i bought these books to help me learn italian. but really so far the only new things i've picked up are: "i don't speak italian" and some pronunciation things (like ci sounds like "chee") and that there are like four or five letters of the english alphabet that don't even exist in italian, oh and also that i hate italian. i'm sure i would love it if i could actually speak it, it's pretty awesome-sounding. however, i cannot speak italian. and italian is way harder than spanish. in spanish a singular "the" is always "el" or "la" depending on gender. in italian, the masculine singular "the" can be TWO different things and i don't really even know the difference yet. and don't get me started on making things plural... i miss spanish.
for now, i will keep up my "non parlo italiano" repetitions.
Arabic isn't much of a picnic either....but it's kinda fun right? I'm glad though, sometimes that i dont understand it really...because we get yelled at sometimes....and it doesnt bother me but if i knew what they were saying.....hmmm.......do you get yelled at? probably not....you're not ghostly pale.... i bet that you blend right in.
ReplyDeletei definitely have my moments where i'm glad that i don't understand. there are so few responsibilities when you can't understand what people are saying to you, socially and just in general.
ReplyDeletei haven't really been yelled at yet... though, and i kid you not, i was literally whistled at between 15 and 20 times in the three hours i was in taormina.
about blending in: the subject of blending in really has made me think lately. at home i pride myself on the fact that i stand out. i love that i'm different. but here? i feel like i definitely stand out, but all i want is to blend in. physically you're right though, i am pretty similar to the people here. at home i'm really short and just generally tiny, but here i'm pretty average. if my hair were a bit darker i'd blend right in... aside from my obviously american ways of dressing.