 My Story living in Italy and learning Italian
Learning Italian; My Story
Years ago while in the Army I was sent to Italy at the age of 19.
Had never taken any foreign language classes. However the Italians were very friendly and would walk up to me and just start speaking
Italian. At that time I had no idea what they said, but they sure were friendly and I just had to find out what it was they were saying.
I bought a small Berlitz phrase dictionary and it went everywhere with me. I had never been a good student in school in any subject,
except sports, but when I discovered Italian I was molto intringued to say the least.
Every free minute I had I would take that little phrase book out and study it over and over.
Studying Italian was fun for me, whereas, school, had been boring for me.
I began watching Italian TV and listening to Italian radio. Went to watch Italian movies every chance I got. Don't think it was easy.
I gave up many many times but always came back to learn more! At one point I tried for a whole week to learn to count to 10 in Italian
and could not do it. I would say Come si chiama? over and over again and forget it in two seconds. But, little by little and poco a poco,
I was learning even though I was unaware of the good progress I was making. I joined an Italian gym where only Italian was spoken.
On Sundays it was church mass in Italian.
I watched soccer games and joined an Italian wrestling team where Italian only was spoken.
Then 4 or 5 months later after starting to learn Italian, I went on a blind date with an Italian girl who spoke no English.
Era molto bella. It was a double date. My friend spoke no Italian and our dates spoke no English. The girls were talking in
Italian and I found myself understanding what they were saying!! Miracle of miracles!! Suddenly Italian words were flowing
out of my mouth and the girls understood what I was saying.
My friend looked at me and said, "Hey, I didn't know you spoke Italian!" Frankly, I was as surprised as he was, because until
those words began to flow forth I hadn't realized I could speak fluently either. I continued to go out with my Italian girlfriend
and we fell in love. Lei me ha detto: "Mi sono innamorata di te." That's when I really started to learn Italian.
One of my favorite pasttimes was to wander around town(Vicenza) and listen to people speak Italian. When people saw me coming they
would say "Oh, eccoti qua!" Come stai Davide?
It was Davide this and Davide that. They would hug me and kiss me on the cheek. It was great! I didn't want to go back to the States.
Not only did I learn to speak Italian; "I became Italian." I even spoke Italian in my sleep or so I was told.
When I finally came back to the U.S. I learned the Spanish language as it is so close to Italian. I became a Spanish teacher for 30 years.
I continued to take Italian classes in college and in the summer of 2007 I went back to Italy to the Universita di Perugia and took
intensive Italian courses in Italian conversation, history, music and culture.
Italian has been a lifelong project for me. Often life takes us in directions we've never thought of going. Being sent to
Italy started me on a path of learning I would may never have known I would be interested in. Someone said, "We Must Be Willing to Give
Up the Life We've Planned to Meet the Life Waiting for Us." No matter your life or age, if you have always wanted to learn a language you
can do it. Listen to the radio, watch movies in the language you want to learn and buy a phrase book to carry everywhere. When you have
a minute, take it out and learn. That's what I did and do and now I teach Italian to adults. I can't believe they pay me to do something I love so much.
(One of the best ways to learn is to teach so teach somebody the Italian you know.)
Grazie, Davide a.k.a. Villa
Last edited by Villa; 12-15-2008 at 09:37 PM.
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