Descriptive words in Italian

We're coving the 10 most important things to know to get by in Italian. First, we looked at Italian greetings, at the common courtesies, and asking questions. Last week, we looked at things you will need, numbers, and directions. And this week we started with some basic Italian verbs. Today, we'll look at some descriptive words.

8. Descriptive words
The descriptive nature of adjectives, and their superlative forms the comaratives, makes them the necessary ingredient for expressing opinions,... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Inspiration and motivation from an actor

This post isn't directly about language learning, but it's about motivation and inspiration, which is applicable to all of us.

Will Smith is an incredibly inspirational man. The way he came up from nothing in Philadelphia, to become a world-famous rap star before he was out of high school is itself amazing. But everything he's done since is even more amazing, and he's done it all with integrity and class.

The video I've included below is a collection of bits and pieces of interviews with Will... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Basic Italian verbs

We're coving the 10 most important things to know to get by in Italian. First, we looked at Italian greetings, at the common courtesies, and asking questions. Last week, we looked at things you will need, numbers, and directions.

7. Basic action verbs

essereto be
guidaredrive
volarefly
venirecome
andarego
portarebring
poterebe able to
sapereknow
dovereshould
volerewant
averehave
avere bisogno dineed
mangiareeat
beveredrink
dormiresleep
leggereread
guardarewatch
vederesee
sentirehear
ascoltarelisten
diceresay
racontaretell
piacereto... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Things you need, in Lithuanian

In anticipation of a coming trip to Lithuania this fall, I wanted to learn a little about the language. I decided this would be a good opportunity for me to put my list of the 10 most important things to know, to get by in any language to the test.

We've already learned some Lithuanian greetings, some common courtesies, and how to ask questions. This week, we'll learn how to ask questions.

4. Necessities
It’s impossible for me to list everything that a person might need while away, but there... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

When and how to use зачем and почему

While studying Russian last year, I remember learning the word почему means "why" and then later learning the word зачем and that it also means "why". In the absence of a clear definition at the time, I just made the assumption that it's a stylistic thing and started swapping them in use to try to develop a "feel" for it.

Over time, I had started to pick up on some usage patterns. I've noticed that "зачем тебе" is often the response to questions that a person finds too personal,... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Italian directions

We're coving the 10 most important things to know to get by in Italian. Last week, we looked at Italian greetings, at the common courtesies, and asking questions. This week, we started with things you will need, and we've covered numbers. Now we're going to talk about directions.

6. Directions
Direction words tell you where things are and where people go. They're not only cardinal directions (north, south, east, and west) but also prepositions. I've already written more detailed posts... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

BBC Languages

If you're not already familiar with it, the BBC Languages web site is good online tool for language study and practice. It has many good resources to aid you along the way, and they're available for several languages.

Here are some of the things you'll find if you browse the BBC Languages page for Italian:

Italian Steps - a course for learning basic, conversational (not fluent!) Italian in 12 weeks
Talk Italian - a series of videos of Italian conversation in common situations. Note: the... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Italian numbers

We're coving the 10 most important things to know to get by in Italian. Last week, we looked at Italian greetings, at the common courtesies, and asking questions. This week, we started with things you will need, and now we're going to talk about numbers.

5. Numbers
Strictly regarding the number of words to learn here, there are more than there have been for the first four parts of this series. However, these are all just bare words, not phrases, so it's not that much more. And numbers are... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

A language is like a city

Learning a new language is like moving to a new city. This analogy isn't originally mine — I got it from the Word Collector blog — but I really love the idea, and I want to expand on it.

Learning a city
The average person grows up living in one city. You start out learning the basics: where's your house, then what's on your street, then what's in your neighborhood, and so on. Eventually as you get older you know all the locations of all the hot spots; you can point someone to the... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Italian things you need

We're coving the 10 most important things to know to get by in Italian. Last week, we looked at Italian greetings, at the common courtesies, and asking questions. This week, we're going to start off with a look at things you will need.

