Was It Something I Said?

Wake Me When It’s Over

Rosemary — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 05:23:04 +0000

I decided to get that pesky statistics class out of the way by taking it in the summer session. I did it last summer with history, and it worked out quite well. But this was different. For one thing, it’s a four-unit class, three and a half hours a day, four days a week, plus homework. And it’s math. Each day in summer session is the equivalent of almost two in a normal semester, and we don’t have a day in between to do the homework and absorb the material. The first day (yesterday) I found that three cups of coffee would not keep me awake for this 8am class. Today I had four cups, and that still was not enough. Although I have no trouble understanding the basic concepts, without the ability to stay awake and focused, I can’t learn the details. The homework, although not horribly difficult (once I finally figured out how to do what I couldn’t remember from the lecture) is tedious, unnecessarily repetitive, and incredibly time consuming. There isn’t any way I can do this and still accomplish even the minimum activities (like laundry and grocery shopping) of my life. So I took Steve’s advice and dropped the class. I’ll try it again some time at a more normal pace.

Study In Italy?

Rosemary — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 18:12:48 +0000

This looks absolutely wonderful:

http://www.piccolauniversitaitaliana.com/index.html

Verborama

Rosemary — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:07:37 +0000

It may not be too late to enroll in “Italian Verborama” at UCLA extension, www.uclaextension.edu. This is a two-Saturday course that reviews all the verb tenses. I took it a couple of years ago and found it quite helpful. At the time, I knew only about half the tenses; the first Saturday covered everything I had done up to that point, so I did not attend the second Saturday. It’s a review, not a tutorial, so sign up only if you have already studied at least a few Italian verb tenses.

Graduation

Rosemary — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 03:33:38 +0000

Technically, I graduated in December, when I officially received my Associate’s degree in Italian. It took the school another four months to produce my diploma. I was cordially invited to attend today’s graduation ceremony, but I stayed home.

Extension Classes

Rosemary — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 21:38:38 +0000

For those who live in the Los Angeles area, UCLA Extension is offering a few Italian courses in the spring quarter. The “Weekend Immersion Workshop” is one I have taken. At $295 it’s not really worth the money, unless you don’t have access to anything else. In any case, it’s much too simple for anyone who’s had more than a semester or two of Italian.

The others are sections of “Elementary Italian”. At $415 for two months of twice a week classes, they are a better bargain than the weekend course, although still much more expensive than the community college I currently attend. I haven’t taken any of these (it’s farther from home than I want to go late at night) but the descriptions sound like 2 and 3 might be good reviews for for many of us. It is possible to take these courses for credit that is transferable to UCLA. (I don’t know if other schools accept them.) See http://www.uclaextension.edu

Is It Hopeless?

Rosemary — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:39:03 +0000

The more I learn Italian, the more it seems to me I will never really learn Italian. There is something about language, the way one’s native language interacts with the way one thinks, the ways in which the language and world view interact, that is deeply imbedded in the brain. It doesn’t take long to learn that it is impossible to translate anything literally. You can’t just substitute the words of language A for the words of language B and expect to get something that is right, maybe not even something that makes sense. It’s not just the word order, although that’s part of it. There are just so many details that seem perfectly normal, simple, even instinctive to the native speaker, that are confusing, strange, perhaps completely incomprehensible to the non-native. The sentences in our textbooks are simplified. Certainly, a real Italian might sometimes say things that way, and if we say things that way we will be just fine. But pick up a novel, a newspaper, a play. Suddenly, everything is completely different. Words don’t seem to mean quite what we were told. Some things seem to be missing. Some things seem to have been inserted randomly for no good reason. I can go through each sentence, slowly, word by word, and figure out what they are saying, but I have no idea what they are really saying.

Not a Good Start

Rosemary — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 21:39:28 +0000

Yesterday was the first day of the new semester, and a difficult day it was.

I called my doctor’s office for an appointment and was told he couldn’t see me until 5pm, Feb 13 (an impossible time for me, since I have class on Wednesday nights). I explained to the receptionist, twice, that I’m in pain and can’t use my arm normally. I told her that I would be willing to see one of the other doctors (there are several of them in the same practice). She said she’d check with them and call me back. She never called back.

Boomer the cat was sick and turned out to be in critical condition, experiencing hypothermia and with blood filling his lungs. The cause of the bleeding is still unknown. It was uncertain whether he’d live through the night. (He did, but at this point he is still in very serious condition.)

A water main on our street broke, sending water bubbling up through the pavement. Picturesque but dangerous. So there was no running water in the house. (It had been fixed by the time I got home after school.)

The pool man never showed up, probably because he saw the street was blocked and couldn’t figure out another route (there are actually two, but it helps to know the layout of the neighborhood).

Class itself was fine. We had a full house of about 20 people. All but three were people I know from previous classes. Once again, il professore has launched his strategy of assigning too much homework on Monday. Adults with day jobs find it very difficult to prepare presentations (especially if they have to get together with someone else) or do large quantities of paperwork with only one free evening (Tuesday) .

Make Friends With Italian

Rosemary — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 21:40:02 +0000

Recently I attended a large party where I knew absolutely no one except the host. So I came up with a way to socialize with my fellow guests. I would simply introduce myself to people, tell them that I didn’t know anyone at the party but that I hoped to meet someone who spoke Italian. Nobody that I met spoke Italian (I wasn’t really expecting that any would). But people found my quest delightful. They were very interested in talking about my Italian studies, other languages they had studied in school, trips they had taken or were planning to take to Italy, etc. I didn’t get to practice speaking Italian, but I was able to avoid standing by myself and got involved in a lot of interesting conversations. If I had actually met an Italian speaker, I would have had the added advantage of getting some practice.

Kindle Reading Device

Rosemary — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 22:44:26 +0000

Kindle:
I haven’t seen one of these. I’ve read one or two reviews that were mostly favorable. Is this the book — or the library — of the future? I’d be interested in hearing from people who have tried them.

Thinking in Italian?

Rosemary — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 21:40:32 +0000

A lot of people say that you know you are really learning a language when you dream in it. Last night I dreamed I had to take my algebra test in Italian. I’m not sure that’s quite what I’m looking for.