Learning Italian… importante ma non facile

For my experience abroad I really wanted to learn some Italian before so I would be confident enough to speak. Let’s say I learnt some but I am still pretty afraid to talk. It is actually quite funny that I study adult education and know exactly what is happening and where my obstacles are, but still hard to get over them.

I always liked the sound of Italian so when all my friends learnt Spanish I bought a book for learning Italian. Because I had Latin in school everything seemed quite easy and familiar. But because of other responsibilities I was lazy and soon my motivation vanished. I somehow missed having practise and having a teacher who push me to work. So I decided to do a course in university some years later. The course was actually quite nice, I liked my teacher and the other classmates. But somehow my grades weren’t as good as aspected, obviously my laziness and lack of practising still sabotaged me. Unfortunately for me the following course didn’t fit in my timetable, so I had to stop.

When I decided to go to italy I knew, I have to learn. Motivation was as high as never, especially because there was a goal. But it was really hard to include it in my already full timetable. So I tried some language apps. It went well but I never know when to change in another task so I was either bored or overwhelmed. So finally I found a course on university I wanted to do… But I couldn’t get in. Too many applicants. The language office told me to get into a higher level. I did and somehow made it to repeat all the lessons I had before. It was quite an intense course which means a lot of information in a short time. So now I am here and try to remember something.

I didn’t really understand about the italian language course here in Bologna and somehow my timetable was already full, so I decided against it. Now I feel quite frustrated often, when I am not able to express myself. Actually I really have to push myself to speak Italian, but I use it more and more often. My friends here in Bologna are mostly international, so we talk a lot in English, but when I was in Rome I managed to have some conversations in Italian. Not sure if my sentences were any good, but I feel with every time more confident. I also went back to learning with apps and sit every day for an hour or longer on them. I also try to write down as many expressions at university as possible, translate and learn them too. I hope to do some speaking exercises with friends soon, let’s see, how that work out.

When you’re learning language, everyone know, two things help. First to have a good motivation and second the possibility to practice. But the secret ingredient is to (somehow) overcome your fear. Some forget their fear while drinking, for me it is also easier to talk to strangers (because I’ll never see them again, so I do’t care what they think). You should find out what you’re comfortable with and then go out and talk!