In developing Living Language Platinum we hired a crew of language teachers from all over the world. These native speakers will contribute to this blog, answer questions on Twitter and our forums, and teach small group sessions. There’s nothing like learning the nuances of a language and cultural insights from someone who has lived it. We will introduce each of them in the blog with 5 Questions.
Name: Massimo
Hometown: Bologna, Italy (the town, not the sausage)
Current Residence: New York
Languages Spoken: Italian, English
Not Massimo, but his favorite Italian opera composer, Giuseppe Verdi. Public domain image.
LL: What do you love most about the Italian language?
Massimo: I like its sophistication.
LL: What’s your favorite phrase in Italian?
Massimo: Chi va piano va sano e va lontano (He who goes slow, stays healthy and goes far.)
LL: What language would you like to learn?
Massimo: Portuguese
LL: What’s your best advice for someone learning a language?
Massimo: For beginners, one, keep your expectations low because learning a language, on average, is not easy. This does not mean to discourage you, quite the opposite. Two, work hard for a few months because the learning curve can be very steep, so it is critical to be patient in the first few months. Do not get discouraged otherwise you will fail — just be patient. No pain no gain. Three, read one and two again.
For Intermediate/Advanced, many students at this level try to say things as if they were speaking in their first language. That is not good as you will make mistakes. So, my advice is to keep your sentences as simple as possible: there are many way to skin a cat, so there are many ways to say the same thing….and be aware that if what you say in Italian is about 80% of what you actually would have said in your language, that is a great achievement.
LL: What’s your lucky number?
Massimo: Mi piace il numero otto perche’ sembra il simbolo dell’infinito che ha finalmente deciso to stare in piedi.
(I like the number 8 because it looks like the symbol for “infinite” who finally decided to stand up.)
