Buongiorno?

by sam on 07/24/2006

I don’t want to sound like I’m coming off as a know-it-all or anything, but, in general, I’d say I’m not exactly an idiot. Sure, we all have our moments, but I very definitely fell into the “nerd” end of the high school ecosystem, and I’ve got that whole “ivy-league lawyer” thing going for me. But stick me in a language class, and I’m like a blithering 5 year old.

No, wait. A 5-year old would probably pick this stuff up better than me.

If you can’t tell, I had my first Italian lesson at Berlitz tonight. tongue-tied doesn’t begin to describe how I did. Try saying “aereo”, pronouncing all of the letters (there are no silent letters in Italian) (hint: it’s something along the lines of “ah-eh-rrrrrr-eh-yo”).

Yeah.

Not to mention the fact that I did take about 8 years of spanish, so when I wasn’t mangling the italian with english bastardizations, I was somehow translating it into spanish in my head instead.

OK, it wasn’t that bad. Or, it actually was that bad, but I’m basically supposed to be a blithering idiot at this stage of the game.

Hopefully by the end of this 5-week, 3 days a week, 2 and a quarter hours a day class, I’ll be able order dinner once I’m in Milan.

Ciao.

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