Unlike the French, Italians are patient with my clumsy attempts to speak the language. I am so grateful. I’ve been to Paris with my high school French, and they glare at you just for having the temerity to speak it. There was this whole thing once with a perfume lady on the Champs Élysée that ended when I stormed out of the shop and extended my stiff middle finger at her.
Glad to know that I am not the only one here who has issues learning this language. I completely relate to the number of syllables comment. My go to line is usually " Spiacente, ma non parlo Italiano bene. Piano piano per me! Which I just put into Google Translate and got back... "Mi dispiace, ma non parlo bene l'italiano. Piano piano per me! Learn something new every day. :D
I've always had the devil's own time learning other languages. When I arrived in Germany with the army, I was going to take care of everyone b/c I'd had 2 yrs of German in High School. We needed the train to Bitburg, so I waltzed up to some conductors who were hanging out opened my mouth ... and couldn't remember an effin' word. Instead I pointed at the train and said "Bitburg?"
Working on my Ph.D., they no longer require a foreign language per se, but a "research tool." As my diss was on philosophical issues relating to general relativity I was able to substitute a study of differential geometry for a language. (I speak gravity.)
When I lived in Zagreb, I found I could negotiate the markets with a combination of English and my schoolboy German. It was an ever-evolving adventure, but I didn't starve, so there's that. In Kosovo, I always had an Albanian interpreter with me, so I was relatively well-protected from any self-created embarrassing moments. I learned enough to be able to say "thank you" in rather flowery language. It made people happy to hear me (poorly) attempt to speak their language, though for all I knew I could've been saying "Your mother is a hamster, and your father buggers your neighbor's livestock." No one tried to disembowel me, so I must have done something right.
My cappello off to you. I have spent a lifetime and one billion dollars collecting foreign language apps, tapes, software, and *33 rpm records* trying to master any other language. I once famously (in certain circles) quoted my own tombstone as saying, "She spoke only English, but she spoke it to death".
Does anyone want to buy my Central American Spanish and Esperanto materials?
Glad to know that I am not the only one here who has issues learning this language. I completely relate to the number of syllables comment. My go to line is usually " Spiacente, ma non parlo Italiano bene. Piano piano per me! Which I just put into Google Translate and got back... "Mi dispiace, ma non parlo bene l'italiano. Piano piano per me! Learn something new every day. :D
I've always had the devil's own time learning other languages. When I arrived in Germany with the army, I was going to take care of everyone b/c I'd had 2 yrs of German in High School. We needed the train to Bitburg, so I waltzed up to some conductors who were hanging out opened my mouth ... and couldn't remember an effin' word. Instead I pointed at the train and said "Bitburg?"
Working on my Ph.D., they no longer require a foreign language per se, but a "research tool." As my diss was on philosophical issues relating to general relativity I was able to substitute a study of differential geometry for a language. (I speak gravity.)
When I lived in Zagreb, I found I could negotiate the markets with a combination of English and my schoolboy German. It was an ever-evolving adventure, but I didn't starve, so there's that. In Kosovo, I always had an Albanian interpreter with me, so I was relatively well-protected from any self-created embarrassing moments. I learned enough to be able to say "thank you" in rather flowery language. It made people happy to hear me (poorly) attempt to speak their language, though for all I knew I could've been saying "Your mother is a hamster, and your father buggers your neighbor's livestock." No one tried to disembowel me, so I must have done something right.
My cappello off to you. I have spent a lifetime and one billion dollars collecting foreign language apps, tapes, software, and *33 rpm records* trying to master any other language. I once famously (in certain circles) quoted my own tombstone as saying, "She spoke only English, but she spoke it to death".
Does anyone want to buy my Central American Spanish and Esperanto materials?