No time or energy for learning foreign languages

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Buondì.

I’ve no time or energy for learning foreign languages. It’s a situation which has dragged on way too long, and about which I suffer from regular pangs of guilt.

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions” my mother used to tell me, and perhaps she was right. I wanted to do this, I’d planned to do that, and I’d definitely get around to that other thing as soon as…

And then, more than two years ago, we volunteered to mind a cute, seven-day-old pup who, for the purposes of these articles, I call Bug. Because he was like one when he arrived – a little bug, so inconsequential in terms of the space he took up in the world that we could have easily forgotten he was there – except for screaming, and the three-hourly bottle feeds day and night for the first six months.

Twenty six months later, tiny pup Bug now better resembles one of those pit bulls you see burly humans struggling to control in public parks, though he’s rather more good-natured.

Suffice it to say our ‘temporary’ charge takes up a lot more of our energy and time than we expected, not least because his petting zoo / daycare facility is right on the other side of the city, and with Bologna’s ongoing tram works, traffic is even more slow-moving and stressful.

Hence no time or energy for learning foreign languages. E da un bel po’.

So I was pondering this as I drove back from dropping Bug off at the petting zoo this morning (a six or seven mile return trip that took more than half an hour), while listening to the news in Swedish.

If you listen to news broadcasts in a foreign language, you’ll be familiar with the sensation of your understanding sort of drifting in and out. Sometimes you can follow without even noticing, other times it’s all just noise, and then there’s the rest of the spectrum in between, when comprehension is partial, when you can get what’s being said to a greater or lesser degree, often times depending on how familiar the topic is.

You’ll probably also recognise the experience of getting caught up with an unknown word or expression, something so central to what’s being said that, in the background, your brain starts to guess at what it could be.

If subconscious brain comes up with an acceptable hypothesis, then all well and good – that’s how language learning is supposed to happen. But if not, if the grey matter has simply no clue this time, then the word gets flagged up for conscious brain to deal with.

Which is irritating, as besides disrupting the news broadcast, the unknown word reminds me of all those good intentions abandoned by the wayside.

Ma poi I had a cheering thought (I guess I must have slept better than usual), which was that I never understand everything I hear, that that’s totally normal, and that I should totally abandon the negative self-talk and instead give myself a pat on the back simply for being in the habit of listening to foreign language news broadcasts in the car at all. Anyone could, most people don’t.

Decades back, I made the decision to stop listening to English language radio and to ONLY listen to radio broadcasts in the languages I was learning. It seemed like a good idea at the time and, more or less, the resolution stuck.

I still watch English-language TV (all too easy now, with streaming) as my Italian wife prefers it. But when I’m on my own it’ll be Italian, Swedish, French or occasionally Turkish or Spanish.

I tried the same thing with reading, though with less success. I have newspaper apps on my phone for all those languages, but mostly read in Italian or English. Still, I don’t have the BBC or British newspaper apps installed (deliberately), so the go-to for finding out what craziness Trump is up to now is RaiNews.it.

And in moments of leisure (when Bug’s watching TV – he’s fine with Italian or English, either way) this year I’ve been working my way through a twenty-book series of historical novels, mostly in Italian as those are easier to obtain.

What about actual speaking?

Normally on Wednesday’s I have a half-hour conversation with a Swedish pensioner, online obviously, though not today as he has a hospital appointment.

Bug and I speak Italian, though we sing songs in English (The Wheels On The Bus, Old MacDonald, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and now Christmas carols). With the rest of the family, so Stefi (the face of our Italian school) and Tom (voice of EasyItalianNews.com), it’s English.

Naturally I chat in Italian with Bug’s keepers when I pick him up of an evening. They like to obsess over his bowel movements, so I’ve picked up lots of words meaning ‘soft and runny’. And with other pet owners, and their charges, in the park.

OK, I’ve rambled a little, but the point is this: there’s no point in fretting if I don’t have the time or energy I’d like to have for learning foreign languages AS LONG AS I have at least a few good habits to keep my subsconscious busy.

