About Me

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I’m married (for the 2nd time) just over a year now. I have 3 children ages 21, 17 & 16 as well as a daughter who is 21 years old from my husband’s previous marriage (not a typo) and recently married so I am now a mother-in-law as well. I think it’s great!! All my love to both of them!!! As long as they wait to have children until he is out of the Army! I’m also a Nursing student in my 2nd year of school. I’m seriously considering a change in my major to Nutrition. Much as I want to be a Nurse, I think becoming a Nutritionist may be the avenue I choose. I am fluent in American Sign Language and speak Italian as well. I also love the outdoors, camping, hiking, riding motorcycles with my husband, and the beach are among a few. I hate the cold but I love snowball fights with my family. I enjoy crochet of all kinds, but there’s something about the detail when it is done with crochet thread that I especially love. I try to spend as much time as I can enjoying life and what it has to offer.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Learning Italian

I’ve always wanted to learn Italian. My father’s family is from Italy and yet I never learned to speak the language. But, thanks to an innovative program by Dr. Pimsleur which is available on the web at Pimsleur Direct I am now learning to speak Italian. There are 30+ language choices to choose from on this site.

My mom is using the program to re-learn French. My brother is also using the French CD's since his girlfriend is fluent in the language, as well as Greek since he's going to Greece for a week this month.

I have quite a few family members that speak Italian and quite a few friends that also speak Italian. So I know that I will be able to use and practice the language with them.

This program is a fantastic and easy way to learn a 2nd language. It takes you through the learning process without the monotony of having to learn a useless list of words that don’t help you to use them in everyday conversation.

The site is well worth taking a look at if you have any desire to learn another language. You are taught through conversational lessons, not boring lessons of words that have no meaning or use to you.

In the 1st 30 minute lesson I learned to say:

Scusi, signore, lei capisce l'inglese? (Excuse me sir, do you understand English?)
Lei capisce l'inglese? (Do you understand English?)
Io non capisco l'inglese. (I don’t understand English.)
Lei è Americano? (Are you American.)
Sì, Americano? (Yes, American.)

Lei capisce l'italiano? (Do you understand Italian?)
Io capisco un po'. (I understand a little.)
Io capisco un po' l' italiano. (I understand Italian, a little.)

Not bad for someone who just this morning couldn’t say anything in Italian.The spellings may be off a bit, and for that I am sorry.


Now, I can honestly say; Io capisco un po' l' italiano.


6 comments:

Auntie Sam said...

hi jeanine! i found your blog by chance but i guess i came just in time: i'm italian! it's so nice you want to learn this language (so nice but also so useless).
don't care much about the spelling but keep in mind that italian is not like english: once you learned how to pronounce well the sound of the vowels, than it's getting so easy since we write just like we talk.

little corrections on your post (let me be a little anal :-)))!!!):

Scusi, signore, lei capisce l'inglese? (Excuse me sir, do you understand English?)

Lei capisce l'italiano? (Do you understand Italian?)

Io capisco un po'. (I understand a little.)

Io capisco un po' l' italiano (I understand Italian, a little.)

Io non capisco l'inglese. (I don’t understand English.)

Keep going on this job, girl!

Jeanine said...

Sam,

Thank you what you said. Though I don't see it as useless. I have family and friends that speak it so I'll be able to use it.

And thank you very much for the correct spellings on the words. I'll fix them in the post.

Anonymous said...

Hello Jeanine,
The other day I succeeded in getting all of this Pimsleur Italian Course (appr. 1.3 GB), then I started to look for a textbook for it when Google happened to give a link to your blog and I have been reading it ever since. :) As for the lessons, I have been through the first two, taking one every night, so you should pull up your socks if you don't want to fall behind. ;-)
I like the esoteric writings.
BTW, I was born six years later than you, also as a Leo.
Greetings from Debrecen, Hungary

Jeanine said...

Hello Anonymous,

The set that I have is The Conversational Italian. I wanted to be sure it would actually be something I'd use. Though now that I've listened to the first few lessons, I wish that I'd gotten set 1. But I plan to get that one anyway.

Trust me, I will not fall behind ;) I am just about to start lesson 3 tonight.

Though I am enjoying the CDs and the way they work, I have been listening to each lesson twice to be sure that I'm comfortable enough before moving on to the next lesson.

I'm glad you're enjoying the blog. I'll be adding more of the esoteric info as well.

And... it's nice to meet another Leo ;)

Anonymous said...

Here Anonymous's name is Zoli. :) He will show up again soon...

Jeanine said...

Hello Zoli,

And thank you for that. It's so much nicer than calling you Anonymous