Learning Italian

In anticipation for my return to Italy, I am trying to learn italian. I tend to get obsessed with new ventures and that seems to be the case here. I spend hours each week listening to italian music, reading a book on the history of the italian language, and researching various websites that explain proper use of verbs, prepositions, etc. I found a wonderful site - livemocha.com - that teaches the language using various methods and I've connected with many italian natives who review my work and correct, encourage, and challenge me to continue. My mind is one big mosh pit of information that I hope will one day come together as knowledge. Right now the information seems to be unorganized and confusing, but I trust that it will find a path to comprehension. After homeschooling for 21 years and correcting my children in proper use of grammar, I find it hard to grasp italian's contrary rules. For example, double negatives is a pet peeve of mine. If anyone says, "I don't have none." I'm quick to respond, "Yes, you do have none." "I didn't do nothing," is immediately corrected, "That means you did something." So, imagine my frustration to learn that double negatives are not only allowed in italian, but necessary!!! Please say it isn't so!

Where we might say, "Break a leg" to wish someone good luck, an italian would say, "In bocca al lupo!" which means, "In the mouth of the wolf!" (I guess it makes as much sense as break a leg...... but still....) By the way, the correct response is: "Crepi il lupo." which means, "Let the wolf die." If someone here is not dressed, they are naked as a jaybird, but in Italy they'd be nudo come un verme - naked as a worm. Getting caught in the rain might get you soaking wet, but in Italy you'd be in zuppato - dunked in the soup. Double consonants are very important in the correct pronounciation of italian. One must be sure and pronounce each consonant or hold the sound for 2 beats. Quanti anni ha? means, How old are you? (literally - how many years have you?) but if you don't pronounce each "n" in anni, you might end up saying, Quanti ani ha? which means, How many anuses have you? A considerable difference there! So much to learn, so little brain function remaining. I'll keep you posted as to how it's going. Wish me in bocca al lupo.