4. Necessities
It's impossible for me to list everything that a person might need while they are away, but there are a few basic things everyone needs to know. Remember, this isn't going to make you fluent, but it's going to give you what you need to get by.... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Lithuanian questions

In anticipation of a coming trip to Lithuania this fall, I wanted to learn a little about the language. I decided this would be a good opportunity for me to put my list of the 10 most important things to know, to get by in any language to the test.

We've already learned some Lithuanian greetings, and some common courtesies. This week, we'll learn how to ask questions.

3. Questions
I had initially expected Lithuanian question words to be difficult, as the parent language of those complicated... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Language profile: French

This isn't quite a first look, since I already have some experience with French, but that doesn't mean I can't still do a basic exploration of the language as I would do with any other language I don't know.

French is an official language in 29 countries. It is spoken by 136 million people as a primary language, by 190 million people as a second language, and perhaps another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language.

It ranks #2 (behind English) among the world's most influential... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Always pushing boundaries

"Do one thing every day that scares you." — Eleanor Roosevelt



I talk about fear a lot. Perhaps more than one might expect on a blog about learning languages. But I talk about it because I think fear is such an important thing to conquer. It is the thing that holds us all back from being who we really want to be.

Pushing a boundary
Have you ever stopped to think about what that phrase really means? What does it mean to push a boundary? Many of us hear that phrase and we think of... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Italian questions

We're coving the 10 most important things to know to get by in Italian. Monday we looked at Italian greetings. And Wednesday we looked at the common courtesies. Today, we'll look at the third thing on the list: asking questions.

3. Questions
I already wrote a somewhat more detailed post about the Italian question words a few months ago. But today we're not examing them so closely. Instead, we're more interested in common ways they might be used and what you need to know as a traveler.


Che?What?
Chi?Who?
Come?How?
Quando?When?
Quanto?How... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Italian courtesies

We're coving the 10 most important things to know to get by in Italian. Monday we looked at Italian greetings. Today, we'll look at what I call the common courtesies.

2. Italian courtesies
When I use the term common courtesies here, I am referring to the basic courtesy phrases we all learn as children. These are things like please, thank you, excuse me, bless you, and so on... things that your mom made you say, and she got mad when you forgot.


Scusi.Excuse me.
Scusami.Excuse me.
(Con)... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

I wish I had a gift for languages

A common excuse I hear from people is "I'm just not good at languages like you", or "sure, it's easy for you, you have a gift for languages". But the truth is, I don't. I'm not even sure such a thing exists... but if it does, I certainly don't have it.

That's not to say that I don't have an easier time than many others — I probably do, but it's not because I have any gift. It's nothing more than the natural result of spending a great deal of time studying!

Strength comes from repetition
The... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Italian greetings!

I've covered a lot of grammar already, as well as a lot of other useful things to know about Italian. But I have gone almost halfway into this year without touching on the basics from my list of the 10 most important things to know, to get by in any language... something I've already managed to start doing for Lithuanian, which isn't even this year's language!

So, before I waste any more time, I think I should get into some useful Italian words and phrases, starting with #1 on the list...

1.... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Lithuanian courtesies

In anticipation of a coming trip to Lithuania this fall, I wanted to learn a little about the language. I decided this would be a good opportunity for me to put my list of the 10 most important things to know, to get by in any language to the test.

Last week, we learned some Lithuanian greetings. This week we'll take a look at common courtesies.

2. Common courtesies
When I use the term common courtesies here, I am referring to the basic courtesy phrases we all learn as children. These are... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Learn Russian as it is really spoken... from LOLCats?

One of the most difficult barriers in language study is the disconnect between the words and pronunciations you learn in a book and those you hear in daily speech.

In English, we write "I am going to..." but we say "I'm gonna". We write "what do you think?", but we say "Whaddya think?" This same phenomenon happens all over the world in other languages, and it will confuse you if you try to learn from books and in classes.

In my super-fast year of Russian study, I took in a lot of vocabulary... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

The world's most influential languages

I've seen languages ranked by many diverse criteria, including number of speakers, economic power of countries where the languages are spoken, and so on. But I've always felt like there were large numbers of people being forgotten and important details being overlooked.

How many people speak the language?
Population figures are relatively easy to find, as are data indicating the official language(s) of each country. However this isn't always a very realistic measure of a language's speakers.

For... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Hurrà Blackhawks!

After cheering for the Blackhawks all season long, I got to see them hoist the Stanley Cup.

Today I'm taking a day off from blogging.
... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

The who's and what's of Italian pronouns

Pronouns are among the most used of any word in any language, and they have many uses. Today I'd like to take a look at some of the ways they are used in Italian.

Subject pronouns
By this point, you've probably already figured out that subject pronouns are frequently omitted. We learn the subject pronouns (io, tu, lui, lei, noi, voi, loro) as we learn conjugations, but since the conjugations themselves tend to indicate the subject, it becomes very formal and stiff sounding when you use subject... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

These Romance languages are all just Vulgar Latin!

One of the ways polyglots become polyglots is by using the tools they've already learned in one language to help with the next. Sometimes those tools are more than just learning techniques. Sometimes, when studying a second language in a language family that is already known, the entire previous experience can be mapped onto the new language, making it easier to learn.

Vulgar Latin
Today, I'd like to explore how that works in the so-called Romance languages... though I prefer to think of them... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Preposizioni improprie

In addition to the simple prepositions we've already covered, there is also a group of "improper" prepositions, called preposizioni improprie, which are actually adverbs, adjectives or (in some rare cases) verbs, but which often function as prepositions.

Avverbi (adverbs)
The following adverbs function as prepositions.

sotto
under
sopra
over
prima
before
dopo
after
presso
by
accanto
near by
oltre
further
dietro
behind
davanti
in front of
avanti
in front of
innanzi
in... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Lithuanian greetings

In anticipation of a coming trip to Lithuania this fall, I wanted to learn a little about the language. I decided this would be a good opportunity for me to put my list of the 10 most important things to know, to get by in any language to the test.

Today, we'll look at the first of those 10 things: greetings.

1. Greetings
When I say greetings, I am referring to all the various ways people say hello and goodbye to each other. These things are the bare minimum of what a person can say to another... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

¡Ay madre! What your mother never taught you about Spanish!

One of the most versatile words in many languages is "mother", but there is probably no language in which it is more versatile than in Spanish. To a person who is learning Spanish but doesn't know slang, one could easy walk away from a conversation wondering why people talk about their mothers so much. However a long-time speaker of Spanish could hear the same conversation and realize that they never mentioned a mother the whole time.

How is that possible? It's possible because the fluent speaker... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Additional style notes about superlatives

We've already looked at how to form comparisons in Italian, as well as a few irregular comparative forms. Today I want to suggest one more way to convey the thought, and add a few notes on usage.

Augmentative suffixes
The Italian language allows us imply an additional degree of a particular adjective or adverb — a certain extra-ness, if you will — by using an augmentative suffix.

A while back, we looked at augmentatives briefly, but let's recap:


-one
libro (book)
casa... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

The Lonely Planet iPad app failure

As a traveler and language learner, I am particularly fond on Lonely Planet's phrasebooks and I find many of their other travel-related materials useful as well. I follow @lonelyplanet on Twitter, and in general have a pretty good opinion about them.

So it should come as no surprise that when looking for iPad apps, I search on their name, hoping to find some can't-live-without killer iPad app for world travelers. What I found was 1000 Ultimate Experiences — a complete cop-out of an app, and... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Irregular comparisons and superlatives

In addition to the regular comparative forms we already looked at (using più and meno) there are also some irregular comparatives and superlatives for Italian adjectives and adverbs.

Irregular adjective comparisons
With most English comparatives, we just add -er and -est to the adjective (eg: light, lighter, and lightest), but that doesn't work with good, which becomes better and best.

In the very same way, most adjective comparisons in Italian can be handled with più, but the usual suspects... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

The secret to overcoming shyness, conquering your fears, and building confidence in a second language

Have you ever found yourself in a perfect situation but afraid to take advantage of it? Have you ever passed an opportunity to talk to someone in a foreign language, out of fear that you would make a mistake? Do you ever downplay your studies or your skills out of fear that your reputation is better than your skill? If so, I've got the secret answer to cure your problems, erase your stress, and help you be better, happier, and more successful.

Perceptions are everything!
The demands of the... continue reading at Fluent Every Year