As I mentioned in a previous post, I am working hard to learn the Italian language. I purchased a variety of books and learning aids. I am mainly using Language Hacking by Benny Lewis to get started. Once I have a foundation, I plan to do some one-on-one lessons through italki.

I’ve finished the first chapter, and to quote Hawkeye from M*A*S*H, “I think I hurt my tongue.”

It isn’t coming back to me as well as I had hoped. I regularly tripped over my tongue as I attempted to properly pronounce each word. I kept my English-Italian dictionary close at hand and took extra notes in an effort to create my own dictionary of what seem to be common words so far. My tenses and word order weren’t always correct in my practice conversations, but I muddled through. Chapter one: finished.

I was hoping I would remember my vocabulary a little better, but so far, not so much. On the plus side, my Spanish isn’t leaking into my Italian like it has in the past. My goal is to do one chapter a week. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to keep up that pace as the lessons continue to get more challenging, but that’s my goal. I went through the first chapter twice to try and get things to stick and I noticed the second time I missed less words. Some words like parlare were extremely challenging. My pronunciation isn’t perfect, but it’s getting there. But as we say at Seton Hall University, hazard zet forward; move forward, despite the challenge. This is certainly a challenge.