First words in Italian

Hmm. Well, after 20 hours of lessons, I can say a few more words than this time last week. Rita, a feisty, funny Italian woman who is our teacher, has been plying us with plenty of grammar and vocabulary, no mean feat given the high spirits, varied languages and low boredom threshold of the ten students in our beginners’ class. I can’t get much further than telling you my name, where I’m from and what I do, then perhaps going wild and asking you the time, but it’s a start.

And what a beautiful language Italian is. I had worried about being confused between French and Italian, but in fact the two sound so different that there's not so much to muddle up. It's like learning music by two composers: Debussy, Ravel and Berlioz versus Dallapiccola, Respighi and Bellini. French is full of subtle sounds and colours, with hidden letters that are written but not pronounced, and with others that appear when words run together. Italian seems to me to be bold and open, you articulate everything you see, the sounds are definite. Where French is a poetic, murmuring language, Italian is full of music and lyricism. It's wonderful to have the chance to learn them both.