So you’ve memorized long-lists of Italian words, conquered the main irregular verbs, and more or less got the hang of Italian’s weird sentence structure.
But speaking terrifies you.
You find yourself paralyzed with fright at the idea of having to join in a conversation.
Perhaps your fear goes so deep, you’ll actively avoid situations in which you may embarrass yourself.
Well, that’s not so unusual…
Certainly, you’re not the only one to feel that way.
But just what exactly are you afraid OF?
I’ll make mistakes
Yup.
That’s one-hundred-percent guaranteed.
You will make mistakes. Lots of them.
And the more you speak, the more mistakes you’ll make.
But like in the film ‘Top Gun’, if you want to be the best (jet pilot, speaker of Italian), you’re gonna have to ‘push the envelope’.
Fly faster, harder, higher.
Take risks.
Who dares, wins.
But at least, if you mix up your ‘il’, ‘la’ and ‘lo’, no one’s gonna get killed, right?
I won’t be able to express myself
Also correct.
Or rather, “I won’t be able to express myself AS EASILY AS I DO IN MY OWN LANGUAGE”.
So wadya want?
I’ve been learning English for 47 years, Italian for less than 15.
Guess which comes easier when I have to have a conversation?
Sure you’ll be able to express yourself!
Wave your hands about like an Italian, make enthusiastic noises, smile!
They’ll get the message.
And if not, what will it matter?
Offer to buy everyone a drink. You’ll make plenty of friends that way.
People will laugh at me
62% of UK citizens can’t speak a foreign language other than at a ‘basic’ level.
Just four in ten Brits could hold a simple conversation in something other than English.
The most popular foreign languages in the UK are French (spoken half-heartedly by 23% of us), German (9% know enough to mix up the grammar), and Spanish (mispronounced by 8%).
So you’re having a conversation in Italian, worrying that you sound stupid?
They’re not laughing.
They’re impressed.
Or possibly jealous.
Just how many of your neighbors, family members, colleagues, speak Italian better than you do?
Right.
So, maybe you do have a terrible accent…
But at least you’ve got the balls to try.
And by the way, Italians tell me all the time that people in their country are rubbish at foreign languages.
It’s not true, but you see?
They feel just the same way you do.
Buon fine settimana!
P.S. Enrollments open Monday for our new online Italian conversation group. It won’t be free, but it will be affordable. And fun. And will do wonders for your self-confidence when you travel in Italy.
Reading this in an e-mail? Go here to leave a comment on this article.
John Thomson says
Daniel
Tu mi ha appena descritto perfettamente, tranne la parte che riguarda i miei vicini di casa
Due dei miei vicini di casa parlano italiano meglio di me
Hugo, forse perché è nato a Torino e abito lì, prima di emigrare in Inghilterra e John Bach che ha trascorso sette anni in Sicilia ed ora è il proprietario di una trattoria in Ormskik
Sei d’accordo con me che potrebbe essere il causo perche si parlano italiano meglio di me
cordiale saluti
John T
John Thomson says
Daniel
This is in English, bit too technical for my Italian
As you can see I appear to have built a WordPress web site and added a gravatar to my e-mail address, you will recognise Sam, our little dog
I am amazed how easy it has been, now I am going to start on pages, posts,plug ins and widgets
I have also created a localhost so I can play around with PHP and mySQL to have a look at some programming logic
By the way Ruth, there is only computer stuff on my site so it won’t be of any interest to you
I am looking forward to joining up for the conversations,Daniel has created a winner
See you in the conversations
cordiale saluti
John T
P.S. do you like the photo of Sam, he is 14 now and like me getting a bit stiff, but also like me he is still enjoying life, all thanks to Jennifer
Daniel says
I left a comment on your new site, John!
Matt says
Last night,I dreamed that I spoke Italian to a Tatar.In the conversation,I said several words which I had never learnt.When I woke up on morning,I was astonished by self.
John Thomson says
come te Matt, qualche volta io sogno in italiano
ma, io sogno delle declinazioni dei verbi
non c’e alcune romanzo nella mia anima
che peccato
e July anche io, non me ne fregga dell’errori viva Daniel
John T
July Rice says
Buon di! Si, ammesso sono terrificata parlare Italiano, ma prova sforzarmi ogni giorno un po. Mia sorella parla molto bene Italiana e lei mi aiuta, anche se parliamo Inglese sempre a casa. Abitavo in Italia per due anni e sono un può vergognata che non ho più fiducia in mi stessa a questo punto. Ma, devo avere più coraggio e sempre andare avanti. (This is mangled, I know, but I am taking Daniel’s advice and not caring about errors.)
Buona Domenica a tutti! (Non vedo ora per la prossima *Parliamo.*)
Jully
Pamela says
Things to avoid –
comparing one’s own level of competence in Italian to anybody else’s
dwelling on the mistakes you have made
too much going back and correcting yourself while speaking
imagining only confusion, boredom or judgement in the eyes of others when speaking Italian to them
saying to people that you are not very good in Italian
misreading anxious thoughts as a true assessment of a situation
giving up permanently
This may sound harsh or prescriptive but I mean it as encouragement. These points all come from my own ‘journey’ in learning Italian. Avanti tutti noi!
Daniel says
I’ll second all that, Pamela.
Some excellent advice there!