I've always been one to be interested in learning a foreign language. I've spent countless hours studying whether it be Italian, Russian, Hebrew, Japanese, or Spanish. The problem is really can't speak any of them and that's really starting to bother me.
Italian has always been my favorite choice but if you had asked me a few month ago I would have just said "oh well, one of these days I'll get back into learning Italian... maybe if I go to Italy". So it's kind of a funny twist that got me on this kick to learn Spanish and not Italian. It began that I was browsing Google earth one day and looking at the "street view" feature when I suddenly realized that I could take a drive through my grandfather's hometown in Italy without ever leaving my chair. I drove all up and down northern Italy to my heart's content. When I was done I really really REALLY wanted to go to Italy for real! Knowing that a trip like that for me would take some planning ahead I decided to focus my energy elsewhere. I got back into our family genealogy project for a few weeks to see if I could learn a little more about our family history. When I go to Italy I would want to see the local church records and see if I can discover some new and interesting family history while I am there. While I was doing some online searches I learned that the best way to research Italian records is by learning Italian. So, next day I pulled out all my study materials lined up some pen pals, Skype pals, ect. I think I studied for a whole 2 days when I sat back and realized that I had a more immediate need to learn Spanish and if I would only set my mind to it that I could learn that too. After thinking it over I thought better of learning two languages at once. It was a difficult decision to set aside Italian. I reasoned that, why should I spread myself thin, I'm pretty sure I won't be going to Italy in the next 10 months. I have a need for Spanish here at home within 3 or 4 months. So that's how it all got started....I have set myself the goal of learning as much as I can before April 1st, 2014.
I came across this great website fluentin3months.com He blogs many topics pertaining to learning foreign languages. His number one tip seems to be to speak in the new language from day one. Knowing that I cannot possible immerse myself into Spanish fully, I have set out to surround myself with as much Spanish as I can. The possibilities are endless here. I have a piano student(hi Cynthia!) who has helped me learn some Spanish and now has agree to only speaking Spanish during her piano lesson. First lesson down and I think it went OK. Also I met up with another friend, originally from Argentina, who I was surprised enjoys teaching Spanish and has already given me my first lesson(hi Mariana!) Then to make things even better, my former piano teacher is originally from Venezuelan (hi Gracie!), she has been able to supply me with many useful phrases to say while teaching. This list could keep going, there are a lot of great friends out there who are willing to help me and I believe I can accomplish this!
Until next time...hasta luego!
Italian has always been my favorite choice but if you had asked me a few month ago I would have just said "oh well, one of these days I'll get back into learning Italian... maybe if I go to Italy". So it's kind of a funny twist that got me on this kick to learn Spanish and not Italian. It began that I was browsing Google earth one day and looking at the "street view" feature when I suddenly realized that I could take a drive through my grandfather's hometown in Italy without ever leaving my chair. I drove all up and down northern Italy to my heart's content. When I was done I really really REALLY wanted to go to Italy for real! Knowing that a trip like that for me would take some planning ahead I decided to focus my energy elsewhere. I got back into our family genealogy project for a few weeks to see if I could learn a little more about our family history. When I go to Italy I would want to see the local church records and see if I can discover some new and interesting family history while I am there. While I was doing some online searches I learned that the best way to research Italian records is by learning Italian. So, next day I pulled out all my study materials lined up some pen pals, Skype pals, ect. I think I studied for a whole 2 days when I sat back and realized that I had a more immediate need to learn Spanish and if I would only set my mind to it that I could learn that too. After thinking it over I thought better of learning two languages at once. It was a difficult decision to set aside Italian. I reasoned that, why should I spread myself thin, I'm pretty sure I won't be going to Italy in the next 10 months. I have a need for Spanish here at home within 3 or 4 months. So that's how it all got started....I have set myself the goal of learning as much as I can before April 1st, 2014.
I came across this great website fluentin3months.com He blogs many topics pertaining to learning foreign languages. His number one tip seems to be to speak in the new language from day one. Knowing that I cannot possible immerse myself into Spanish fully, I have set out to surround myself with as much Spanish as I can. The possibilities are endless here. I have a piano student(hi Cynthia!) who has helped me learn some Spanish and now has agree to only speaking Spanish during her piano lesson. First lesson down and I think it went OK. Also I met up with another friend, originally from Argentina, who I was surprised enjoys teaching Spanish and has already given me my first lesson(hi Mariana!) Then to make things even better, my former piano teacher is originally from Venezuelan (hi Gracie!), she has been able to supply me with many useful phrases to say while teaching. This list could keep going, there are a lot of great friends out there who are willing to help me and I believe I can accomplish this!
Until next time...hasta luego!
