Saturday, January 16, 2010

How to learn Italian without buying anything new


(italy: land of a thousand hideous statues)


I went to Italy twelve years ago, with a choir (I was the accompanist). It was a very funny choir, and a very funny trip. I'll be sure and tell you about it some time!

While I was there, I became quite fluent in Italian. I knew how to say "good morning" and "how much does this cost" and "more wine please." Impressive, I know.

Unfortunately, that was a long time ago and my brain has deleted all of my vast Italian vocabulary to make room for more important information such as Smokey The Bear's new slogan, my new address, and the PIN number for the new ATM card I had to get because my husband's identity was stolen. Another story I'll be sure to tell you about.

So, anyway, I bring up all this because I have always wanted to really know how to speak Italian. Since I am not buying anything new this year, I went to eBay to see if I could find a used instructional CD. Nolo lucko.

So THEN, and I completely realize that this post is getting way too long for a subject that is totally irrelevant to anyone's life except my own, I got the bright idea of going to the library!

And guess what?

The librarian told me I didn't even need to search their shelves, I could just go to their website and download an audio book on How To Speak Italian!

How cool is that?

They have this entire online downloadable section with tons and tons of stuff available including audio books, ebooks, videos (the top ten list, believe it or not, includes The Adventures of Long John Silver and Old Texas & The Trail Drivers) and music.

All free!

So the moral of this long and boring story is, if you want to be sure you order peach ice cream and not fish ice cream the next time you visit Italy, because I don't remember what the Italian words are for "peach" and "fish" but I'm pretty sure they are very similar, go to your local library's website!

Let me know what you find. I'll be here listening to Learn Italian In Forty-Seven Easy Lessons You Lazy American It's About Time You Learned Our Language Since You Expect Us All To Know Yours.

Ciao!

~~~

5 comments:

Rae said...

Hola! I learned Spanish in school. I don't remember much of it anymore except fajita, burrito, and quesadilla. Thank you Taco Bell. I could use it now...since all our food and product labels are in Spanish and I am certain English will be a foreign language in the USA someday. Maybe I should check out my local library for some refresher courses... just in case it happens soon. Wonder how you say Big Mac in Spanish?

Fran Hill said...

But I LIKE fish ice cream.

Lesley said...

Rae: I'm still working on learning Spanish from the subtitles on my TV. If I was a little more savvy I'd figure out a way to turn them off! lol

Lesley said...

Fran: You still need to brush up on your Italian, so you don't get peach ice cream by mistake!

The Retired One said...

How fun!
All I know is that lasagna is what I want when I go there...so look it up for me,( will you please?) and let me know if it is still called lasagna in Italian.

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