There's a reason opera was born in Italy. Not only, as you mentioned, the sheer beauty of the language, but the vowel sounds are so open and bright, and the consonants forward on tongue tip, lips and teeth, that it automatically places the singing voice to advantage. It's just easier to sing in Italian. I also found that when I spoke in Italy, Italians were encouraging and patient with my efforts.
Haha. It's encouraging to hear a liguist struggle with a language. I'm dreadful at learning new languages, yet, when in Italy, I find myself quickly speaking a very rudimentary form of Italian. This causes lots of laughs for everyone, including me, but I understand and speak so much more than French and Spanish that I've studied for years so who knows why. It just makes intuitive sense to me. Or maybe I'm delusional and just think I'm speaking italiano!
I have literally studied Italian most of my life (not that I really learned much in NYC schools but it was a good base) and the subjunctive will always trip me up…but errors in “agreement” as well. Still, I find such joy in it!
Masculine and Feminine forms, I remember the descriptive in French. La vs Le, I believe...and that is my only foray into another language, I'm ashamed to say. I do hear the beauty in other languages and I do not think of English as a superior language. Hardly!
There's a reason opera was born in Italy. Not only, as you mentioned, the sheer beauty of the language, but the vowel sounds are so open and bright, and the consonants forward on tongue tip, lips and teeth, that it automatically places the singing voice to advantage. It's just easier to sing in Italian. I also found that when I spoke in Italy, Italians were encouraging and patient with my efforts.
I am endeavoring to learn Italian with the assistance of both Duolingo and Rosetta Stone
I admire that even though walking thru health uncertainties y continue to engage in what y love.
Haha. It's encouraging to hear a liguist struggle with a language. I'm dreadful at learning new languages, yet, when in Italy, I find myself quickly speaking a very rudimentary form of Italian. This causes lots of laughs for everyone, including me, but I understand and speak so much more than French and Spanish that I've studied for years so who knows why. It just makes intuitive sense to me. Or maybe I'm delusional and just think I'm speaking italiano!
I have literally studied Italian most of my life (not that I really learned much in NYC schools but it was a good base) and the subjunctive will always trip me up…but errors in “agreement” as well. Still, I find such joy in it!
I want to move to Europe somewhere and Italy keeps entering my mind. I’m no linguist though, so this worries me!!
I love that list of all the different words for "bird!"
I love the language, have learned it during my twenties and still speak a fair bit. It now competes with learning Spanish as I live in Spain now.
Masculine and Feminine forms, I remember the descriptive in French. La vs Le, I believe...and that is my only foray into another language, I'm ashamed to say. I do hear the beauty in other languages and I do not think of English as a superior language. Hardly!