Dive into Italy: your permission slip for language adventures
Sometimes fear runs our life. Here's what to do about it.
Here’s something I’ve noticed.
We handle our lives with the gloved hands of a fearful antique dealer. We cover them in bubble wrap so nothing can crack them.
We find a neat box and set ourselves in it.
We treat our fears like something delicate and tender that we’re afraid to drop.
But what would happen if we did something different?
If we ripped the bubble wrap away, what would happen?
We might uncover that we really aren’t all that talented or clever.
What if we don’t have the language gene ?
What if we make mistakes?
We might seem foolish.
And, in the process of shielding ourselves, we miss out on the very things that would give us joy if we gave ourselves a chance.
You and I, most of us do this. We protect our fears without realizing it.
We shield them from any new idea or person that might come and question the balance we created.
We can talk about getting out of the comfort zone all we like. Getting out of it sounds so easy on paper. Even exciting.
But it trivializes the conversation we need to have about the incredible messiness that comes with learning a language.
The things that deep down inside we find really icky, aren’t the truly hard things.
No, it’s the simple ones that intimidate us the most.
Because they might take us in a slightly different direction. And we like to have things all mapped out.
This goes for languages and for life because honestly, you can’t speak about them separately.
You can’t talk about languages without talking about life.
This post is a permission slip.
It allows you to enrich your Italian journey and take some detours in Italian.
Give yourself permission to do something a bit different from your learning routine.
Allow yourself to immerse in all that Italy means to you.
Dip your toe in different language waters.
Below you’ll find some ideas on how you can create your very own Italian immersion today.
Here’s some ideas. Bookmark this list for future use.
💫Keep an audio log on your phone of how your day went. Schedule a day next month to go over them. It’s painful to hear your own voice but then you get used to it and it’s such a wonderful way to go over your memories. You’ll become your own language coach and you’ll see results literally overnight.
💫Set a time in the day to write in your Italian journal for five minutes. No dictionaries, nothing that could keep you from the flow of writing. Pour your heart out in Italian and see how it feels. Mistakes are oh so welcome!
💫Plan your next trip to Italy on Tripadvisor looking for Italian reviews of places and hotels. Get in daydreaming mode releases endorphins and gets you looking forward with excitement. When we dream, we’re ambitious and we push ourselves gently forward!
💫Spend some time labelling your household items with their Italian names. As you go about your day, you will be reinforcing very practical vocab for your next Italian trip. I bet you have all the right terminology for climate warming ( riscaldamento climatico) but don’t know how to say bedside table ( comodino).
💫Enjoy some podcasts in Italian. When you finish an episode, record yourself for less than a minute summarizing what you heard. Convert all that passive knowledge into a virtual conversation.
💫Find Italian creativity tutorials to play with art while practicing your Italian. Valina on Instagram and Youtube is a great place to dabble with your playful side.
💫Love history? Explore Italian history podcasts or shows on Raiplay.
💫Do a visualization in Italian. Visualize yourself BEING in Italy and connecting with people while living a life full of good food, beautiful rituals and friendly banter. What would that look like? See yourself doing all these things in great detail. Then, at the end, see, what can you TODAY to get you closer to that vision you had?
All.
These activities.
Are.
Language.
Learning.
Will doing five minutes of Italian journaling tomorrow make you suddenly an accomplished and confident Italian speaker?
No.
But if you schedule a weekend peppered with activities like this, you will get a very rewarding Italian immersion.
Something that you long to come back to because it is making your journey inspiring AND complete. An experience you’ll always find time for. That’s called consistency and THAT will get you closer to your language learning goals. Way more than grammar drills.
You’re learning by immersion. These are tiny detours that allow you to connect with yourself and deepen your Italian knowledge.
But also, you’ll make your Italian journey joyful and full of passion.
Because life is simply too short to be spending it doing things that don’t spark joy.
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