Ciao everyone! I hope you're all having a great week so far! ヾ(＠⌒▽⌒＠)ﾉ

I thought that I would talk about something I have been doing over my summer, which is taking a foreign language class! 

I have decided to take Italian, since both my mother and I are Italian, and I could do with learning our language better (*~▽~)

It has been a few weeks since I have been taking the class and so far, I'm having a really good time! It's really nice to be able to learn things and use them in a conversation, and just to have that skill of being able to speak in another language under your belt. 

I thought I would relay some of my experiences learning and ask you guys about it! 

~ Filling in the Cracks ~

So, one thing that I have noticed is that if you have previous knowledge of a language, or if you can speak it but maybe not 100%, taking a basics class will guarantee that you learn something. It's almost like filling in the cracks of things about the language you didn't know or fully understand. 

In my case, it's just all about the little words that I didn't know. For example, I knew how to say I am hungry, which is "Io ho fame," but I never knew how to say I was thirsty, which I know now is, "Io ho sete." Words that would be grouped in the same category, but one I knew, and the other I didn't. Kind of strange, but it makes me really happy to be able to know how to say I am both hungry and thirsty, along with other things (∪ ◡ ∪)

~ Two Cars? ~

Another thing I've noticed is, pronunciation, pronunciation, pronunciation! Pronouncing something even slightly wrong can change the meaning of the entire word. 

It's kind of a lot of pressure, but super important when engaging in a conversation (⊙‿⊙✿)

For example, in Italian, the plural form of la macchina is le macchine. If you were to say, "Io ho la macchina," which means, "I have the car," it would be a bit confusing if you were to slip up on your pronunciation at the end of the word and say, "Io ho la macchine," you would be saying (with the wrong grammar, of course) that you have multiple cars. 

There's probably a ton of other bigger differences than these, but this is where my skill level is at right now.. (•⊙ω⊙•)

~ The Table's a Girl? ~

(An interesting title, I know (ﾟヮﾟ))

Italian is one of those languages where all their nouns have either a masculine or feminine gender, and this changes of how you say the word. 

For example, la tavola (which means, the table) ends in a, so that would mean that tavola is a feminine noun, which in turn means that the table is a girl? 

But then again, it can also be il tavolo, so we will never know. 

A great mystery~  

These are just some things that I have found interesting while learning Italian. I am really enjoying my studies so far and always get so happy when I see myself improving and understanding the language more. Italian is such a beautiful language, and it makes me really happy to be able to share in this part of my heritage, and especially to be able to communicate in my mother's native tongue with her. 

Have any of you learned another language or are planning to learn one? Let me know in the comments below! 

As always, thank you for reading this chapter of This Is Me! Stay kawaii and bye for now! ☆d(o⌒∇⌒o)b