Tag: Italian

Bloganuary: Bonjour! Buongiorno! Hola!

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There are three languages I would love to learn, Italian, French and Spanish. I already know three languages, but they are easier to learn. I’ve tried to learn Italian a few times, but it never sticks in my brain. I don’t know how people learn several languages. I don’t see the point of learning a language I never get the chance to use. Travelling to those countries won’t be possible when I don’t have that kind of money. Learning to speak and spell a language are two different things. French is especially tough to spell. I would have to check for the spelling online all the time. It’s harder to learn a language the older you get. If I’d learned the languages I wanted to learn when I was younger, I might know how to speak them now. Like I did with English. But then again, you hear English all the time, so it’s easier to learn.

When I was in business school for a few months, we learned German. The language is easier to learn since it’s said as it is written. But I didn’t learn it because we didn’t start from the beginning. I know a few words, and that’s it. I once tried a sentence in real life, but it was probably wrong. I’ve been to Germany in 2008 and tried to buy ice cream, but they didn’t understand, so I had to point. They say you should learn more than one language, and they should be something that isn’t English. If you’re not going to have a job that needs another language to learn, why should you waste your time on it? But learning a language is never unnecessary. You can do it to learn a new skill.

I have so many other things to learn, so my brain doesn’t have enough room to learn a new language. Learning Italian, Spanish and French would be nice, but I don’t think I have time to learn. The question was, what language do you wish to learn. I didn’t say I would do something about it. If you don’t try, you don’t know, and I have tried. Learning a new language isn’t on my agenda. I prefer getting better at English, so I put my energy into that.

Io sono una donna molto bella e famosa

Mia21 Comments

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I tried to learn Italian once and that’s a sentence I remember the most. It means, “I am a very beautiful and famous woman” I’ve been to Italy when we went to Europe after my sister died in 1983. It was in a town called Cervinia. It’s famous for their ski resort. Unfortunately, I don’t have photos because they’re in slides and I don’t have that kind of scanner. I don’t remember much of the trip so I can’t tell you much. It would be nice to visit Italy again but the money is always the issue. Learning the language is not as easy as you would think. Especially trying to remember it. I know the greetings and such but I couldn’t speak it. I used to think I was good at learning languages but apparently, I’m not. Some people can learn multiple of languages but I can only 3. That’s more than a lot of people so it’s not bad at all. My dad can only speak Finnish so I’m usually the translator when we’re abroad.

They say if you learn Italian, learning Spanish will be much easier. There’s a lot of the same words in both languages so maybe it is so. Some say French is an easy language to learn but I think not. There seem to be a lot of these apostrophes. But C’est la vie. I’m amazed when I hear someone like the Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic speaking French. Actually, any non-French speaker who knows the language. I could never manage that. Even learning Italian is a challenge enough for me. I don’t think my brain can hold that much information. I have so much else to remember. Like with every language, you need to use it regularly and I don’t think I do.  That’s one reason why I haven’t continued learning it. I do have a few Italian friends I follow on social media but if I chat with them, we use English. Life would be so much easier if you could speak a language if you travel to another country. E.g. if you visit Italy, you can speak Italian or if you go to France, you can speak French. Then we didn’t need to learn any language. It would already be in our blood.

You can find sites on the internet if you want to learn a language. Learn Italian in 5 minutes per day for example. You can also download their app. The downside is that you need to create a profile. Or I don’t know if it’s one though. You also learn other languages on the site. A shame there’s isn’t Finnish. If you want to learn that there’s a lot of options online and for free. There are videos on Youtube where Finns teach the language. It could be easy for me to say the language is easy to learn but sometimes it’s not even easy for me. That’s because my mother tongue is Finnish Swedish so the grammar can be tricky. This article says it all how Finnish is hard to learn and even teach. For me Italian is hard so I can imagine how a foreigner can find learning Finnish an impossible task. I wish I could speak Italian like I do with my 3 language skills. Learning is always fun. Google is a great tool for this if you want to know how to pronounce something. It doesn’t always translate things correctly but at least you can hear what something sounds like.

So grazie ‘Non sono una donna molto bella e famosa’ I am not a beautiful and famous woman but I can try to learn Italian. It’s such a beautiful language but so is French. But I can only learn one new language at the time. Even if I don’t use the language it’s still nice to know some in case needed. Speaking the language is one challenge and how to spell things is another. Words I know in Italian but I need to check the spelling on Google translate (something they do right at least) Buongiorno! Buonasera! Buonanotte! wherever you are. I’m off to learn Italian. Or try to at least.