Education

Learning the Language Update: L’Anatra Contadina

As I mentioned in my last language update, I decided to add children’s books to my challenge. So far I’ve read I Tre Capretti Gruff (The Three Billy Goats Gruff) with plenty of trouble, but I made it through it several times. As usual, my pronunciation is coming along quicker than my vocabulary retention. On the plus side, none of my Spanish is coming back to me to make my study more confusing, so that’s been helpful. On the negative side, my previous studies aren’t coming back to me either, so my guess is I’ve long killed all the brain cells where all that was stored.

L'Anatra Contadina

I then moved on to L’Anatra Contadina (The Farmer Duck). Again, it took some time and lots of review, but I made it through several times. Yesterday I started Hansel e Gretel (Hansel & Gretel). I’m glad I didn’t start with this one. It is much longer and more complicated than the previous two books.

Reading these books brought something interesting to the forefront. The “proper” pronunciation of words versus the “home” pronunciation I grew up hearing on a daily basis. Whenever I come across those words, I actually need to stop and think about how to properly pronounce them. I heard my Grandmother and my Aunt refer to it as “high” Italian or “classroom” Italian. I will admit it trips me up.

So I will continue with Hansel e Gretel and then move on to Pinocchio, which is young adult chapter book. That will certainly be a challenge. As I continue my studies I realize I need to add more time to it. Hopefully that will help make things stick.

So I’m still at it. Frustrated, tripping over my words regularly, and not remembering all of it; but I’m still at it.

One thought on “Learning the Language Update: L’Anatra Contadina

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *