Why aren’t you learning?

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Buondì.

Apologies – to club members who actually ARE learning, and have evidence to back that up – for the title of today’s article.

If last year you were a beginner in Italian but can now manage a basic conversation, or if you recently found that B1/intermediate texts had become boring so are now stretching yourself with B2/upper-intermediate materials, well good on you! And sorry again.

But for the rest of us, “Why aren’t you learning?” is always a useful question to be asking.

The usual answer is “I don’t have the time”, though in my experience that’s rarely, if ever, true.

Everyone has time, and most people have some ‘time off’, too. ‘Off’ from work, from family, from whatever.

It’s just that we choose to spend it on something else: knitting, doing sport, or vegetating in front of the TV.

Besides, we all have time in which we’re busy doing something else (chores, commuting, exercise) but could ALSO be learning, for instance by listening to something in the language we want to improve.

So not “I don’t have the time”.

Back in the day, when I owned an English-language school here in Bologna (long hours, little money, lots of stress), each year I’d meet hundreds of Italians who were keen to learn English.

The market for English courses has cooled a lot in the last decade or two. Italy has aged, the ‘boom’ is decades past, now we’re all middle-aged or old.

Many young Italians emigrated or were never born at all, so spending money on language-learning, rather than nice clothes, cars and holidays, is no longer common.

But when it was, when keen professionals beat a path to my door, the reason they’d be willing to shell out for a language course, after a long day’s work or on a Saturday morning, was not “I don’t have the time”.

The real issues were either “I don’t know how”, “I don’t have the confidence to do this on my own”, and/or “I’m not motivated” – which itself could be broken down into “I can’t get started” or “I can’t keep at it”.

A nine-month, ninety-hour English course would have cost more than a thousand euros back when I first came to Italy in 1998, and what most people were actually paying so much money for was motivation.

You wrote a check/cheque and turned up at the agreed time (or you’d just wasted your money…) “Getting started” problem solved!

Ideally the teacher would be good-looking and interesting, as I was. If not, then maybe some of the other learners were, which dealt with “I can’t keep at it.”

Sometimes students would sign up for courses year after year. People would go from zero at English (Italian schools were terrible…) to good enough to move to the UK, Australia, or wherever and get a job.

Motivation + Time = Learning

It wasn’t complicated, so for decades it was a great little business to be in. People could see the value in improving their language skills, felt they wouldn’t do so if left to themselves, so paid out for some motivation.

As long as we didn’t mess up too badly, the outcome would be learning, and positive word of mouth.

But here I am, twenty years after starting my English school, two or three years down the road from closing it and quitting teaching (we still run the Italian language school), pondering my language-learning situation.

Which is that I have much more time than motivation. Though I have an excellent excuse at least: since 2001 Stefi and I have been hosting rescuse animals, most of whom have needed round-the-clock care.

Bug, for instance, has been with us for two years, since he was a furry little ball that needed to be bottle-fed every three hours. Now he bounds around like an energetic young lion, but requires constant supervision, lest he hurt himself or others, and to stop him getting bored and so trashing our home.

Insomma, I’m tired, I have less time for work, and no energy to fill my days with useful language-learning activities.

Yet I still feel bad that I’m not progressing. If someone were to come by and offer me language lessons combined with contemporaneous pet-care, they’d have little trouble parting me from my money.

All that said, while I’m doing much less learning than I’d like to, it’s not nothing. I listen to the news in Swedish most days, and have an online conversation with a native-speaker each Wednesday (which is today, must rush!)

E poi, I live in Italy so often find myself learning whether I like it or not. Yesterday I had to plough through this 44-page guide to the bureaucracy and taxes involved in renting out an apartment. Read it, made notes, learnt a lot. Specifically to avoid the whole area, if I possibly can.

But I really would like to do more – exercise my rusty Turkish, pick up Spanish again, read French newspapers and magazines, and ideally, learn some German, of which I know none at all.

Why am I not doing these things?

See above.

Is there much immediate likelihood of me starting to?

It doesn’t currently feel that way, no.

But perhaps things are different for you?

Life got stale?

Time to spare?

Up for a challenge?

2025 ‘Back to School’ Sale

Talking of overcoming the motivation problem by spending some money, our ebook store is currenly running a promotion!

Since last Wednesday I’ve published three articles over there, with details and suggestions.

Ebooks don’t cost much, offer good value for your language-learning bucks, and can be had more-or-less instantly.

So if you’re not on the ebooks store’s mailing list:

2025 Back to School Sale: ‘easy reader’ ebooks at your level

2025 ‘Back to School’ Sale: Easy readers and how to use them

2025 Back to School Sale: Italian self-study workbooks -25%!

P.S.

And here’s the Wednesday reminder to read/listen to Tuesday’s bulletin of news from EasyItalianNews.com, which is FREE!

Reading/listening practice will help you consolidate the Italian you’re studying, expand your vocabulary, and build vital comprehension skills.

Subscribing, to receive 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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