Michèle P. Historia

Hello, I'm a 68-year-old pensioner with a passion for languages and Italy. I only knew a few words of Italian, and my aim was to converse better with the locals when I went on holiday to Italy. I started taking Italian lessons just over a year ago. I start in the morning, as soon as I'm ready and not yet tired from my day. I really like the characters, they all make me laugh, and their stories are interesting and not at all academic. There are also some cool cartoons. There are always references to the author, so you can go and find out more if you feel like it. The stories are really focused on the country and its culture, from cooking to painting. But, alas, I don't spend ten minutes reading them, I spend a lot more; I've made up a notebook so I can revise and look up a word I've forgotten. That's when you realise that learning gets more complicated with age. What I like less are the conjugation exercises, but I have to learn the subtle uses of the subjunctive in Italian. The gentle ending to the lesson is the height of humour. When I recently went to Rome with my niece, and we took the taxi, and he understood what I was saying and which hotel we were going to, I saw the astonishment in my niece's eyes, and even a glimmer of admiration, at my command of the language, and that is the best reward for all my efforts. And now I'm taking German lessons, because when you love it, you don't count ....