Okay. What the heck is this verb tense about?
My Italian class is truly kicking my butt. Our professor was telling us which verb tense is best to convey irony. What?! Irony? I can't worry about being ironic in Italian when I'm still trying to lock down the congiuntivo (subjunctive) tense. The subjunctive is rarely used in English but it's an important tense for correct Italian.
That said, I really like her method of teaching. She told us a story about her parents in Sicily getting ready to go to a baptism. Her father wasn't crazy about her mother's dress. We had to construct a likely conversation using the correct tenses and idioms.
One day in class we were listening to some audio and then had fill in the correct tense of the verbs. In one sentence we thought it was the imperfect. No. The present perfect? No.
Finally, I guessed it was passato remoto (preterit). I was offended, yes offended, to see this tense in a basic conversation. The professor laughed and told me to get over it.
All jokes aside, I'm glad she is pushing us. It's very frustrating not being able to communicate fully in Italian. I can keep up with simple conversations but I'm not close to being fluent. Also, given what I do for a living, I'm bummed that it takes me forever to write even an email in Italian.
Our class is small, only four of us, and our professor zeros in on things that would be missed in a larger class, like pronunciation.
One exercise that is brilliant (and sometimes painful), is when she has us "interview" each other with a microphone. In the next class there's a printout of the conversation and we listen to the tape. You can clearly hear your mistakes when you listen to a recording of yourself. I was putting the accent in the wrong place for the word "abito" (I live) for the longest time. I won't make that mistake again.
Another day she gave us a print out of a Carmen Consoli song with certain words missing. We had to listen to the song and fill in the blanks. She then gave us the complete lyrics.
Here's the song. Mi piace.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
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21 comments:
Ma ti avrà piaccuto una volta l'avrai capito. I think it isn't true that the subjunctive is not used in English. Careless people perhaps don't know it or use it, but I read it often, use it and can be badly jarred when someone doesn't use it when it is really needed.
My ear isn't so great in Italian, but I leap with joy when I hear discussions on TV in which the congiuntivo, the passato remoto, etc. are being thrown about. The opportunitis are too few, it's true, but if everyone spoke well, it would be a lot easier to learn!
I think your teacher is very clever and creative and that you are a lucky studentessa.
I feel your pain! I barely have the present tense down.
Excellent post. Mi piace! :D
judith - you're right. I really notice now when it's not used. I wonder if in England, people use the subjunctive more.
Like you I get very excited when I actually understand the news and the gazillion different tenses. Our teacher is great and very patient.
rose in cali - ha. I feel like every time I get one tense down, here comes another one that's even more complicated.
p.s. Judith, I did understand what you wrote but if someone said it to me, it would be a different story. I need to practice more.
Ugh. This just reminds me of the horrible time I had learning the different tenses in French. So miserable.
gibber - I forgot 99% of the French I learned. sad.
oh, this makes me want to be back in language class...even though it gets so frustrating sometimes!
I hate to say it but Judith got it wrong.
What she meant to say is: "ti piacerà una volta che l'avrai capito".
My cousin in NY established this rule when emailing: I email in Italian and she replies in English so we both get our practice.
I do understand you guys: Italian is pretty hard with grammar and verbs and blah blah blah ...
Brava! Quando sei negli stati uniti vicino N.Y., devi venire al mio gruppo di donne che chiacchierano in Italiano ogni lunedi.
I feel your pain. I'm in my last semester of Italian right now. It is leaving my bum black and blue. I am planning to go to a language school in Verona for a month (in July, but the fares are ridiculous right now) to tighten up my skills, although sometimes I think I will be wasting of my time. It just refuses to stay in my head. I put the imperfect tense in and it just falls right back out. I hate that tense. If the imperfect tense had a face, I would punch it. :)
erin - it's soooo frustrating sometimes.
paola - language exchange is a great idea. I did it last year with a friend and it help a lot.
CCL - grazie per l'invito!
jannelle - ha. I know what you mean.
If you could do the summer class it would be helpful. I don't think it will be a waste of time.
Paola: that's no way to shoehorn in the future perfect.
Not only do all the tenses drive me crazy but those prepositions!! Direct, indirect, 50 ways to use a, in, etc. I need to get back into it soon so I can take advantage of the week I will be spending taking private lessons while in Bologna this summer. Unfortunately only 1 week though as he was booked the rest of June. I know just what you mean about trying to write an email in Italian! SO frustrating! You are lucky to get to hear Italian spoken every day and to be studying with a creative teacher.
girasoli - I know it would help me if I took classes more than once a week. As soon as things calm down with work, I will start doing language exchanges again with my friends.
Here in good old Lombardy, it's passato prossimo all the way. Passato remoto is rarely used (thank god!). When I started studying Italian at university my teacher used to play Lucio Battisti songs for us and we'd have to write down all the lyrics as he was singing, like a dictation. Very difficult. Your teacher's method is much better.
music is a great way to learn!! Reading (both to yourself and out loud) is also, but I find it difficult unless it's more conversational. (Shrug). Definitely prefer music!
milanese - I read passato remoto is used more (verbally) in Naples and Sicily. It sounds pretty but it's not an easy tense for me. Good thing I live in Rome!
claudia - I do need to read out loud more. I feel like a dork but it's important.
Butt-kicking classes are the best; they really make it sink in and stay there. But oy, the pain of getting it in there! In bocca al lupo! (I also have problems with the subjunctive and congiuntivo.)
This reminds me of when I was learning French. My teacher did awesome things like that too. 7 years later I am only now mastering the use of the subjunctive, hang in there you'll get it!
The subjunctive is used in English, but since in most cases it is conjugated exactly like the present tense we don't know we're doing it! When I was learning (I mean failing) Spanish in high school our teacher always used to rant that our problem wasn't Spanish, but English. He's right, if I knew my English grammar better, I wouldn't have had sush a hard time with French grammar.
Francine - that is a very good point! I feel my English grammar has improved since I've started learning Italian.
Valerie - I feel your pain. Don't get me started on Passato Remoto.
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