IF there’s some regular foreign-language input, then the learning will happen anyway. Perhaps not as rapidly or in such an organised, predictable way as when I have time to plan my learning, but not nothing.

Good habits are the key, see?

And especially EASY good habits, things which don’t cost money, time or emotional effort. If whatever you do when you’re driving or doing chores isn’t critical to your wealth and happiness, then why not work at replacing it with a similar activity in Italian, and/or other languages that interest you? These days, with smartphones and so on, that’s easy and free to do.

Then scroll forward a few years: you’ll be amazed at the difference your new habit has made!

Alla prossima settimana.

Half-Price Ebook Easy Reader ‘Giallo a Capodanno’ Just £4.99

Last week’s email about the half-price promotion on the B2-level Italian easy reader eBook ‘Natale a sorpresa‘ could easily have ended up in people’s ‘trash’ folder, along with all the ‘Black Friday’ offers.

So – and because that story is about Christmas – the EasyReaders.org team are leaving it at half-price until the holidays are over, to give you a chance to grab your copy at a discount: ‘Natale a sorpresa‘.

And this week? They have another seasonal Italian eBook for you!

Half-price, B2/C1-level easy reader ebook ‘Giallo a Capodanno‘ is perfect for improving your Italian reading/listening skills over the holidays, though it’s a little harder than ‘Natale a sorpresa‘ so check the free sample chapters for each before you buy:

• https://easyreaders.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Natale-a-sorpresa-SAMPLE.pdf
• https://easyreaders.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Giallo-a-Capodanno-SAMPLE.pdf

Read/listen to one or both of these over the next week or two and you’ll improve your Italian comprehension skills, consolidate the grammar and vocabulary you’ve studied, and get into the festive mood – at half the usual price!

“Sbrigati Alida, o arriveremo in ritardo alla festa di Capodanno!” ripete nervosamente Martina alla sua compagna di stanza. Alida sta sdraiata sul letto con un libro di Agatha Christie fra le mani. Si toglie pigramente gli occhiali da lettura e guarda fuori dalla finestra: “Nevica ancora, che incubo!”

It’s New Year 1970 and Martina’s all dressed up for the party, determined to enjoy it! But her roommate, Alida is more cynical:

“Ascolta: siamo bloccati dalla neve in un collegio in cui viviamo tutto l’anno. Dei duecento alunni che frequentano la scuola, solo sette (sette, porca miseria!) hanno dei genitori che non li vogliono tra i piedi nemmeno durante le feste. E noi siamo tra questi sette. Quindi puoi anche vestirti come Marilyn Monroe… ma rimani una disgraziata!”

Alida would rather read detective thrillers than pretend to have fun with just six fellow students. But who knows? Perhaps something interesting will happen?

• .pdf e-book (+ audio available free online)
• .mobi (Kindle-compatible) and .epub (other ebook readers) available on request at no extra charge – just add a note to the order form or email us
• 8 chapters to read and listen to
• Comprehension questions to check your understanding
• Italian/English glossary of ‘difficult’ terms for the level
• Suitable for students at upper-intermediate level or above
• Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)

Remember, this week ‘Giallo a Capodanno‘ is 50% discounted, so just £4.99 rather than the usual ‘easy reader’ ebook price of £9.99!

Buy ‘Giallo a Capodanno‘ just £4.99! | Free Sample Chapter (.pdf) | Catalog

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P.S.

And as always, don’t forget to read/listen to today’s FREE bulletin of ‘easy’ Italian news.

The regular text + audio bulletins are a fantastic, FREE way to consolidate the grammar and vocabulary you’ve studied, as well as being fun and motivating!

Take a look at their website to get started on improving your Italian immediately!

To get all three text + audio bulletins of ‘easy’ news emailed to you each week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, subscribe (they really are FREE) by entering your email address on this page and clicking the confirmation link that will be sent to you.

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