Michelin Building, London

I’ve been meaning to take a look at this building for a while and finally had a spare hour to get over to Kensington. It was commissioned by Michelin at the beginning of the 20th century and has some interesting decorations. It is a blend of Art Nouveau and Art Deco.

The front part of the building is now home to a restaurant that is out of my budget.

There are some beautiful painted tiles around the exterior displaying scenes from motor racing.

There was also this scene from a famous French bicycle race

 

Greenwich, Turner And The Sea

Oggi sono andato a Londra. Ho preso il treno la mattina alle sette e diciotto. Siamo arrivati dopo un’ora. Primo, ho bevuto un cappuccino. Poi ho visitato Greenwich. Ci sono stato spesso ma questo tempo sono veduto vedere una mostra ‘Turner And The Sea’ al museo…hmmm come si dice ‘National Martime Museum’ in italiano? Non lo so! Mi sono piaciuti i quadri di Turner e anche questo di Vernet. Per pranzo sono andato il mercato di Greenwich. Nel mercato gli aromi sono magnifici. Ci sono molto tipi di piatti mangiare.

The painting ‘Night’ by Claude-Joseph Vernet has a fantastic contrast of light. It perhaps feels a bit darker than it seems here. I really liked the highly illuminated moon (it almost seems as though it has a bright backlight emanating from within the canvas) and the glow of the night fire. There is also a faint whisp of smoke trailing away from the man leaning on a cask.

So oh well my favourite painting of the exhibition was not a Turner after all!

Fishing Boats Bringing a Disabled Ship into Port Ruysdael

Crash

Two months into my challenge I am experiencing my first bad reaction to italiano. Yes I have anxiety, nausea, headaches and AMNESIA! I have been questioning whether or not I am really capable of doing this. Posso imparare italiano? Io non so. This a bad case of self-doubt. It seems like the more I learn the more I discover how little I know. Listening to Italian speech is proving a real source of despair. Equally because I have only just started I neither know enough vocabulary nor do I know the vocabulary I do know well enough.

So I am feeling quite down about things today. I feel like someone has sunk my gondola. I am not sure where this negative emotion has come from. I am not lacking motivation. Since I began learning Italian I have not said to myself “oh no I can’t be bothered today”. I woke up this morning and was looking forward to learning. However at some point today I was listening to some different things and I hit a point where I just thought I am not getting any of this, the words just collapse into each other. They aren’t even words, just noises. It is too hard!! Molto difficile! Molto dura! Impossibile!

So I start to question whether this is such una buona idea. There are many other things I could do with my time. But here is the thing – I could throw in the towel now and do something else but I would be bound to hit the same brick walls. I’d want to master something that was difficult and I would just as likely have to struggle through equally hard times. So you might ask why strive for something that is difficult? I was never any good at languages at school so it would be easy to accept I am no good at languages now. Let’s see what’s on TV instead. Preferisco guardare la televisione perché è facile. Or perhaps get my sense of achievement from watching others. Become a FAN and then when “my team” win something I can share in that, “We won! We won!” when it was really the achievement of other people. I mean think of the happiness others seem to experience watching eleven sweaty men in shorts running around a field. Yeah okay I’m random ranting. I’ll stop.

But I would not be content with having no goals and having no sense of achieving something. When I began this I was realistic…it’s going to be a five year thing old sport. Maybe I could hold society to account for conditioning me to expect instant gratification? Anyway, I will not allow myself to be overwhelmed by how I feel now. Yes, five years is a long time. But I imagine it will be like taking out a mortgage on a house. It starts off huge and insurmountable but each year the debt gets smaller and more manageable. So I need to have faith in myself. I will continue to improve and learning will get easier as my knowledge expands. Then just maybe it will seem less impossible and less hopeless and maybe maybe maybe one day I will think…this is possible.

