I intend to post semi-regularly, around once a month. A goal which I hope is not too ambitious.
Within my posts I aim to comprehensively document the trials and tribulations of someone attempting to learn and live in a foreign country (better yet, a foreign country in which I feel I have yet to acquire a sufficient level of language competence).
In order for the reader to understand the level of language proficiency in which I am embarking on my year abroad with, I will provide some background of my Italian Learning so far;
I hail from an all Italian, Italian speaking family (for the most part- for example, my father speaks mainly in a Northern-Italian dialect, which greatly dissuaded him from sharing his language with me). I was surrounded by Italian as a child, however to my knowledge I never showed a great deal of interest in adopting the language as my own.
Throughout my adolescence I have attended countless Italian-teaching schemes, many of them geared towards gaining a GCSE qualification as the metaphorical ''carrot at the end of the stick'' - I have never completed any of them. In fact I held no type of linguistic qualification of any description before I somehow managed to secure a place at the University of Reading and have to this date completed two years of (somewhat intense and at times overwhelming) Italian studies.
Now, I find myself in my third year at University (a fact which I regularly have to remind myself is real) with the opportunity to spend a year studying in a beautiful country, with time to explore and to speak and to fully immerse myself in the culture.
Hopefully, this blog will reach others who feel that they are in a similar position to mine, conversely I would hope that my posts are an entertaining read for anyone who is interested in the process of language acquisition!
Parleremo presto!
