A few weeks ago, at the Online Bar, I spoke with a Spanish girl who is learning Italian. She has been attending to classes for a few months and she still doesn’t feel comfortable talking it. She asked me for how long I had studied Italian, my answer was “3 months”. She was shocked and asked how had I managed to learn it so quickly. To which I replied: “one thing is to study and a different one to learn!“.

I moved to Italy in 2006 without knowing any Italian (apart from “ciao”, “birra” and “grazie”). I toke an intensive course of 4 hours a day from Monday to Friday for 3 months and, when I left class, I tried not to speak other languages, although my Italian was painful at the beginning, I used it at all times and with everyone, even with foreigners.

Shortly after arriving in Italy, I started dating an Italian, which helped me a lot to improve my accent (even now some Italians ask me if I am from Florence). I lived there for a year and when I returned to Barcelona, my ragazzo came with me, so I continued to use Italian at home for a couple more years.

I did not learn Italian in 3 months, that was the time I invested in my classes. But I did many hours of practice. In fact, I did so many that I even forgot my other languages! When I returned to Spain, I was unable to speak Spanish, I had neglected it for a year and it took me a month to regain my confidence and fluency.

As I always say, languages have to be practiced regularly to be able to use them without having to think, even if it is your native language. The only way to learn fast is by spending hours. The more you practice it, the more fluent you will be and the more comfortable you will feel speaking it.

If you also want to speak other languages fluently and have fun chatting with native speakers, follow this link.
If you are looking for a teacher of a language, you can find it on our website.

What about you? Do you practice regularly? Are you comfortable speaking other languages? Share your story with us either at the ONLINE Language Exchanges, at the Paella & Language Exchange this Saturday, April 3rd, or at the Brunch & Language Exchange on Sunday, April 11th. And if you want to see your story published, you can send it to us at info@speakquick.es

Best,
Aina

Language Learning, Uncategorized

Have you ever made a fool of yourself for not knowing how to pronounce a word correctly in another language?

By Aina SpeakQuick on

30 March, 2021

- Language Learning, Uncategorized

Some Sundays ago, at the Brunch, we were practicing Italian at the table where I sat. We talked about many interesting topics during the three hours of language exchange. At a certain point, someone asked me, “Have you ever made a fool of yourself for not knowing how to pronounce a word correctly in another language?” Of course my answer was: “Yes!”.

Here’s my story, of how I made a fool of myself in front of my former Italian in-laws:
I had been in Italy for a short time, only a couple of months, so my Italian was still not very good. That was also the time I had been dating Riccardo. We had met in a bar, he was the bartender and we fell in love almost at first sight (I say almost because I went many times to make sure he had seen me). We started dating on Halloween night (maybe a premonition of what that relationship would be like, but this is another story). And soon after he wanted to introduce me to his parents, I’d been putting off until he told me it was his mother’s birthday and that she wanted me to go to the celebration too. I could not refuse, so I arranged myself in the Italian style, that is, a little dress, heels, makeup… but all very posh (those of you who know me know that I usually go quite formal, but Riccardo said that Spanish women, myself included, seemed very hippies).

In short, there I was, looking my finest, putting to the test the Italian I had learned in two months of classes, with my new in-laws who I had just met. I was extremely nervous so I didn’t speak too much, but when the waiter arrived I had to open my mouth to order my food. Well, for those of you who do not speak Italian, I will tell you that it is VERY important to highlight the double letters; that is, if there are two “n” in a row, or two “m”, “l”, “s”, it does not matter the letter, if there are two together, you have to pronounce both, because the meaning of the word can change. I wanted to order the “all’arrabbiata” macaroni (it could be translated as “angry”, basically they are a bit spicy), but instead of ordering “le penne all’arrabbiata” I asked for “pene all’arrabbiata”, which it turns out to be an angry penis…

Everyone’s eyes widened and my mother-in-law, raising her voice, repeated to the waiter that what I wanted was teh pasta. I wanted to die of shame. I don’t think I spoke more during the whole awkward evening.

Now I remember it and I laugh, but at that moment I had a terrible time. The good thing is that I learned the importance of pronunciation. This is not learned with books or apps, it is learned by speaking with native speakers.

If you also want to have fun chatting with native speakers of the language you want to improve while enjoying a delicious meal, follow this link.

What about you? Have you ever made a fool of yourself for not knowing how to pronounce a word correctly in another language? Share your story with us either at the ONLINE Language Exchange, at the Paella & Language Exchange this Saturday, April 3rd, or at the Brunch & Language Exchange on Sunday, April 11th. And if you want to see your story published, you can send it to us at info@speakquick.es

Best,

Aina

Language Learning

How to learn a language fast

Language Learning, Uncategorized

Have you ever made a fool of yourself for not knowing how to pronounce a word correctly in another language?