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Buondì.
Learning a foreign language is like taking a summer holiday with your family.
If you’ve tried both, you might immediately recognise the metaphor, but given that plenty of people who read this are perhaps just aspiring language learners and/or don’t have a family to holiday with, let me spell it out.
1.) Family holidays are different. Instead of your regular, well-optimised home/work routines, you find yourself in a plastic cabin in a Tuscan wood with an agitated two-year old. So too is learning a foreign language unfamiliar: instead of communicating in your mother-tongue, you’re learning how to interact with others all over again, perhaps from scratch. These things can be hard work…
2.) Both therefore require plenty of patience. Losing your cool is unhelpful. When said two-year old hurls a plastic lampshade down a hill to see how it rolls, despite having been told repeatedly not to try, getting upset doesn’t help. Ditto when you can’t understand what speakers of your new language are saying to you, or when your attempts to speak just result in puzzled shrugs and replies in English. The solution? Just chill, this because…
3.) There’s the chance that both of these potentially-stressful situations will actually turn out to be enjoyable and satisfying (really!) For instance, today was Bug’s first experience in a swimming pool, and he went from cautious experimentation, via hysterical yelling, to eventually climbing in and out of the water on his own and to something approaching swimming (with boyancy aids). Which was fun to see. Those who’ve done some language-learning might recognise the initial enthusiasm, the fearful moments, and that great feeling when you actually achieve something approaching communication.
There’s a difference, though. All too soon a family holiday is over and it’s back to the usual routine: the commute, the computer, the colleagues. Sigh. And for another year!
Which isn’t at all like learning a foreign language, where the discoveries, novelties and satisfaction can be sustained for as long as you keep at it. Not just weeks but years, even decades!
Alla prossima settimana.
P.S.
And here’s the usual reminder to read/listen to Tuesday’s bulletin of news from EasyItalianNews.com, which I haven’t yet done as the campsite has a dodgy internet connection and I have to work via the hotspot on my smartphone.
Reading/listening practice will help you consolidate the Italian you’re studying, expand your vocabulary, and build vital comprehension skills.
EasyItalianNews.com is FREE to read/listen to.
Subscribing, and so receiving all three text + audio bulletins of ‘easy’ news via email each week -on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays – is also FREE.
Just enter your email address on this page and click the confirmation link that will be sent to you.
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