Learning yet another language
For some reason, I seem to be into learning languages. Perhaps it’s the need to express one self, or perhaps it’s the novelty of trying something new.
This summer, I am learning Italian. Having been to Italy last year, I was fascinated by the culture and realized much of western culture stem from Roman (and Greek) culture.
I moved to a very Italian neighbourhood with my wife last year. So it only seems to make sense to learn some Italian phrases and words to entertain my neighbours. At least, it seems to make sense in my head, but most importantly it brings me joy :)
My tool of choice will be to use Duolingo and sneak in some practice with my neighbours here and there. I haven't used duolingo for almost 10 years now, and so much has changed. They have truly taken off on the whole gamification, and things like chess, music and math.
It has a very fun feel to its courses. So far, i've spent about 10 days on the Italian. I jumped forward to a level 10 (what ever this means). I skipped some parts using my basic knowledge of Spanish. The two languages have a lot more similarities than I had expected, but I think i'll find more nuances and big differences as I go on.
I want to learn more greetings and learn to ask questions, which is a good way to get conversations going and listen to more vocab. I think it may be more useful than repeating the word blue and pizza to my neighbours.
This is not my first rodeo in learning languages, although I never make it to far into fluency. I find it's quite challenging when you try to learn a new language, but do create the correct environment and find the people to practice a language with. After all, most languages are meant to be spoken, and people learn to speak before they read and write.
So, let's see how it goes. If all else fails, at least I know how to say blue and pizza in Italiano. Which is blu and pizza.