Buondì.
Some kid came into the school the other day while I was sitting on reception hoping to mind my own business.
He wanted to do a course to prepare for a certain English exam – I’ll spare you the details.
(We also teach English, though a lot less these days, mostly it’s Italian now.)
What for? I asked.
For a masters degree. They want a certificate showing he has at least a B2 in English, apparently.
When by? was my next question.
February, he told me.
I asked him if he’d checked whether that particular exam was available between now and February.
Nope.
And if it was, whether the results would be available within the deadline set by the masters course people?
That neither.
So why this particular exam?
Ah! Because that’s the level they’re asking for. He’s checked – it’s the only exam at that level.
That’s true, I told him. But there are other exams (again, I’ll spare you the details) which are not fixed at a particular level but give their results on a scale from zero to nine or zero to one hundred and twenty.
Those are available monthly, I informed him. And you’ll get the results within fifteen days.
In fact, they’re specifically designed for situations like this.
Perhaps you can check if the university would accept those exams, and if so, what ‘punteggio’ they would regard as equal to B2?
I’ll do that, he agreed.
And also contact the exam providers and verify that they have places for the date or dates that interest you?
OK! the kid says.
Then, I added, come back here, tell me what ‘punteggio’ the masters guys want, and I’ll check your current level and tell you WHETHER you need a preparation course at all.
And if your English isn’t good enough? I’ll tell you that too, so you can rethink your plans.
Got it?
Off he goes, hopefully having a clearer idea of what he needs to do next.
Beh, why am I telling you this?
“WHAT FOR?” is a very useful question.
“I want to learn Italian.”
What for?
“I want to be fluent.”
What for?
“I want to understand everything I hear.”
What for?
“I want to make fewer errors.”
What for?
“I want to improve my pronunciation.”
What for?
And so on and so forth.
Some objectives are already evident:
“I want to be able to read novels in Italian” probably doesn’t require a WHAT FOR?
Unless it’s out of pure curiosity.
Nor does “I want to be able to communicate with the builders that are working on the house I recently bought in Italy.”
But often, asking WHY about the WHAT is the key to figuring out the HOW (and the WHEN).
Let me give it a try on myself.
“I want to continue improving my level in Swedish.”
WHAT FOR?
To show I can. And because it’s an interesting process and I’m a language teacher. And because I enjoy it. And because it pleases my (half-Swedish) wife and her family. And because, after a few years of listening to Swedish radio, I’m in the habit of it.
So lots of reasons!
“I want to be able to read in Turkish.”
WHY?
Because I can’t, though I know the language reasonably well. And not being able to read (it’s a lot harder than listening…) means that a lot of doors are closed. And because it’s something that I haven’t been able to do for nearly thirty years and it frustrates the hell out of me.
So good reasons. But evidently not good enough as this is a desire that I’ve held for decades yet never done anything much about achieving.
Your turn, now.
You want to learn Italian, or to improve the Italian you already know in some way.
What for?
Sylvia May says
Was it my grandma’s enthusiastic ‘brava, bambina, brava!’ when I recited the numbers 1-10 at about 3 years old? Was it the fact that I had the chance to do an O level and jumped at it? Was it the fact that I suddenly acquired a half-Italian grandson many years later? There have been many sparks, but I think it was always meant to be. And what do I want? To be able to speak Italian as well as possible, and to be able to read stories, and watch Montalbano without the subtitles (yes I know part of it’s in Sicilian, but my grandson’s family live in Catania).
Anyhow, I suppose this is the point where I finally get to ‘review’ the lessons and encourage everyone to sign up – oops, a bit late for your free lessons this time, I believe, Daniel, but never mind. But do it! Ok, I flounder around with the language, but we have a laugh, and I get a lot of help from my tutor as well. At least now, I’m not afraid to open my mouth, and I would recommend it to anyone. Overcome your fear of starting the process, and you’ll never look back!
John Holden says
Having spent much of my working life with colleagues from a pretty heterogeneous range of backgrounds, from old Commonwealth countries to the EU, I have always been impressed with their general level of fluency in English as a second if not third or fourth language. I suppose it’s always made me feel rather inferior. Travelling around the Indian subcontinent on holiday, it’s easy to get by in English, but in Europe you can really miss out. I left school with “O” levels in French and Latin, which meant I couldn’t speak a word of either, but I detested the arrogant British attitude that if you speak loud enough they’ll understand, so I began learning French, then Italian. I’m still learning, and I’m certainly not fluent in either language, but the learning process has improved my knowledge and understanding of the countries, and has certainly enriched my holidays and my relationships with friends and colleagues not just in France and Italy, but everywhere.
Laury Burr says
Hi John
The mere fact that we’re here suggests we’re “ahead of the curve” (which, given the UK’s poor reputation for learning other people’s languages, coupled with the “just speak luder” arrogance you mentioned, actually isn’t that difficult! I’m a bit sad that you didn’t find your o-level French very useful – I have to say that my own experience is very different. Some 10 years after stopping learning French (which I, too, stopped at O-level) my wife & I were returning from a holiday in Strasbourg with a schoolfriend of my wife and we stopped in Rouen to spend a weekend with a guy I’d been corresponding with in English for a couple of years. But when we arrived he was still at work and Dominique, his wife, greeted us at the door with (in French bien sûr!) an apology, she didn’t speak English, and Yvon wouldn’t be back for about an hour. Oh well, I thought, let’s see what I can remember – and soon we were conversing! Not very fast, but we understood each other.
Oh, and yes, she did understand & speak English but was even less confident than I was at the start of that hour. In fact, her English was much better that Yvon’s!
In other words, the first step is the hardest. Don’t be afraid of making a fool of myself has been my motto, and I think it works.
I only started learning Italian just over a year ago (I’m 70) but decided that after 8 enjoyable holidays in Italy, where I could read and understand an Italian menu but little else, it was time to learn! Russian next, then Hungarian…