Learning a foreign language {without lessons}

‘You’re doing a year abroad in Italy?’

‘Yeah’

‘Oh lovely, can you speak Italian?’

‘…No’

…was the conversation I frequently had with people over summer.

I must have been in a slight ignorance-is-bliss mode because I decided to just wing it, which is pretty unusual for me.

I thought I would simply wait and learn once I was surrounded by the language and put in situations where I had to use it.

So I used Duolingo for a few weeks to get literally the basics and that was about the extent of it.

~

At the moment, having still had no lessons, I understand what my teachers/people in shops are saying about 70% of the time (or at least I think I do) which I think is not bad going after about 10 weeks of living here. I’m still awful at speaking, but in general I know so much more now than when I first arrived – I must have been shockingly awful in the beginning.

I don’t know about other languages, especially non-European ones perhaps, but the thing with Italian is that their vocabulary is fairly small, and I find that if you can roughly string a sentence together, 9 times out of 10 the person will understand what you mean.

I’ve become pretty good at communicating without necessarily using words... No, I don’t mean like that. I mean I tend to just point at things and use one or two words I know to get across what I’m asking for. Sure, it can be embarrassing, but it’s better than the alternative of going without food or a phone or internet or lessons or important information.

Also, as a performer, maybe I enjoy the adrenaline of having to think on my feet?

~

My main reason for not having lessons was the cost; they are not cheap and I thought I’d just see how I'd manage without them.

And the conclusion so far:

I’m still alive

I only embarrass myself every other day now rather than every day

and most importantly my lessons are going ok.

~

One of the main things I've learnt is just to try (or at least look like you’re trying). I feel bad enough that I fit into the English stereotype of assuming people will speak English, so the least I can do is not be ignorant about it and just try, even if I’m hilariously crap.

I always just imagine a role reversal; I’d be much more willing to speak my second language for someone if they were really having a go at speaking my first.

~

So, there is my slightly incoherent and rambling summary of what it’s like to (attempt to) learn a foreign language without lessons.

To sum up in three words, I’d say ‘trial and error’. The same goes for a lot of things in life, and as long as you can find the ‘error’ bits funny and learn from them, you’ll be fine!