Hai la pipì? / Vuoi un gelato?

Buondì.

The weather’s rather hot in Bologna, where I live, and that’s been trying everyone’s patience.

For which reason, Roomie and I were out of the house early on Saturday and Sunday morning, with the aim of leaving my wife a little time to knit. The longer we were gone, the better.

We plodded to the park, then romped around, climbing on things, tripping over things, marvelling at the world and at the animals and people in it.

Until, that is, we clashed heads (metaphorically) over the advisability of drinking from the waste-water receptacle under the drinking fountain (which even the local dogs aren’t permitted to touch), and then over getting back into the stroller/pushchair once more, so we would be able to make faster progress.

Despite occasional disagreements, I believe we managed about two hours out each morning, before fraying nerves and rising temperatures drove us home to ‘mamma’, and a chilled beer.

Anyway, while I was pushing the stroller, I had plenty of time to reflect on my usual topic, language-learning, specifically on the wild imbalance between WHAT LEARNERS CAN SAY and WHAT LEARNERS CAN UNDERSTAND.

Bear with me.

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ROOMIE’S LANGUAGE AUDIT 24-05-22

Roomie can say these 1 syllable words:

no / si (mostly ‘no’)
giù / up
animal noises: bau (dog), mau (cat), muu, roar, bee (sheep), cra (frog)
ciao (hello, goodbye)
io (me, I want, give to me)

Roomie can say these 2 syllable words:

mamma, papà, pipi, acqua, chiuf chiuf (train, Thomas the Tank Engine), fuff fuff (blowing, as with hot food, or to make bubbles with detergent)
other animal noises: iih ooh (donkey), qua qua (duck)
bua (an injury, something that hurts – Romagna version) / bubba (Bologna version)

Roomie can say just one 3 syllable word:

aereo (we live under the flight path)

Roomie can understand:

Chi è la bimba più bella del mondo? (risposta: “Io!”)
Sei molto intelligente!
Hai fame? Hai freddo? Hai sette? (‘Have you’ hunger/cold/thirst?)
nanna (sleep), pappa (food)
Il cocodrillo come fa? (a song – How does the crocodile do it?)
La bella lavanderina, che lava i fazzoletti.. (another song, with actions!)
gatto, cane, pesci, piccioni, gallo, gallina,
latte, biscotti, gelato, sale, pepe, mela, banana, ecc.
bacio, le coccole, cara (touch gently, be gentle),
borsa, palloncino, libro, bicicletta,
supermercato, Coop, scala mobile, carrello (supermarket trolley), pagare, monete, banconote,
parco, altalene (swings), scivolo (slide), fiori,
Macchina! (There’s a vehicle approaching, come close to me, to be safe!)
HANDS! (Go wash them, it’s time to eat!)
chicchirichì / coccodè (what the cockrel/hen respectively say)
semaforo, rosso, verde
Vuoi un gelato? Vuoi guardare il TV? Vuoi venire in braccio? Vuoi giocare? Vuoi ascoltare la radio? (Do you want a / Do you want to ?)
Mangiamo? (Shall we eat? / Let’s eat!)
Non lo vuoi? (Don’t you want it?)
Non toccare! (Don’t touch!)
Fa male!
Stiamo quasi li.
Basta urlare!
Peppa Pig, Paw Patrol, Shrek, Spirit, Thomas the Tank Engine, ecc.
sorellina
nono/nonna, granny/grandad
Hai la pipì?
Cambiamo il pannolino?
Balli? (Are you dancing?)
Hai capito? (Do you understand?)
Arrivo (I’m coming, be patient!)
sabbia
Togliamo le scarpe? (Shall we take off the shoes?)
Se vuoi uscire, devi mettere le scarpe! (If you want to go out, you have to put on the shoes!)
Vieni qui! / Aspetta li! (Come here! / Wait there!)
seggiolino (child’s car seat), passeggino (pushchair/stroller), scale, scuola, dada (nursery school staff member), letto
cappello (hat)
capelli (1 ‘p’ is ‘hair’)
Pettiniamo i capelli? (Shall we brush the hair?)
Facciamo la coda? (Shall we tie your hair up?)
Vuoi la spilla? (Do you want a hair pin?)
Facciamo il bagno? (Shall we do the bath?)

Roomie can’t understand:

poliziotto

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That was fun to put together, and I hope it was fun to read. Roomie’s a real live wire, and her language skills improve daily, even hourly.

This morning in bed, looking at a book with pictures of the city – transport hubs, supermarkets, and so on – we were playing the ‘can you see this thing in the picture?’ game.

Which is how I know that she knows ‘carrello’ (supermarket trolley, as pushed by mamma coniglio and traveled in by a rather bored-looking baby coniglio), and ‘raccolta vetro’ (bell-shaped green container to deposit glass for recycling – we have a lot of beer bottles in our house), but doesn’t know ‘poliziotto’, who are rarely seen in these parts.

Conclusions?

Roomie is not an adult learner, like you and I, but it’s quite striking how little she can actually say, compared with the list of things she can and does understand (and the list would have been longer if I’d had more time.)

Also that what she can say is very transactional (si/no), there’s a lot of signalling (noises representing things), and there’s virtually no grammar, except for the pronoun (io!)

But compare what little she can say with the long list of what she understands!

Two potential problems make adult learners miserable: they can’t SAY what they want to, and/or they can’t UNDERSTAND what others are saying.

They’re both valid reasons for frustration, in that they both impede normal life when you’re using a foreign language you know little of.

But if you HAD TO have one of those problems (and you can see from the list that Roomie really does), which would be worse?

Not being able to speak? Or not understanding?

Many adult learners prioritise being able to ‘express their thoughts’, so learning the words and grammar needed to form ‘proper sentences’.

Personally I’ve never seen the point. How many people actually have anything interesting/original to say?

I’m sure I don’t, at least not in conversation, so I’ll always prioritise eliminating the other problem first.

I don’t care overmuch that I can’t speak, or can’t speak gramatically, or that I can only express myself in grunts and with pointing, or that my accent is risible.

But I do, totally, want to know what people around me are saying. I want to be in the loop. I absolutely do NOT want to be excluded!

If someone suggests an icecream, or a kiss for that matter, I want to recognise what’s on offer, rather than be off, in my own world somewhere, busy conjugating verbs in preparation for my next unmissable utterance.

Language learners SHOULD understand more than they can say, like Roomie can – or something is wrong with their approach to learning.

That means doing plenty of reading/listening practice, and from the beginning, not waiting until you’ve studied all the grammar, or finished Duolingo…

Reading/listening practice rapidly results in understanding, and that understanding grows and grows as time passes.

Which progress eventually feeds into your ability to express yourself.

Sure, that cycle can take years! But do you have something better to do?

And done that way, clockwise rather than anticlockwise, if you’ll excuse the metaphor, at least you won’t miss out on so much in the meantime.

Roomie is already super-expert at not missing out on things!

A venerdì.

P.S.

Tuesday’s FREE bulletin of ‘easy’ Italian news contains their bimonthly appeal for donations.

If your Italian has improved as a result of regular reading/listening to the thrice-weekly bulletins (which cost approximately £1000 a month to produce), perhaps you’d like to help them out with a donation?

This page has a choice of currency options and, if you scroll down, full instructions on how to navigate the payment process.

If, on the other hand, your Italian hasn’t (yet) improved, then make sure you’re reading and listening to each bulletin (read advice on how to do that). I’ll be back, rattling my collection tin, in the last week of July, which should be enough time for you to notice the difference that regular practice has made.

Donate to EasyItalianNews.com

P.P.S.

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