Why is it that every European that I’ve ever met is fluent in English and I’m struggling to get Italian under my belt?
I think I have a knack for languages. I even majored in them in college (French and German), yet I was never anywhere near fluency in either of them, probably because I started too late, already a teenager. What makes me think that now, many years later I can learn Italian? I’m determined to make this happen. I’m luckier than some of my friends who are also attempting to learn this beautiful language, as I have some French left in my brain and it helps me with Italian words and grammar.
It’s been exactly two years since I began taking classes. Looking back now, I can laugh at the things that I then thought were difficult! I do better when I’m in a formal class. I like the structure, the need to study daily and having a group to converse with. I’ve completed all the grammar classes at the local college and spent a month taking language classes in Italy, which was absolutely the best thing I could have done. But, I’m still not as far along as I would like to be. I would have to say that my comprehension skills have dramatically improved, but I still struggle with speaking. I guess that’s natural because it requires you to put yourself out there and make mistakes in front of others and stand there searching for a word or phrase.
Now I have a tutor-a wonderful Sicilian woman-who I meet with once a week. We work on grammar that I’ve studied on my own but more importantly, we sit and chat and I find it challenging and also very satisfying. There are days when I feel like I’m really doing well and then there are days that I feel like an absolute beginner. I think I know that the only way to really learn a language is to be in the environment where you have to speak it every single day. Bottom line is you have to live it. Hmm, I think I could handle that!