Learning Italian: next steps

On reflection of my fairly rapid progress through one Italian textbook I have the following thoughts about what to do next:

Use memrise

It would have been better to use memrise to learn the vocabulary from each chapter. I scribbled everything down by hand with the intention of taking a bit of paper with me wherever I ventured whether it be the park bench or the toilet. But this didn’t really work for me. Hopefully, putting the vocab on memrise will be more convenient and effective. I think I am more likely to spend 10 minutes here and there on memrise during a break at work or at home compared to taking a scrap of paper with me when I’m on the err…well you know, doing a…anyway next point…

Employ several learning sources in parallel

So rather than have just a single book on the go I am going to dip in and out of different ones. I felt with Buogiorno Italia my natural instinct was to finish the book ASAP as though it were a race. I probably surged too quickly through the final chapters as if it were a bit of a sprint. And were there any medals given out after the last page? No! So I am hoping that having a few to read will mean I can just relax and enjoy the variety and curb those competitive instincts.

I have purchased these which are all suitably above my current level and should keep me going until the summer.

• Ottavia e i Gatti di Roma – Octavia and the Cats of Rome: A bilingual picture book in Italian and English
• Cristoforo Colombo E La Pasta Al Pomodoro – Christopher Columbus and the Pasta with Tomato Sauce: A Bilingual Picture Book (Italian-English Text)
• Talk Italian Grammar
• Read and Think Italian with Audio CD (Read & Think)

Revise what I’ve learnt

Reread chapters from Buogiorno Italia from time-to-time to see if the content seems easier. This is partly an exercise in revision and also to gauge how I’ve moved on. At some point I should be able to say “Yeah, know it” and sling the book at some kids on skateboards. What?

Non scrivo niente in inglese

So all the scribbled notes I compose to myself as reminders to do stuff should be in Italian. If there is something I don’t know how to say then I should make a note to find out. That note can be in English though.

Speaking

I’m not doing this at all other than in my head. The echo is annoying and yeah okay it’s not actually speaking. I need to find an evening course at a local college. There are some about but I think the next start date is April. Inevitably this will be one that starts at the beginning with “Buongiorno”. In fact this is probably a good thing as the content will be familiar and I can focus on just the talking. And be top of the class/teacher’s pet.

Practice verb conjugations

vado, vai, va, andiamo, andate, vanno and on and on and on.

Numbers

I can count from 1 to 100 in Italian nae bother. But when I hear numbers in a listening exercise then they magically become mysterious and elusive. I’m not wetting the bed over it but it is frustrating. I wonder if the local Gala Bingo does an “Italian night”? Hmm probably being a bit optimistic. Still, I need a way to improve this.

Listen more

I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again. I must listen as much as I can. Should I consider watching some subtitled Italian movies? I haven’t tried this yet but it is an option. Gut feeling is that it would be hard work at this stage.

One other thought that has been filling the void in my head during the last couple of weeks is how to be better at learning. On the one hand it is very early days and so perhaps I should just try to be a sponge and take in as much as I can and not worry too much (cos it’ll all happen naturally right…RIGHT?). On the other hand I feel that if I don’t use what I am learning then I won’t effectively store it in memory. Use it or lose it. How do I use Italian when I am in England? How can I make using Italian a habit? When something is a habit you do it instinctively and it becomes easier. I’m not sure what the answer is yet but I sense that coming up with an answer would be handy.

So there! Buona fortuna a me.

Finally, if it was a race this is how I imagine my reading-an-italian-textbook-the-fastest victory would be celebrated:

Half-Term School Report

James is a determined and hard-working student who has made encouraging progress throughout this term. He has maintained an excellent attitude to his studies and not let his ineptitude with languages deter him from his task. He has an underlying worry about ‘how-the-hell’ (student’s words not the teacher’s) he is going to master Italian but takes comfort from the fact that even professional footballers can learn another language despite 99.99% of them being complete idiots. He has now completed his first textbook Buongiorno Italia! James has demonstrated a good ability to read and write Italian and is building his vocabulary. His listening skills are progressing but at a much slower rate. His speaking skills are poor and are an area of concern. He needs encouraging to find a method of developing this aspect of Italian.

He has taught himself the following but needs to review and revise thoroughly as he is already forgetting:

• asking where things are
• basic introductions
• asking for things
• asking the price
• saying you like something
• asking when something leaves or arrives, how long it will take
• directions, asking how to get somewhere
• asking for a room
• ordering food
• looking for clothes and trying them on
• talking about how things are done
• talking about the past, where you have been

Overall a good start.

