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December 29, 2009 | Italian

Subjunctive Skills

The subjunctive forms are finally sinking in.

I am really starting to remember verbs of all tenses, moods, etc. I still make lots of mistakes, but I can sometimes remember both present and past subjunctive now. Subjunctive was the holdout verb category for me.

January 1, 2010 | Italian

2010: The Year of the Homework

I set the tone for 2010, studying for hours.

I was originally supposed to switch to Korean today, but I couldn’t. Italian is too wonderful. So, one more month of Italian, then on to Korean. Brandt and I had a New Year’s Eve party last night. It…

January 2, 2010 | Italian

No Heat? No Problem!

A super-cold apartment is no deterrent where Italian studies are concerned.

Today the heat went off—yet again—in our apartment building. I would not be deterred, however: I studied Italian for at least six hours, much of the time wearing a down jacket, hat, and gloves. According to the book…

January 5, 2010 | Italian

Child Labor

I am tutored by children.

Over the past three days, I have had three Italian tutoring sessions, first with my niece Sophie, 7, and then with my nephews Charlie, 12, and Peter, 10. As I have mentioned previously, they are the children of Brandt’s sister and are…

January 6, 2010 | Italian

Fading Memories

I'm starting to forget Italian I learned just six weeks ago.

Besides some book-learning today (Italian grammar books, that is), I had some real-life Italian experiences as well: a brief conversation in the coffee shop, for one, plus I wrote an e-mail in Italian. Nothing too high-volume, but I love this…

January 8, 2010 | Italian

Back to Brighton Beach

On a cold, cold day, I take photos at the beach.

Today I went to Brighton Beach to take some pictures. It has been six months since I was last here. The beach in January does not much resemble the beach in July. A lot of subway studying of Italian was…

January 9, 2010 | Italian

More Grammar Books!

Bolstering the economy: I buy a new camera and more books for this project.

Today Brandt and I went to Best Buy to get a new camera to replace our old, somewhat broken camera (the thingie that goes over the lens won’t shut anymore). Our old camera was not big, but this one…

January 10, 2010 | Italian

Verbs, Verbs, Verbs

Fun with my new verb books.

Today I did some work in my new verb-focused grammar books. The beginning of each of the books is a little too easy for me at this point, but I am racing through them, and I think the reinforcement is…

January 11, 2010 | Italian

The Laundry-to-Learning Ratio

Dirty laundry increases in proportion to how hard I study.

I have finally begun getting requests for conversation partners from the board where I posted about two months ago, but I have not been responding to them. I feel guilty for ignoring these messages, but every response I compose takes…

January 12, 2010 | Italian

Queens, Polyglottal Borough

In Jackson Heights, I hear a gazillion languages.

Today, to get some pictures for the blog, I went to Jackson Heights, Queens, and found myself awash in languages. It was like the Tower of Babel, but positive. I photographed storefronts and signs with Korean, Bengali, Russian, Polish, Spanish,…