The answer to that would be no. In spite of studying Italian in junior high school, high school and attempting to learn it on my own, all I can manage is maybe being able to converse with a three year old. Not only that, but it is the only subject I ever failed in my entire life.
You would think the fact that all 4 grandparents were born in Italy would mean someone in the family would be capable of speaking Italian but no. There’s not one single person who can speak it. Theresa is going to take it next semester so maybe that will motivate me to try learning it again. Currently I have… (looking at bookshelves) 7 assorted books that are supposed to help me learn it. I also have a set of CDs. It seems I haven’t absorbed terribly much from them.
Why do I want to learn it? Well for one thing, I don’t like defeat and it bothers me that I seem to be incapable of learning it. Another reason is that we plan on going to Italy for our 25th wedding anniversary. That means if I want to at least understand what’s being said, I have 2 years to get some basic vocabulary down.
Then there’s the third reason. I just found a really delicious looking recipe that I want to make. Except the recipe is in Italian. I know just enough Italian to get the general idea but not the details. I’m going to translate the damn thing if it takes me a week to do it! Maybe I’ll be able to figure it out by Easter and make it for dessert.
Hey, you’ve got a bad case of Italian block from putting too much pressure on yourself. You’ve survived one glorious trip to Italy without knowing any Italian, you’ll do fine on the next whether you can speak any or not. Just learn, “where’s the bathroom,” and “please bring me a pizza,” and you’ll be fine! Anything else you might learn is gravy!
A few numbers, left and right, stop, thank you, some money denominations, those might be handy, too!
Mi riportereste un altro rosary benedetto, abbastanza soddisfate?
Nah, it’s like someone who has no musical talent wanting to learn to play the piano or who can’t draw taking art lessons. It’s just something I would like to be able to do. Now – dove il bagno?
That might get you a bath, but maybe not a bathroom. Maybe you’d better go with:
Dove รจ la toletta?
Here’s one you really need to know:
Darmi il cioccolato scuro!
Bagno is also right. Frank knows Italian. Ya can’t go by the online translator thingies. The recipe I found involves chocolate. Problem is, there’s a lot of words I can’t get a translation on but I’m still working on it.
Frank knows Italian. Have him translate that chocolate recipe for you!
Andiamo, mi cara.
I love the word Andiamo. Don’t know why, but “let’s go” is so appealing. Get ‘er done, Monk.
I feel so smart! I knew what andiamo meant without having to look it up.