I have passed my GCSE Italian exam!!!

Okay slight fib. Technically I have only located some past papers here and breezed through two for “fun”.

I tried the 2012 Unit 2 reading papers. I nailed the Foundation level paper. That was un pezzo di torta. Teenagers are getting stupider surely. However, the Higher level paper was un po’ dura. I think I still got an A though. That’s what I’m telling my mum at any rate.

Nessun Dorma Translation World Championships 2014

Live from the Royal Albert Hall…

MC: Ladies and gentlemen welcome. For our first contest tonight we have the young (provokes cackles and hysterics from the crowd) pretender making his debut appearance in this competition. Weighing in at 160 pounds in the red corner we have michamojames and his opponent in the blue corner Nessun Dorma.

So here we are ready for a translation of Nessun Dorma. Expert opinion is that he is out of his depth but still I’m sure he’ll give it his best shot. He’s pacing round the ring, really looking lean and wordy, pulling a few final facial exercises and…

ding! ding!

Here he goes…

“Nessun dorma! Nessun dorma!”

Here comes the translation…

“No-one sleeps! No-one sleeps!”

Classy one-two. It’s a good start. Doesn’t look too phased by the occasion.

“Tu pure, o, Principessa,”
“You too, o, Princess,”

Gasp from the crowd they weren’t expecting that. Perhaps he’s going to prove the doubters wrong…

“nella tua fredda stanza”
“in your cold room”

A quick side-step and in he goes with another confident display. He’s dancing round the words. It’s like he’s known them his whole life.

“guardi le stelle”
“look at the stars”

Boom! Another one. Oh yes! That’s what they call the haymaker. Could he go the distance? Still a long way to go but he’s showing bags of promise!

“che tremano d’amore”
“that tremble with love”

A bit uncertain with that one

“e di speranza.”
“and ermm”

What’s this? Oh he’s come unstuck and the crowd respond with jeers. They’ll pounce on any sign of weakness.

“Ma il mio mistero e chiuso in me,”
“But my err…umph…cough….”

He’s trying to move on but he’s stuck on the ropes….suddenly it’s all going wrong

“il nome mio nessun saprá!”
“Something about nobody knowing his name”

His composure is deserting him like a fleeing army, his legs have gone to jelly
The crowd can see it coming…

“No, no, sulla tua bocca lo diró”
“no, no on your lips i shall say it”

There’s a look on his face…it says nobody’s home
Oh he’s down
The referee has begun the count

….tre…due…uno

It’s all over
He’s knocked out

Spot the castle

I have cycled along Castle Lane so many times and never realised what I was passing. You would have thought the name would have triggered something in my head!

Maxstoke Castle tucked behind the trees.

John Martin, Sadak in Search of the Waters of Oblivion

or

James in Search of the Waters of Remembrance

I think someone must be spiking my cuppa with the “waters of oblivion”. Sometimes learning Italian feels a little like Sadak in his trials. This post was just an excuse to show a painting I like.

Getting Tense About Tenses

This weekend I have been learning how to say what used to happen.

Vivevo in una cittadina vicino a Newcastle.

So yeah that would be the past tense? No silly, that is the imperfect tense. My schoolboy education didn’t get very formal on grammar – I think it had gone out of fashion. So terms like imperfect tense, perfect tense, present passive, reflexive feel really…well, foreign. I would prefer not to see them at all in an introduction to a foreign language. So much for my A grade in GCSE English Language!! If they’d only taught us Latin like in the old days!

Nonetheless, I am progressing and motivation is still 110% Whoohoo! I have one chapter remaining in my libro di testo. It will be good to complete it. However, I will almost certainly start again from page one to see how much I have forgotten (which will be less good). Having identified my auditory skills to be severely lacking, I am putting in nearly an hour and half each day to listening. This includes listening to a CD in my car during my commute to work. Listening is still a struggle. Also I find I stumble a lot on the little words. The la-di-da’s and ci and a and mi and in. The little #$*!s (shakes fist).

I’m still enjoying it though 🙂