It’s another gloomy and rainy day and I am once again thinking about the challenges I have come across during my year here in Italy. Expected challenges such as unexpected ones. Since this is the last month of my European Voluntary Service I would like to reflect on the last eleven months of my life.
A challenge I prepared for has been the Italian language. Not that I have mastered the grammar, sayings and local dialects but now I can at least express my opinion and feelings on a basic level. Everyday communication with friends, clients, co-workers and especially strangers has gotten increasingly easier. Although I still struggle with nervousness when it’s my time to speak up. This self-consciousness is not only language related, however still limiting my contribution to any conversation. Anyway my problem with social encounters is not to be the topic of this article.
A few months ago I gave this limitation a name: language barriers. Excited to finally fully experience a term, my English class in school and me discussed about thoroughly, I often struggled with sentiments of loneliness. Furthermore, I felt being treated unfairly such as anger at my poor learning-progress. Of course I was not the only one who encountered communication problems because they did not or only poorly speak the language. However, after I tried to get rid of my worry of not being able to understand any Italian person any time soon on my own, I opened up and shared my feelings. The response was understanding and some helpful advice I would like to share today.
Here are some tips and tricks that helped me conquering the challenge of learning a new language.
Tip #1
To start communication there is no need for many words. Start to learn how to ask questions. By asking questions you overcome the fear of saying anything at all.
Begin with questions like: “What is this thing called?”, “How can I say [insert word/phrase] in [insert language]?” and “Can you please repeat?”.
Step by step you will learn more and more words that you can use in your everyday life. For example, to form new and more complex questions. Don’t be afraid to say something wrongly. Which brings me to the second advice.
Tip #2
Encourage people to correct you, when making mistakes. Especially when talking to a native. In this way you will learn the correct way of saying something. Even quicker than realizing you have been telling everyone: “I’ve just cut my hat!” instead of “I’ve just cut my hair!”.
Most of the time people won’t correct you, for whatever reason, so animate them to do so!
Tip #3
Use every source of media to get a feeling of the language. By “feeling of the language” I mean the rhythm, pronunciation, different meaning of a word depending on the context and of course new vocabulary. Your resources could be the radio, newspapers, books, movies, songs as well as YouTube.
Even only listening to natives while sitting in a café and understanding half what they say, you still see their body language and facial expression which play a crucial part in learning and using a language.
Tip #4
Relax! As far as I heard, no matter how many languages you have already learnt, the beginning of the process is always frustrating and it feels like you are not improving fast enough. Nevertheless, you can trust on determination, consistency and therefore time and yourself to overcome this language barrier.
Learning a language in this context of living abroad and being forced to communicate in [insert language] is an experience that will have a definite impact on your character and self-trust.
To conclude my thoughts and advice on learning a language while living in the country it is spoken, I would like to say that despite all the bad feelings, I truly enjoy it. After a while you understand more and more and are increasingly able to express yourself. This will help you feel less trapped in not being understood by anyone. My father always says that you have truly internalized a language when you can reply to sarcasm in the given language. A general understanding of sarcasm is nonetheless required.
Written by
Lina
InterCultuRurality 