"Piano piano" - "slowly"

The word "piano" actually has many meanings in Italian: gently, flat, smooth, plain, floor (as in we live on the ultimo piano - top floor) and, yes, piano! But "piano piano" means slowly. And that's how it is learning a new language.

I got a good start with the audio lessons, but I think I had hit a plateau. Or maybe I was just bored. Either way, we decided that we would enroll in Italian lessons. I signed Terry and Meryck up for the absolute beginners course, and arranged to take a placement test to see where I should start. On day one, we got there and they told me that I would join the boys in the absolute beginners course. What a crushing blow to my huge ego!! I explained to them that I was two-thirds of the way through my Italian audiolessons, so obviously I didn't belong in the absolute beginners course.

If you have read Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, you probably know where this is going. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. Thanks, Kathleen - it was a great book

So they suggested I take the morning 'conversation' course with the boys, and could do 'grammatica' in the afternoon with the level 2 beginners. I was glad that I started the 'conversation' with the absolute beginners, because the instructor spoke not a word of english. She spoke slowly and clearly and repeated herself often, but no translations were given! I guess this is immersion! It was tough, but doable. I am very impressed that the boys managed, because even with my extensive training in la bella lingua, I was mostly lost. In the afternoon, I joined the level 2 class. I thought this was their first day, but I think they were already a week or two into their lessons. (at least that's what I want to think!) This instructor also spoke no english, and spoke a little faster than the morning instructor. I was a little intimidated. Our first assignment was to write a story with a partner using past tense. I faked my way through that using the 3 or 4 verbs that I knew in past tense; my story may have been a little repetitive.

The next day I demoted myself back to the absolute beginner class for good, and stayed with Terry and Meryck for the rest of the lessons. Tomorrow is our last day, and I think we all learned a lot. Meryck did really well the first week, but I think he has had enough now. Terry skipped today, and has already worked about 14 hours to do some catchup at work. He will join us tomorrow, though.

I have a few people that I met through a language exchange website - they want to practice english and will let me practice Italian with them. Also, one of them told me about a news site that allows you to listen to the news in different languages, then go through comprehension tests. Also, I WILL finish my audio course.

So I am much more comfortable now in speaking Italian, but will continue to learn - piano piano!