Was It Something I Said?

If you’re interested in my posts about local sights and issues, please see Touring the Valley, my current blog about the San Fernando Valley. Today’s post foreshadows the replacement of our lawns with synthetic stuff.

Becoming Italian Word by Word, a blog by Dianne Hales, is an absolute must-read for anyone with an interest in Italian and Italians. Hales discusses the nuances of words and phrases, provides cultural insights, and talks about the history and structure of the Italian language, all in a way that is both entertaining and intelligent. As a native speaker of Italian who may not always grasp the English speaker’s mindset, my Italian teacher often finds it difficult (or impossible) to explain all those idioms, irregularities and idiosyncrasies to the satisfaction of his students. He shrugs his shoulders and says, “That’s just how we say it. It is the way it is.” Hales digs deeper and gives us a better of idea of why it is that way and what we can do with it. Take a look.

This blog will be undergoing some changes in the near future. Instead of sporadic updates about my personal adventures, I will be focusing on resources for students learning to speak Italian.

In the meantime, I have launched a new blog called “Touring the Valley” that focuses on the sights and landmarks of California’s San Fernando Valley.

It’s the first day of the “spring” semester. A crown popped off one of my back molars. Fortunately, the dentist was able to fit me in this morning (I’m about to leave for my appointment), so I should be okay in time for tonight’s Italian class. I’m so glad it’s not math!

I didn’t write much about the winter “intercession”. It was intense, a four-unit statistics class that would normally take 15 or 16 weeks, in five weeks. I sometimes felt that I was sitting in a public clinic at a charity hospital in a developing nation. The room, which was built to hold 35-40 students, was crammed full with 60. All around me people were constantly snuffling, sneezing, coughing, hacking and snorting. I should have worn a mask! Whatever it was, I caught it, and spent the fourth week sneezing, snuffling and coughing, feeling miserable. I spent mornings in class, and afternoons doing the homework. (Some courageous souls take two classes during these special sessions, but I don’t think I could do it.) I had tried to take this same class with a different teacher during last summer’s intercession, and found myself still working on the tedious, repetitive homework at 10pm, unable to get it all done. That guy was so boring I couldn’t stay awake in class, despite quadrupling my coffee ration, and half the time I had no idea what he was talking about. I dropped after three days. This time, the teacher was a pleasant, patient guy who explained everything well and didn’t go crazy with the homework. The tests weren’t too bad, except the final, which took me (and many of my fellow students) over three hours to complete. Everything worked out well, and at long last I have now completed all my math requirements.

Illustration from clipart.com

Crazy weather we’ve been having these past two weeks. There were a few days that were near freezing, and several that were beautiful, but marred by high winds. The last couple of says were quite warm, with temperatures reaching the 80’s. Today it’s just cool enough for a jacket. It makes it very hard to know what to wear, especially when planning the day’s wardrobe the night before, or deciding what kind of sweater of jacket to carry. A hat? An umbrella? I’m spending most of today inside, so it’s not much of an issue. But what about tomorrow? I want to wear red-white-and blue for Inaguration Day, but the only outfit I have that fits the description requires warm weather.

Photo from acobox.com

Pimsleur offers the best audio program for learning Italian I have found, and I was sorry that it stopped at Level 3. Now, there is Italian Plus,which goes to the next level. It contains only 10 lessons, compared to 30 in the other levels, so it’s not quite as expensive. There is also a comprehensive set that contains all four levels, but it’s not currently available on Amazon.

UCLA Extension has a new course called “Weekend Prep for Italian 3″. It sounds like a better class than the “Verborama” I took a couple of years ago. This offers a refresher of the fundamental skills, including important aspects of grammar and interactive activities. The textbook is Oggi In Italia, yet another overpriced textbook. The class meets three times, Feb 7, 8 and 14. It’s Italian 701, Reg# U73268 in the extension catalog.

Photo by Rosemary West

I use my iPod in the car to practice Italian. Currently I am repeating some of the lessons from Pimsleur Italian III. Several of the places I regularly go are almost exactly the right distance to play one lesson.

Diane from my class was very smart to start her book group. They choose a book and then meet from time to time to discuss it. I haven’t attended one of the meetings (the time is never right for me) but sometimes I buy the book to read. If your pronunciation is good (mine usually is), reading aloud is one way to get some practice with speaking (and, if your pronunciation is good, hearing) Italian. In any case, Italian literature can teach a lot about sentence construction and essential vocabulary. It’s best to find books that have the English translation on the facing page, making it easier to understand the difference between how it’s said in Italian and how it’s said in English (assuming it’s a good translation). It’s also good be able to look at the English version for some quick help, rather than having to look up words in the dictionary.

Watching Italian movies seems like a good idea, but is probably not a highly effective way to learn Italian. There are just too many issues. But it can be an interesting comprehension test.

This looks absolutely wonderful:

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

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.